Hot or Not?

With all this talk about hot players on the team right now, I thought I would reflect a bit on some of the personnel decisions that President and General Manager Doug MacLean made over the summer:

June:

Traded G Marc Denis for LW Fredrik Modin and G Fredrik Norrena. I originally thought that this was a trade mainly for Modin. I think we have all learned since then, yesterday in fact, that the trade also very much included Norrena. It started out rocky, with doubts of LeClaire being able to sustain the rigors of being the #1 goaltender, and with Modin's lackluster performance in the early season. Since then, Norrena has become the first Blue Jackets goalie to post back to back shutouts, let alone two away games, one of which involved the Avalanche peppering him with 42 shots. Great performance for a backup goaltender. Modin has since tied Rick Nash on the goal leaderboard with 7 goals. How about that, trading away one decent goaltender for a great goaltender and a great veteran forward, one of the best responders under new head coach Ken Hitchcock

July:

Signed D Anders Eriksson. At first, I thought this may have been a pretty stupid move. Basically, Radoslav Suchy was not re-signed, and Eriksson was signed in his place. Eriksson has a few spotted years of NHL experience after being drafted by the Red Wings, but has also played in Russia and Sweeden. The Blue Jackets got rid of him once, and now he's back, fortunately for us, he's the only player with a plus rating, +5. Way to go Anders!

Signed C Alexander Svitov. Originally acquired in a trade with Tampa Bay for D Daryl Sydor. He's another like Eriksson, who played in the European leagues before coming back into the NHL. He's a solid checking line center with some potential, but he's got to stop taking stupid penalties. I'm pretty neutral on this one, Alexander is still a young player, but if he doesn't start to show a little more jump in his step, it may be time to rethink this decision.

Signed G Ty Conklin. Give me a break, Ty Conklin is old, and not very good, he's 2-9 with Syracuse this year, has a 3.50 GAA, and what's more, the jackets pay him far too much. Conklin has a total of 60 games in the NHL over 6 years, and the Blue Jackets gave him a $1 mil contract. What are they thinking?

August

Signed C Eric Boguniecki. The move made sense over the summer as the Jackets were a bit short up the middle, but since then, he's been traded for Ryan Cadwell, a 25 year old defensive prospect. I'm okay with the move, sign for depth now, trade later.

September

Signed RW Anson Carter. This was the other big move that MacLean made, hoping that it was Anson Carter who sparked the Sedin twins in Vancouver, and not the Sedin twins who boosted Carter's numbers. Carter is another player sparked by Hitchcock's tenure as coach, he was brilliant on the top line in the Minnesota game with a goal and two assists, and he scored goals in the shut outs in Edmonton and Colorado. Another good acquisition by the GM


Of course there's that whole coaching issue that has been all over the news in Columbus. Hitchcock has already begun to transform Columbus into a winning organization, but like most things, it's going to take some time.

The playoffs are most likely out of the question again this year. Right now, we're 10 points out, again using the magic number of 95 points, the Jackets still need 77 points in 56 games...pretty difficult. On the bright side, if the Flames (currently 8th place) stay on the pace they are now, they will have amassed approximately 84 points. The Jackets can get to that mark if they average a point per game, which isn't quite so horrible (they're .500 with Hitchcock behind the bench).