The Puck Stops Here
What Is Next For The Blue Jackets?
by PuckStopsHere on 02/18/12 at 02:21 PM ET
Comments (2)
The Columbus Blue Jackets have had an awful season. They have only won 17 of the 57 games they have played so far this season. With the trade deadline coming their top players in Rick Nash and Jeff Carter are rumored to be available. Should they be traded they will almost certainly be the best player involved in the trade. The only way that Columbus can win this deal is in the longterm if they obtain young prospects who develop into significant NHL players. The problem is these prospects are likely not NHL ready today, but in a year or two at best. That would make Columbus an even weaker team in the short-term than they are now. That is not a good prospect for their fan base.
The most significant reason that Nash and Carter may be available is that they are expensive players. Nash has a $7.8 million salary cap hit until his contract expires in the year 2018. Carter has an almost $5.3 million salary cap hit until his contract expires in 2022. There is a significant investment in those players and Columbus is not on the strongest financial ground.
As a last place team, Columbus is not doing as well in terms of revenue as they might have expected. They are the fifth worst in attendance in the league this season. Columbus has a higher team payroll than the majority of NHL teams. They could be closer to the NHL salary floor and probably would not be much worse a team. After all they are in last place now, so how much worse can they get? They might as well lose cheaply.
The closest thing to a hockey argument that the Blue Jackets can offer for trading these players is that they have not been able to win with them in the lineup, so maybe they can win without them. Of course they won’t win unless they get a better group of players.
The best longterm answer is to rebuild the team infrastructure. Get rid of GM Scott Howson and find a better hockey man to lead the team. Howson has obviously failed. New coaching and scouting is obviously needed, but that won’t be put into place until after a new GM is in place.
The fastest way for Columbus to improve is to acquire NHL quality goaltending. Steve Mason has not played well this season at all. Curtis Sanford has been better. Merely using Sanford and a replacement level goalie or seeing Mason improve to levels closer to his previous seasons would see a significant drop in their goals against. Improving goaltending is realistic scenario that will move Columbus out of last place even if they offload their best offensive players.
The Columbus Blue Jackets are in bad shape. They are in last place. They are ten points behind any other team in the league. Their solution is to attempt to trade their most expensive players. These players are their most proven offensive players. It isn’t a solution to turn things around on a short-term basis. At best they will acquire a prospect or two who have significant value a few years down the road, but things may get even worse before then. This may be obscured a bit by an improvement in goaltending, as it will be hard for things to get any worse in goal. Columbus is a long way from contention and there is no easy way back. The only realistic path begins with new management.
Filed in: | The Puck Stops Here | Permalink
Tags: Columbus+Blue+Jackets, Jeff+Carter, Rick+Nash, Scott+Howson,
Comments
HockeyfanOhio hit the nail on the head. The jackets need a new top man in the frot office. Howson has made a bad situation worse and if I were owner, I’d prevent him from trading my biggest assets right now and start from scratch aftre their season ends in April.
Posted by fauxrumors from http://newfaux.blogspot.com/ on 02/18/12 at 06:42 PM ET
Add a Comment
Please limit embedded image or media size to 575 pixels wide.
Add your own avatar by joining Kukla's Korner, or logging in and uploading one in your member control panel.
Captchas bug you? Join KK or log in and you won't have to bother.
Commenting is not available in this weblog entry.
Most Recent Blog Posts
New Jersey Devils Make The Finals
Los Angeles Kings Make The Stanley Cup Finals
Another Potentially Important Signing
World Hockey Championships: Medal Round
About The Puck Stops Here
The Puck Stops Here was founded during the 2004/05 lockout as a place to rant about hockey. The original site contains over 1000 posts, some of which were also published on FoxSports.com.
Who am I?
A diehard hockey fan.
Why am I blogging?
I want to.
Why are you reading it?
???
Email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Donate to Kukla’s Korner
This. Until this happens nothing else will really help.
Posted by HockeyFanOhio from Central Ohio on 02/18/12 at 04:59 PM ET