Columbus Blue Jackets (Official Thread)

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

Peca expected to help Jackets on and off ice
New center will be looked to for leadership
Friday, August 24, 2007 3:32 AM
By Aaron Portzline


THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

ERIC ALBRECHT dispatch
Michael Peca could play center on one of the Blue Jackets' top two lines this season.

Gerry broome associated press
Michael Peca, left, celebrates a goal while playing for Edmonton in the Stanley Cup Finals in 2006.



On Nov. 1, 2005, Michael Peca of the Edmonton Oilers dumped the puck into a corner and came through the neutral zone with his head down.
The scene, in Edmonton's Rexall Place, played out like a microcosm of one of the longest seasons of Peca's career: He was stuck in the neutral zone, cruising toward a rude awakening.
Blue Jackets left winger Rick Nash, coming from Peca's right, lowered a shoulder and sent him sprawling to the ice, minus a few teeth and plus a concussion.

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[CausticMick]

On the Peca front, I would be shocked if he has a disappointing season- reason being that the one year contract forces him to "try-out for a contract in 2008-09" all season (unless he plans to retire)... plus the $600K incentives (assuming they aren't fluff).

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

Blue Jackets: Keep an eye on center spot
Hitchcock isn't sure how things will work as team approaches training camp
Sunday, August 26, 2007 3:43 AM
By Aaron Portzline


The Blue Jackets made a pretty good "trade" in recent days to shore up their center position.
On Aug. 17, they learned via the Internet that 24-year-old center Alexander Svitov, a big, looming presence down the middle, was returning to play in his native Russia.
Six days later, on Thursday, they signed 33-year-old center Michael Peca to a one-year contract, adding a player who has twice won the Selke Trophy as the NHL's top defensive forward.
Peca's base salary of $1.3 million is only $300,000 more than Svitov would have made.

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[jimotis4heisman]

deleted something per request.

steve mason will start the first game of the super series, he has looked fabulous in practice.

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

Blue Jackets: Svitov hasn't called; next move on hold

Tuesday, August 28, 2007 3:37 AM
By Aaron Portzline


THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

No one in the Blue Jackets organization has spoken to center Alexander Svitov in the 10 days since his plans to play this season in Russia were brought to their attention via the Internet.
And the club isn't yet sure of its next step.
"We're still considering everything," Blue Jackets general manager Scott Howson said. "You can try and fight it (in the Russian court), but you're not going to have any success in their legal system, just as they haven't had any success in the (North American) court system.

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[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

Blue Jackets prospects step up for Canadian junior team

Tuesday, August 28, 2007 8:26 AM

Two Columbus Blue Jackets prospects played key roles in Canada's 4-2 win over Russia in the opening game of an eight-game Super Series between the countries' elite junior players.

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[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

Blue Jackets: New GM breaks the ice with Zherdev

Thursday, August 30, 2007 3:41 AM
By Aaron Portzline


THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Blue Jackets general manager Scott Howson carried out his long-anticipated peacekeeping mission with enigmatic right winger Nikolai Zherdev yesterday.

Howson, Zherdev and Zherdev's two agents, Rollie Hedges and Sasha Tyjnych, had lunch at the ritzy Ottawa Golf & Hunt Club, the "clean-the-slate" meeting Howson began planning soon after he took over as GM in June.

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[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

Michael Arace commentary: Changing culture of Jackets is good thing

Friday, August 31, 2007 3:33 AM
By Michael Arace


THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Since he first removed his electric-blue silk shirt and pulled on a Blue Jackets jersey, Nikolai Zherdev has been alternately browbeaten by management, coaches, teammates and, yes, the media. At times, there was good reason to criticize Zherdev, whose early career was not distinguished by backchecking. At other times, the focus on Zherdev seemed overzealous, as if he were the only thing that was wrong with a bad team.

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[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

NHL
Mood of Blue Jackets brightens in offseason

Wednesday, September 5, 2007 3:35 AM
By Aaron Portzline


The Columbus Dispatch

It's noticeably brighter these days in the Blue Jackets dressing room, prompting one player to suggest that the "dark ages are over" in Nationwide Arena.
The truth is that a new lighting system has been installed, but there seems to be a psychological brightening at work, too.
Privately, players say the offseason firing of general manager Doug MacLean and the hiring of Scott Howson has lifted the mood and changed the outlook of a club that has had six losing seasons. Bluster and bravado, they say, has been replaced by a quiet confidence and a singular goal -- winning.

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[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

Jackets to get first look at top draft pick
Voracek has turned heads since coming to North America
Friday, September 7, 2007 3:34 AM
By Aaron Portzline


THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Right winger Jakub Voracek, the Blue Jackets' No. 1 draft pick in June, is becoming known for his first impressions.
Last September, just days after he arrived in Halifax, Nova Scotia, from his native Czech Republic, Voracek stepped to the middle of the dressing room, cleared his throat and addressed his mostly English-speaking teammates with the Halifax Mooseheads.

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[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

Blue Jackets notebook: Prospects lose title game

Wednesday, September 12, 2007 3:24 AM
By Aaron Portzline


THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

The Blue Jackets took an early lead but lost 5-1 to the New York Rangers last night in the championship game of the NHL prospects tournament in Traverse City, Mich.

"It got away from us there in the second period," said Don Boyd, the Blue Jackets' director of player personnel.
"We seemed to run out of gas the rest of the way."
Forward Jared Boll scored a short-handed goal just 70 seconds into the game, but it was all Rangers the rest of the way. New York scored three power-play goals on seven chances.

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[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

Michael Arace commentary: Shifting Zherdev to center could work

Friday, September 14, 2007 3:37 AM
By Michael Arace


THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

The Blue Jackets trumpeted the opening of training camp by trotting out players at a media luncheon yesterday in Nationwide Arena. Most of the TV reporters and their minicams left the building before they could get to the buffet, a development that led to rumors that a huge story was breaking, like maybe there was a weather pattern forming over Indiana. We don't tend to miss lunch. Was there rain on the way?
No, the minicams had to shuffle across town to catch Jim Tressel, who promised a few words before he boarded his Buckeyes for Seattle. So it was a relatively sparse gathering in the Founder's Club for the Jackets' camp-opening news conference. General manager Scott Howson and coach Ken Hitchcock stepped up on the dais, and Hitch dropped

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[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

Blue Jackets notebook: Players fit, ready to meet challenge

Friday, September 14, 2007 3:26 AM
By Aaron Portzline


The Columbus Dispatch

Coach Ken Hitchcock has promised that the first day of Blue Jackets training camp would be spent with "the pedal pushed firmly to the floor."
That day has finally arrived, with the first group of players taking the ice at 9 this morning in the Dispatch Ice Haus. One by one, players emerged from their physicals and fitness testing yesterday in Nationwide Arena vowing they were ready.

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[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

Blue Jackets notebook
Visa troubles keep Novotny from camp

Sunday, September 16, 2007 4:03 AM
By Aaron Portzline


The Columbus Dispatch

Center Jiri Novotny, one of the Blue Jackets' free-agent signings this summer, has missed the first two days of training camp while he waits for visa issues to be settled in his native Czech Republic.
"It's not an ideal situation," general manager Scott Howson said. "But every effort was put forth by the player to get it done on time, and these things happen. There was an issue with the courier company, and the courier company has apologized."

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[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

Rejuvenated: Fedorov, Foote determined to live up to potential with Jackets

Sunday, September 16, 2007 4:03 AM
By Aaron Portzline


THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Jay LaPrete Associated Press
Sergei Fedorov played the last four months of last season with hyperextended elbows.

Mike Munden Dispatch
Adam Foote, right, is ready to re-establish himself as one of the Blue Jackets' team leaders.



They are two of the most respected players in the NHL and will go down as legends of the game soon after they retire.
But there's no sense sugarcoating it: Defenseman Adam Foote and center Sergei Fedorov have not played up to their standards since they joined the Blue Jackets two seasons ago.
This season could well be their last with the Blue Jackets. Both are in the final years of contracts. Fedorov, 37, will make $6.08 million this season. Foote, 36, will make $4.6 million.

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