Fire That Cannon - A Columbus Blue Jackets blog

Jan 20, 2012; London, ON, Canada; London Knights former player and current Columbus Blue Jackets right wing Rick Nash (61) acknowledges the crowd during a pre-game ceremony in which his number 61 was retired before the game against the Owen Sound Attack at the John Labatt Centre. Mandatory Credit: Tom Szczerbowski-US PRESSWIRE

I can live with clueless ownership. I can shake my head and grumble at management that makes the same mistakes over and over again. See Rangers, above.

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Just a thought on the Blue Jackets moves prior to the trade deadline. If you had need of a veteran blue liner and were a contending team, wouldn’t you like to see possible acquisitions play? Enter Brett Lebda. Although there is no question that the Jackets need defense men, remember David Sevard was sent back to Springfield and now Lebda is playing NHL hockey again. Good move by the CBJ. If they can interest any teams in him by the trade deadline, they can possibly trade the 30 year old for something, a draft pick of some sort probably and inch their way into obtaining another prospect. It’s a good deal for Lebda, a win-win as he gets an opportunity to get back into the NHL. Again we have to face the fact that the players the Blue Jackets would like to trade, most teams do not want. Here is a twist to try to create a possible desirable tradeable player from the stockpile.

The Columbus Blue Jackets’ slow and steady change will be put to the test once again on Monday night as they face off once again with division rivals, Nashville, for the second time in a mere four days. This will be the final game between the teams this season as well.

The games between Columbus and Nashville are usually very entertaining, even if the Jackets lose, mostly because the rivalry brings out the physical in both teams. The last game wasn’t too pretty for the Blue Jackets with a 3-0 loss, and there were only ten PIM for the whole game, on both benches.

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The original meaning of this term was, ” a slow steady change that was almost imperceptible, like the movement of a glacier”. Today, there are some that claim that this term should be banned from the language, as glacier movement is so swift that it can be seen within several years, not decades like it used to be. The point is, we are seeing a very slow but perceptible change in the play of the Columbus Blue Jackets team play. The first and an obvious change was: Continue reading this post »

D Brassard vs Pekka Rinne Photo Courtesy NHL Photoes

Last night I sat behind the Nashville Goal, Section 109 to be exact. I had never sat in this location before and I enjoyed it. One of the reasons I enjoyed it was Derick Brassard’s play around and behind the goal. In the first period he was awesome. Side to side and in the slot he moved all over the ice. He was by far the most active player. As far as I know the NHL does not have a standard time/distance measurement like the NFL and their 40 yard times. Therefore I do not know if he is the fastest or how he ranks among the Blue Jackets, but I would sure like to know. In the 3rd period, he was switched from the top line to the 2nd line, but he continued to impress. I also noted that he was the 6th man on the end of game power play with Mason pulled. I don’t think he is unnoticed by the coaching staff or the rest of the NHL. Continue reading this post »

Even though the trade deadline is still a month away, rumors are spreading that the Blue Jackets’ starting goaltender Steve Mason and forward Derick Brassard will be moving elsewhere very soon.

Mason has been in the rumor mill since last season, and his dismal 2011-2012 year hasn’t kept him in the lineup much since New Year’s. In his 24 games this season, he’s garnered a 3.46 GAA and a .882 save percentage.

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Well fans, it has been hinted at all day by various blogs ,newspaper, etc.  but people we saw a genuine coaching moment last nite. Recapping: about 8 minutes into the game and with the Oilers slipping past the boys in blue like their name suggests, and the Jackets already down by 2 goals,  Todd Richards called his time out. I personally thought, “good, we need to stop the bleeding and regroup”. Little did I or anyone else know or even suspect the result of that time out. I searched the internet for a photo of the team gathered around and below their coach during this timeout. I suspect just as I had no idea what would happen, no one else did and I did not find a picture of this gathering.

To hear COACH Richards tell it, he simply suggested that the Blue Jackets were better than they were playing. I can hear it now, “Lads, this team is not that much better than you and they have 7 of their starters out. I think you might be able to make a better showing for yourselves. Please consider it.”  Yea, right, that’s exactly what was said. Continue reading this post »

Photo by John Grieshop/Getty Images

The Columbus Blue Jackets surprised fans on Tuesday by actually playing all the way through the third period.

The beginning of the night’s Blue Jackets game hosting Edmonton started out bleak, with the visiting team scoring two goals in the first ten minutes of the first period.

The second period saw a turn around by Columbus, with a wrist-shot goal by Ryan Johansen assisted by Antoine Vermette and Tomas Kubalik. But the real surprise was with .8 seconds left in the period, when Derick Brassard scored a power play goal on a wrap-around shot.

Brassard has been highlighted for his efforts in the past few games after Todd Richards was named head coach.

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