Hitch used the 'P word'

He said it first, not me.

According to a Dispatch article, Hitchcock used the 'P word' following Sunday's game against Ottawa. As much of as a believer as I want to be, I'm not sure I'm there yet. Let's finish off December, then regroup. Then there's the all-star break, then we'll talk.

The CBJ machine is in Dallas for tonight's game against the Stars. Leclaire is at home, hopefully only missing a week's worth of games. His lower body injury turned out to be a mere sprain. In his words: "I’ve been told not to put any weight on it. I’ll spend a few days watching movies and playing video games. And I’ll try to be back as soon as possible." Good news for the young netminder, who will hopefully be back in action next weekend.

Foote's injury is considered to be day-to-day, so he'll be out tonight and hopefully back in time for Phoenix on Thursday. We'll have to wait and see on that one. Don't forget, Duvie Westcott is still out with a finger injury and Brian Berard has still yet to play a single game this season. Those two are amongst our best on the blue line, though there will no doubt be some competition for starting positions when they get back.

In other injury news, Modano and Ott won't be playing tonight in Dallas. Modano has a hip/groin issue and Ott broke his leg. Well, that's two less Dallas staples the jackets have to defend against.

And one more tidbit of NHL news. The St. Louis Blues fired their coach yesterday, replacing him with none other than Blue Jackets candidate Andy Murray. I'm glad we got first dibs.

Jackets faithful, this will likely be my last post for a few days as I'll be out of town until Sunday. I'll be keeping tabs, as no doubt you will, on the team. Go Jackets!