Columbus Blue Jackets Report

[Buckeye]

Ok, here goes guys. I feel kind of cheesey just copying and pasting articles, but, after many requests I will start this back up.

[Buckeye]

‘Average’ camp drops Brule to fourth line
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
Aaron Portzline
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Blue Jackets rookie Gilbert Brule, expected at the start of training camp to center the No. 2 forward line, has instead been dropped to the fourth line for Friday’s season opener against the Vancouver Canucks.

Brule, 19, acknowledged that he didn’t have a great training camp.

"Average," he said. "I could have done better.

"I haven’t been able to find the net. They gave me a chance to play with some of the big guys, and for whatever reason it didn’t click. So they moved me down to get my confidence back."

Brule, the Jackets’ No. 1 draft pick in 2005, played in five exhibition games, mostly between wingers Fredrik Modin and Anson Carter, but had no goals, no assists, 10 shots on goal and 10 penalty minutes.

Coach Gerard Gallant said he spoke with Brule over the weekend.

"I just said to him, ‘Gilbert, it doesn’t mean we’re not happy with you, it just means that some of the other guys have played better,’ " Gallant said. "I told him at the start of camp that we wanted him to focus on his defensive zone coverage, and he’s done a real good job of that, he really has. It’s just that the rest of his game hasn’t quite been there."

Gallant didn’t stop there.

"Gilbert is a playmaker and a scorer," he said. "And I told him that it’s going to happen for him. I know it is. It’s just a matter of time. If he sticks with it and keeps playing hard, it’s going to happen."

Brule has been mentioned as a candidate for the Calder Trophy, given to the NHL’s top rookie.

In last year’s training camp, he was the Blue Jackets’ best player, earning an opening night spot on the roster.

"It’s been the opposite this year," Brule said. "But I’ll work through this. I’m going to contribute everything I can to this team."

Taking Brule’s spot between Modin and Carter will be 21-year-old Geoff Platt, an undrafted free agent who last fall played well enough during rookie camp and training camp to earn a contract with the Blue Jackets.

In four exhibition games this year, Platt led the Blue Jackets with four goals, three assists and a plus-5 rating.

Carter still hurting

Right winger Carter plans to play in the opener, but he won’t be pain-free.

The foot inflammation — plantar fasciitis — that flared last week is only slightly better, he said.

"It’s still sore," Carter said. "I’ll just try to grind it out and deal with it."

Carter has tried all sorts of remedies, including tinkering with the insoles of his skates to relieve pressure on his foot. Plantar fasciitis is an inflammation of the tissue that connects the heel to the base of the toes.

"The only option is to skate on my hands," Carter said.

Carter had 33 goals with the Canucks last season, but Vancouver showed no interest in resigning him this past summer. He sat on the market until the Blue Jackets signed him on the eve of training camp.

No hard feelings, Carter insisted, although the Vancouver media will no doubt fan the flames.

"It’ll be more hype than anything," Carter said. "If you’re in the league long enough, you get used to playing against former teams and former teammates.

"I’ll be really excited because it’s my first game with the Blue Jackets, my first game in Nationwide Arena."

The Blue Jackets are Carter’s seventh NHL club in 10 seasons.

Slap shots

Defenseman Bryan Berard will see a back specialist today at the Cleveland Clinic. He’ll miss this weekend’s games — and maybe quite a bit more — until the source of his recurring pain is determined. It could be scar tissue, in which case Berard might be facing more surgery. … The Blue Jackets appear to be targeting Friday as Nikolai Zherdev’s arrival date from Russia, but a safer bet might be Saturday. He’s questionable for the opener.

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[Buckeye]

Roster appears set for season opener
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
Michael Arace
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

The Blue Jackets yesterday reassigned right winger Steven Goertzen to Syracuse, a move that left 26 players on the roster, three injured. The team is set for the start of the season.

The Blue Jackets likely will place center Sergei Fedorov (sprained shoulder) and defenseman Bryan Berard (back) on injured reserve when official rosters are submitted to the NHL today. Fedorov could miss all of October, and Berard is out indefinitely.

Center Alexander Svitov (separated shoulder) will be out for at least another week. Defenseman Rostislav Klesla is suspended for the first two games of the season, against Vancouver in Nationwide Arena on Friday and at Chicago on Saturday.

"The team is pretty well cut down, and now it’s just a matter of getting ready," coach Gerard Gallant said yesterday. "Our last (exhibition) game was very much a positive."

The Blue Jackets defeated the Carolina Hurricanes 4-1 in Raleigh, N.C., on Friday night, then flew to an undisclosed location in south Florida to conduct secret team-building experiments. They returned yesterday.

"Having Fedorov out really hurts because he’s our top center," Gallant said. "We’re pretty young up the middle now with Geoff Platt, Gilbert Brule and Mark Hartigan. But they’ve performed well, and it’s not a concern in the short term."

It looks as if Hartigan will get the first crack at centering the top line, which has Rick Nash and David Vyborny on the wings. Either Brule or Platt will center the second line with Fredrik Modin and Anson Carter on the wings. Carter, who missed the Carolina game because of a foot inflammation, has been practicing of late.

The lines could change before Friday. Gallant is still messing with combinations, and president and general manager Doug MacLean enjoys tinkering with the lineup, as well.

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[Buckeye]

[Buckeye]

Fedorov is proving to be a fast healer
Svitov close to getting OK for full contact
Thursday, October 05, 2006
Michael Arace
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

There is encouraging news on the injury front for the Blue Jackets, who will open their season Friday night against the Vancouver Canucks in Nationwide Arena.

Top-line center Sergei Fedorov, who suffered a sprained left shoulder during the team’s second exhibition game in September, is ahead of schedule in his rehabilitation. It was thought that Fedorov might miss as much as the first three weeks of the season, but he has been skating for five days and is eyeing a quicker turnaround.

"I knew always I’d be a little earlier," Fedorov said before a solo skate yesterday morning. "But the proper question is about my being healthy. The shoulder feels good (but needs strengthening). We’ll have a better idea in five days."

Center Alexander Svitov was not wearing a yellow (no-hit) jersey at practice yesterday. Svitov, who suffered a shoulder injury during an exhibition game last week, is making good progress and will soon be cleared for full contact.

Defenseman Bryan Berard visited Cleveland Clinic yesterday for a second opinion on his back. Berard had arthroscopic surgery last summer and seemed fit at the start of training camp but happened upon a bout of stiffness. He and the team want to tread carefully.

"He didn’t feel good at all over the weekend," coach Gerard Gallant said, "but the last couple of days he said he felt a lot better. Hopefully, this was just a setback, and now he’s on his way back. But he’s still not skating yet."

The Blue Jackets made their last roster cut of camp when they reassigned winger Alexandre Picard to Syracuse.

Fedorov, Svitov and Berard will begin the season on injured reserve. Winger Nikolai Zherdev, still working through visa issues in Russia, is a roster exemption until he gets to Columbus, which could be as soon as today and as late as next week.

The Blue Jackets yesterday practiced with two goaltenders, 12 forwards (not counting Svitov) and seven defensemen, one of whom, Rostislav Klesla, must serve a two-game suspension at the start of the season.

Depth at center

Mark Hartigan, 28, and Geoff Platt, 21, will be the top two centers when the Jackets face off against the Canucks.

Hartigan had nine goals and spent time among the Jackets’ top scorers last season. He will step in for Fedorov.

"Playing with Rick Nash and David Vyborny, I just can’t get too cute," Hartigan said. "They’re so good, I’ll let them handle that stuff. I’ve just got to get them the puck when they’re open, shoot it when they get it to me and play well in my own end."

Platt had 30 goals for Syracuse last season. He earned a major role by outshining Gilbert Brule during training camp.

"I’m looking forward to making that phone call home, to say I’m on the roster for opening night," Platt said. "This is a once-in-alifetime opportunity — the first NHL opening night in your career."


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[Buckeye]

Old hand Foote nervous, even for 15 th season
Friday, October 06, 2006
Michael Arace
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

As the Blue Jackets prepare to open their sixth season tonight against the Vancouver Canucks in Nationwide Arena, captain Adam Foote begins his 15 th.

He still has butterflies on the eve of the opener.

"There’s a sense of nervousness," he said. "It’s natural to put pressure on yourself to be ready and get focused. I started thinking about the game (Wednesday) night. I think everything is put in place, and now you want to get going."

Is there an analogy for the common man?

"It’s like going back to school after the summer holiday," Foote said. "You just want to get it started, get going."

Berard on the mend?

Defenseman Bryan Berard, a key component of the Blue Jackets’ power play, got a second opinion on his stiff back on Wednesday in the Cleveland Clinic. Berard, who had surgery to shave a disc and remove debris this past summer, said there was no new diagnosis out of Cleveland.

"I was told I would have ups and downs, and that I’d be all right once I got over the last hump," Berard said. "The last couple of days, I’ve been feeling a little better. I could be on the ice (practicing) in a week."

Carter is ready

Right winger Anson Carter had 33 goals playing with the Sedin twins, Daniel and Henrik, in Vancouver last season before signing with the Blue Jackets on the eve of training camp.

Throughout the summer, one of the questions bandied about in Vancouver was: Did Carter make the Sedins, or did the Sedins inflate Carter’s numbers?

"I’ve scored goals before," said Carter, who has topped 20 goals four times. "I’d like to think I had a hand in helping them develop. But the main thing is they’re excellent hockey players. ... People should get off their back."

Disa and data

Winger Nikolai Zherdev was still going through the process of acquiring his visa in Moscow. He might arrive in Columbus this weekend or sometime next week (probably). Before Zherdev is tossed into the fray, coach Gerard Gallant said, "I’m going to want to get a look at him. ... That’s a long trip, getting over from there." ... With centers Sergei Fedorov and Alexander Svitov nursing shoulder injuries, the Blue Jackets will open with Mark Hartigan, Geoff Platt, Manny Malhotra and Gilbert Brule up the middle. "You can say we’re inexperienced up the middle," Gallant said. "But I know Mark Hartigan is a good hockey player, and he has done well playing with (Nash and David Vyborny) in the past. Geoff Platt is going to be a hell of a hockey player for a long, long time. ... Yeah, we’re young up the middle right now, but I feel very good about what we’ve got."

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[Buckeye]

Leclaire ready to make impact
Blue Jackets’ new No. 1 goaltender wants to prove doubters wrong
Friday, October 06, 2006
Aaron Portzline
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Goaltender Pascal Leclaire takes the questions and concerns about the Blue Jackets’ playoff hopes personally, and who could blame him?

When the hockey world looks at the Blue Jackets, it sees a club that, after a productive offseason, now seems strong enough offensively to make a playoff push for the first time in franchise history.

Rattle off the names — Rick Nash, Nikolai Zherdev, Sergei Fedorov, David Vyborny, Anson Carter, Fredrik Modin — and prepare the goal horn.

But when the focus shifts to Leclaire’s end of the ice, questions are raised. This is where Leclaire’s professional pride gets bruised a little, when people point to him as the Blue Jackets’ weakness, wondering whether he is ready to handle the pressures of being a No. 1 goaltender.

Leclaire is only 23. He has only 35 games of NHL experience. He has a history of getting injured, having never played more than 46 games in a season since he started in junior hockey.

Yet the Blue Jackets are counting on him to play roughly 65 games at the most important position on the ice in a season that will be judged a failure if it doesn’t end with a Stanley Cup playoffs appearance.

The ride begins tonight when the Blue Jackets play host to Vancouver in Nationwide Arena.

Leclaire is strapped in and ready.

"I’m used to the questions, the doubts," Leclaire said. "When I was young, playing junior hockey in Montreal, they used to rip me all the time, saying I shouldn’t be on the team, I shouldn’t be playing for Canada in the world junior championships, all kinds of stuff like that.

"It’s just part of the territory, part of being a goalie. I can handle it."

Leclaire kicks aside the heat as if it were an unscreened wrist shot from the blue line.

"Honestly, I don’t spend a lot of time reading hockey stuff or watching the hockey channels up in Canada," Leclaire said. "I’m more of an MTV guy, anyway.

"But if people want to say that, want to put a target on me, that’s fine. I know what I can do. I know what this team can do. We will prove them wrong."

Refining his talent

Leclaire’s talent rarely is questioned, only his ability to stay healthy and handle a heavy workload.

He proved last season, with a .911 save percentage in 33 games, that his game is NHL ready.

"I’ve seen just about every goaltender in the league, so I knew a little bit about Pascal before I got here," said Clint Malarchuk, hired this summer as the Blue Jackets’ goaltending coach. "But once I got the job, I did a lot of research, watched a lot of film, and you could see right away that Pascal had a lot of tools."

Malarchuk, who previously worked with Florida Panthers wunderkind Roberto Luongo, now with the Canucks, had his eyes opened further at training camp.

"I can honestly say the film didn’t do him justice," Malarchuk said. "To see his abilities up close really blew me away. As far as quickness — with the pads, with the glove — I’ve never seen anybody with quicker reflexes. And I really mean that … anybody."

Leclaire is known throughout the NHL for his ability to recover, meaning he can lunge for a save in one direction and be back in position to make another save with remarkable speed. That athleticism prompted the Blue Jackets to draft him No. 8 overall in 2001.

What has changed in the five years since is LeClaire’s understanding of the game, his polishing of the finer points.

"In junior hockey, I just relied on my speed and skills too much," Leclaire said. "I cheated way too much, and I got away with it most of the time.

"Technically, I’m a totally different goaltender now, just in the last couple of seasons. I’ve learned a lot about positioning and patience, but playing in the NHL forces you to do that. If you’re not technically sound, the guys in this league will make you look stupid."

Although Malarchuk and Leclaire talked almost daily during the first two weeks of training camp, the two hadn’t worked extensively one-on-one until the past few days.

"I wanted to watch him work, see what he’s all about," Malarchuk said. "He’s playing really well right now. Everything is in order. We’re just working on smaller issues."

The issues include rebound control and Leclaire’s positioning in the goal crease.

"I compare him a lot to Luongo, I really do," Malarchuk said. "When I started with Roberto, he was 23, 24 years old and already regarded as one of the better young goalies in the league. And that’s exactly where Pascal is."

Proving his worth

Leclaire’s path to the Blue Jackets’ No. 1 spot was cleared this summer when Marc Denis was traded to Tampa Bay for Modin and Finnish goaltender Fredrik Norrena, who will serve as Leclaire’s backup to start the season.

It wasn’t easy for the Blue Jackets to part with Denis, the franchise record-holder in games (266), wins (84) and shutouts (12), and a voice of reason in a dressing room that could have been poisoned by chronic losing.

But Leclaire’s emergence down the stretch last season —and the Jackets’ need for a bigtime forward — made the trade easier to accept.

"I started to feel really good about Pascal last season when we went back and forth between him and Marc," coach Gerard Gallant said. "I felt like he was a dominating goaltender during that stretch."

Leclaire had 40 or more saves six times last season, including a 48-save game against Florida (a 5-4 shootout win) and a 46-save game against Colorado (a 3-2 shootout loss). He was 9-5-2 with a .923 save percentage after Jan. 1.

"It’s always good to have guys like Marc Denis around," Nash said. "He was the backbone of this team for a few seasons. But this club has invested a lot in Pascal, and with good reasons. He’s proven to all of us that he’s a No. 1 guy. It’s his turn now."

Leclaire came to training camp ready to prove that he is capable of the lead role.

"I wanted to have a great camp," Leclaire said. "Not to make reporters happy, but because I wanted to come here, get to know the new guys, have some fun and get ready for the season. I wanted to play well, of course. And I think I did."

Actually, Leclaire dominated, going 3-0 with a .957 save percentage and a 1.20 goals-against average in exhibition games.

The expectations have never been higher.

"You don’t want to put too much pressure on a young guy, but Pazzy has shown us that he can handle the situation," Gallant said. "I look at young guys like (Carolina’s) Cam Ward and (Buffalo’s) Ryan Miller and how they played last season (in the Eastern Conference finals) and it makes me have even more confidence that a young guy can have a season like that."

Malarchuk can’t harness his optimism.

"This year is going to be great for Pascal," he said. "I can see it in his mental makeup. I can see it in his attitude, his confidence, the way other guys are interacting with him.

"I just have a really good feeling about this."

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[Burly08016]

Buck,,,with Rusty back now, and Hainsey getting big PP minutes and the two seemingly being paired together, how do you think they will be defensively? I was thinking that Rusty would have a shot at breaking out offensively this year but now I'm not so sure (Hainsey). Let me know what you think of them offensively as well.
Thank you.

[Svatos40]

Z already has two goals in his first game back, one on the man advantage, one even strength. Very good return for Zherdev so far.

[Buckeye]

Brule sits as healthy scratch
Highly touted rookie held out to make room for Zherdev
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
By Aaron Portzline THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Blue Jackets center Gilbert Brule, touted as a Calder Trophy candidate this season as the NHL’s top rookie, was a healthy scratch last night against Phoenix.

"You don’t want to scratch anybody. This is the tough part of my job," coach Gerard Gallant said.

"But my job early in the season is to play the guys who can help us beat Phoenix."

The Jackets had to make room in the lineup for right winger Nikolai Zherdev, who made his 2006-07 debut last night after signing a contract late in training camp.

Zherdev joined the No. 2 forward line with left winger Fredrik Modin and center Alexander Svitov, shifting right winger Anson Carter down to the No. 3 line with left winger Jason Chimera and center Manny Malhotra.

Dan Fritsche, who had played with Chimera and Malhotra, took Brule’s spot at center on the No. 4 line, with left winger Jody Shelley and right winger Jaroslav Balastik.

Brule said he wasn’t surprised, even though it’s the first time he’s been a healthy scratch since he started playing hockey.

"I only played a couple of shifts (Saturday against Chicago)," he said. "I’m disappointed, I guess. I want to be out there. I want to help us win, and I think I can do that."

The Blue Jackets’ plans with Brule are unclear, but his fortunes could change soon. Fritsche left last night’s game because of a shoulder injury.

Brule has up to two years of junior hockey eligibility, should the Blue Jackets decide to return him to the Vancouver Giants of the Western Hockey League.

At 19, he isn’t old enough to play in the American Hockey League.

Not that the Jackets are thinking in those terms yet.

"(A healthy scratch) is not going to hurt him," Gallant said. "His attitude is fine. He’s worked really hard, he really has.

"Gilbert’s going to be a great player, and everybody understands that."

[Buckeye]

Gallant plans harder practices
Ugly loss after long layoff prompts coach’s decision
Monday, October 16, 2006
Aaron Portzline
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

It won’t be an easy week for the Blue Jackets, even though they don’t have a game until the weekend.

After the 5-0 loss to the Minnesota Wild on Saturday night in the Xcel Energy Center, coach Gerard Gallant said he’ll seek new ways to keep the players game-ready during another long stretch without a game.

The Blue Jackets had four days off before the debacle Saturday, when the Wild made them look more rusty than rested.

"I hope it wasn’t (the layoff)," Gallant said. "Because now we’ve got five days before we play again. We’ll have some good, hard practices this week, and hopefully we’ll be ready to go. More ready than we were (Saturday), for sure."

The Blue Jackets return to practice today after a day off yesterday. They don’t play again until Friday, when they play host to the Toronto Maple Leafs in Nationwide Arena.

"It’s not easy to play one game a week," right winger Anson Carter said. "Ideally, you’d like to play every other night.

"But we can’t use that as an excuse. I mean, it’s the schedule. It’s not going to change. We’re professionals. It’s our job to deal with it. It’s our job to be ready to play."

Not ideal

Blue Jackets goaltender Fredrik Norrena made his NHL debut Saturday, replacing Pascal Leclaire with 5:57 left in the second period. The Jackets were down 4-0 when Norrena entered.

"Not the perfect situation," he said. "But that’s part of the game for a backup. You have to be ready to step in when they need you.

"For me, personally, it was good to get a few pucks, make a few saves. Now I’m more ready for next time."

Norrena made 11 of 12 saves.

Brule’s play

Rookie center Gilbert Brule played almost 11 minutes Saturday, the most he has played this season.

For long stretches of the game, Brule was the Blue Jackets’ best player, and Gallant rewarded him by giving him ice time with all four forward lines.

"He was all right," Gallant said. "He competed. He worked hard. It’s hard for me to say too good things about anybody after a game like this, but, yeah, he was all right."

Brule had three shots on goal, second only to David Vyborny’s four. He also had a highlight-reel hit, separating Minnesota’s Pavol Demitra from the puck at center ice.


Slap shots


The Blue Jackets’ top power play unit the past two games has included Rick Nash, David Vyborny and Nikolai Zherdev – three wingers – down low. It’s not ideal. Vyborny takes most of the faceoffs in that scenario, but he’s a lifetime 29.5 percent face winner, including only 3 of 14 (21.4 percent) this season. … In the words of Wild coach Jacques Lemaire, forward Mattias Weinhandl will be "out a while" after getting crushed by Jackets center Manny Malhotra early in the second period. Weinhandl, who has 10 percent vision in his left eye, never saw Malhotra coming. … Defenseman Adam Foote still has swelling and bruising over his left eye after getting struck by an errant puck during warm-ups on opening night. "Never saw it coming," Foote said. "It felt like a baseball bat." Foote has 12 stitches under the eye, 15 above the eye. "I was on the table for 40 minutes," he said. "And yet I know I got off pretty lucky, really."


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[Buckeye]

Brule told he can relax
MacLean in no hurry to send center back to juniors for more seasoning
Sunday, October 15, 2006
Aaron Portzline
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Blue Jackets president and general manager Doug MacLean said he sat down earlier this week with rookie center Gilbert Brule.

Brule has had a hard time finding playing time early this season, and rumors started cropping up last week in his hometown of Vancouver that Brule might be headed back to his junior club.

"I just wanted to make sure the kid’s not worried about anything he shouldn’t be worried about," MacLean said. "I told him to relax and play. Just play. And he told me that he’s fine, that all he wants is a chance to play."

MacLean then was hit with the $1 million question: Are the Blue Jackets planning to return Brule to juniors?

"For now, I would say no," MacLean said. "That’s not something we’ve even discussed."

But, MacLean acknowledged, it hasn’t been entirely ruled out, either.

Brule was pegged as the Blue Jackets’ No. 2 center at the start of training camp. He didn’t have a bad camp, but he didn’t have as good a camp as Alexander Svitov, Geoff Platt or Dan Fritsche, all of whom play center.

Svitov holds down the No. 2 center spot with left winger Fredrik Modin and right winger Nikolai Zherdev. Platt is playing in Syracuse. Fritsche is out at least another week because of a shoulder injury.

So Brule, who was dropped to the No. 4 line for the first two games of the season and scratched for the third, was back in the lineup last night when the Blue Jackets played the Minnesota Wild.

Can the Blue Jackets find enough ice time for Brule to justify keeping him in the NHL?

"That’s the major issue," MacLean said. "We’ve got to do what’s right for the kid."

On the flip side, is there anything Brule can gain from a fourth season of major junior hockey?

"That’s the other issue," MacLean said. "Those are the two big things we’ve got to juggle here."

There are also financial ramifications.

If Brule plays a 10 th game this season in the NHL, the first year of his entry-level contract would be engaged. The Blue Jackets wouldn’t have to keep paying him if he went back to Vancouver, but his current contract would expire in 2008-09 instead of bumping back another season.

Perhaps a bigger milestone in the Blue Jackets’ decision-making process is the 41-game mark.

If Brule is on the Blue Jackets’ roster for the 41 st game of the season – Jan. 5 in Anaheim – he’d be credited with a year of NHL service, re: one year closer to unrestricted free agency.

Brule earned a year of NHL service last season, when two serious injuries kept him on the Blue Jackets’ roster until Jan. 17.

For his part, Brule has kept a low profile.

"All the other stuff is out of my control," Brule said earlier in the week. "What’s in my control is on the ice. I’ve got to make the most of the opportunity."

[Buckeye]

Brule finds home centering first line
Rookie solidifies roster spot with 3 solid games
Monday, October 23, 2006
Aaron Portzline
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

It looks as if rookie center Gilbert Brule is in the NHL to stay.

Brule has been, in the eyes of president and general manager Doug Mac-Lean, the Blue Jackets’ best player during their current three-game losing streak.

In a 5-3 loss Saturday to Pittsburgh, Brule played a career-high 17 minutes, 37 seconds, scored his first goal of the season and looked right at home on the No. 1 line, between Rick Nash and David Vyborny.

"All we want to do is what’s best for Gilbert and what’s best for us," MacLean said yesterday. "Right now, it’s best for the Blue Jackets that he’s playing here, and it’s best for him to be here, too. His last three games for us have been real solid."

Brule said his confidence has soared recently with the increased playing time.

"I’m more confident with the puck; I’m carrying it more," Brule said. "Obviously playing with Nash and Vyborny is a treat for me. I think I’m starting to get back into things, playing the way I’m able to play. If I get more games here, I’m just going to get better and better."

Picard on the way

The Blue Jackets recalled winger Alexandre Picard from Syracuse of the American Hockey League. He’ll be in the lineup tonight against the San Jose Sharks.

"When I sent Alexandre down at the end of training camp, I told him, quite honestly, that he didn’t deserve to go down," MacLean said. "He had a real good camp. He just needed to play."

Picard likely will play on the fourth line, replacing Jody Shelley or Jaroslav Balastik.

"Gerard wants some energy," Mac-Lean said. "We’ll see how it plays out, where he fits."

[Buckeye]

Blue Jackets look to Fedorov to provide spark with return
Monday, October 23, 2006
Aaron Portzline
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Once again, the Blue Jackets will turn to center Sergei Fedorov to get them out of an early season funk.

Fedorov, who hasn’t played this season after suffering a shoulder injury in training camp, has been medically cleared and likely will play tonight when the Blue Jackets meet the San Jose Sharks in Nationwide Arena.

During practice yesterday, Fedorov told trainer Chris Mizer while on the ice that he was "ready to go." After practice, he stayed on the ice with left winger Jody Shelley, the two bouncing into each other and half-checking each other into the boards to test Fedorov’s strained right shoulder.

Who said enforcers aren’t necessary in the new NHL?

"I’m a player, and I want to be playing, no doubt," Fedorov said. "But the excitement of being so close can cloud a realistic point of view. I have to do what the doctors tell me."

Blue Jackets president and general manager Doug MacLean said shortly after practice that Fedorov had been cleared. The forward lines earlier during practice seemed to indicate as much.

Coach Gerard Gallant had Fedorov skating between left winger Fredrik Modin and right winger Nikolai Zherdev, choosing to keep intact the other scoring line of left winger Rick Nash, center Gilbert Brule and right winger David Vyborny.

Which is the No. 1 line?

"Hopefully, we’ll have two lines that play like No. 1 lines," Gallant said. "I liked the game Brule played on Saturday a lot. That line can be dangerous, and we all know what Sergei can do."

Gallant acknowledged the Blue Jackets need Fedorov more now than ever. First is the matter of the game tonight. The Sharks are a fast and gifted team, with two world-class centers in Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau. Fedorov’s strength up the middle would help even the playing field.

But there’s the bigger picture, too. The Jackets have lost three straight games, turning in wildly inconsistent and disappointing efforts to land in a familiar spot for the sixth-year franchise — 13 th place in the Western Conference.

The Blue Jackets played with noticeably more effort Saturday in a 5-3 loss to the Penguins but still looked disjointed, unorganized and unsure of themselves. They took too many penalties, fell behind early and never had the lead.

In fact, the Blue Jackets have looked remarkably similar to the 2005-06 team before Fedorov was acquired from Anaheim on Nov. 15, 2005. The team was 5-13-0 before Fedorov, then went 30-30-4.

"Sergei’s a huge part of this hockey club," Gallant said. "He’s so steady in every phase of the game. He just kind of settles everybody down, makes everybody else better. If he’s ready to go, we’re close to being a complete team now, and when we’re healthy, we feel like we can compete with anybody in the league."

Fedorov acknowledged the Blue Jackets’ three-game losing streak "makes me want to play even more."

The Blue Jackets are 2-3-1. Fedorov has watched every game closely.

"I won’t be 100 percent right away, but I want to be strong on the puck, a positive player, on the plus side," Fedorov said. "It starts with good habits."

But he wouldn’t give a six-game critique of the club.

"You have to put it out there on the ice for everybody to see it, then you can say something," Fedorov said. "We all know what we have to be doing. When you lose three in a row, you have to play the next game better. That’s all you can do to get it turned around.

"We’ll settle down a bit, play a little bit looser, work with each other."


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[Buckeye]

The Jackets’ top line from last year made its first appearance of the season during practice as left winger Rick Nash teamed with center Sergei Fedorov and right winger Nikolai Zherdev.

The second line was Fredrik Modin, Manny Malhotra and David Vyborny, and the third Jaroslav Balistik, Alexander Svitov and Anson Carter. Jody Shelley, Gilbert Brule and Fritsche filled the fourth.

Coach Gerard Gallant likely will shuffle the third and fourth lines depending on the health of Jason Chimera and Alexandre Picard.

[Buckeye]

‘What’s my line?’ new game for Jackets
Gallant decides to make wholesale changes to shake up meek offense
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Michael Arace
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Gerard Gallant spent his summer doing what all NHL coaches do when they’re not cleaning their golf spikes or cracking lobsters. He juggled lines in his mind’s eye until something clicked.

When the Blue Jackets play their next game, against the Blues on Thursday night in St. Louis, Gallant will put on ice the product of his summer fancy.

The lines, left to right, at practice yesterday:

Nikolai Zherdev-Sergei Fedorov-Anson Carter;

Fredrik Modin-David Vyborny-Rick Nash;

Jason Chimera-Manny Malhotra-Dan Fritsche.

Jody Shelley-Alexander Svitov/Gilbert Brule-Steven Goertzen.

"Obviously, I didn’t see David Vyborny at center, and I didn’t see Carter (acquired in September)," Gallant said, "but when I was horsing around, this is how I saw the lines."

Gallant has done a lot of line juggling. Carter, for instance, has played with five centers, including Mark Hartigan, now with Syracuse of the American Hockey League.

The Blue Jackets have scored fewer goals (28) than any other team in the league, and they were supposed to be an offensive dynamo. They have lost seven of their past nine games.

"I like every one of those guys I’ve played with, and I’ll go with whatever we have," Fedorov said. "The purpose is to try something else. I think it’s a normal circumstance after a loss."

There’s a little more weight to the latest changes, because there’s a lot of shifting involved. Zherdev goes from right to left wing, Nash from left to right, Vyborny from right to center.

These are the team’s top threats and, one might say, they’re being moved from more comfortable positions.

Gallant looks at it differently.

"The top six are the guys who should be comfortable playing there," he said. "I would have loved to have had it that way from game one, but some guys weren’t playing well and some guys were hurt. But I like the look of our team now, except for the fact that (injured defensemen) Duvie Westcott and Bryan Berard are out of the lineup. I like the makeup of the forwards."

Rather than experimenting with Malhotra and Svitov among the top six, Gallant has put his scorers together and, by extension, reassembled his third-line energy guys and fourth-line physical guys. Position — left wing, right wing, center — is secondary.

Zherdev has played a lot of left wing in his career.

"He might even prefer it," Gallant said.

Nash played right wing in Europe during the lockout and was amenable to a switch. He’s in the midst of one of the longest goalless streaks of his career, nine games, and is amenable to anything.

"I wouldn’t say it’s eating me up right now," he said, "but it’s frustrating because I want to help the team win."

Vyborny prefers the right wing, and he’s not a world-class faceoff guy, but he’s not a stranger to center.

"I don’t really care as long as we play good offense," Vyborny said.

Carter is now back among the top six, which is where everyone envisioned him when he signed a free-agent contract on the eve of training camp.

"We’ve got to play a few together before we can say how it goes," Carter said.

"But the main thing is we’ve got to win some games. We can’t do the same things over and over and lose and just accept it."

This is more than a line juggling. The aim is to more clearly define roles, to remove the muddle.

"You can mix and match the top six, but this is pretty close to what I had when I was thinking about it over the summer," Gallant said. "This is where I think people belong."


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[Buckeye]

GOALIE IN CHARGE
Norrena brings an aggressive approach to the game, and now the Jackets have another option
Thursday, December 07, 2006
Aaron Portzline
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

DENVER — Growing up in Pietarsaari, Finland, Fredrik Norrena was a playmaking, goal-scoring center. It wasn’t until his early teens, when his club was short on goaltenders and absent of volunteers, that Norrena donned the bulky pads and headed for the other end of the ice. A distinguished career was born that day, but Norrena’s instincts, his love for playing with the puck on his stick, never died. And it is that combination that led him to back-to-back shutouts for the Blue Jackets, including an eye-popping 42 saves Tuesday in a 3-0 victory over the Colorado Avalanche in the Pepsi Center. Three days earlier, he had 21 saves in a 4-0 victory over Edmonton.

"Freddy is so confident with the puck," defenseman Anders Eriksson said. "You see it, even on five-on-threes, when he goes behind the net and plays the puck, rims it around or makes the right pass to get it out of trouble.

"It took us defensemen a little while to get used to playing with him back there, because he doesn’t want you to come and get the puck, he wants you to peel off so he can get it to you.

"He’s like an extra defensemen back there, like a Patrick Roy, in the way he plays the puck."

Easy now, Anders. Patrick Roy?

"I mean that," Eriksson said. "Patrick loved to have the puck. He felt comfortable with it, and he was able to defuse all kinds of situations."

Norrena’s confidence shows in other ways, too.

First, he’s known as a talker, a goalie who will shout instructions to defensemen with their backs to the play as well as pick-me-up comments when players skate near the goal.

Also, he loves to challenge shooters. He does not shrink into the net.

In the second period Tuesday, with Avs center Joe Sakic coming through the faceoff dot alone with the puck, Norrena came charging out, a good 5 feet from the goal mouth, to snuff out Sakic’s wrist shot before it was launched.

Sakic’s take: "Pretty good play right there."

Norrena made a similar play on Milan Hejduk later in the period, during which the Avalanche took 21 shots.

Hejduk’s take: "He’s a hot goaltender right now, no question about it."

The Blue Jackets needed Norrena to get their first-ever regulation victory over Colorado.

"He’s a very experienced goaltender," coach Ken Hitchcock said. "He’s 33 years old. He’s knows what the energy is, what the tempo is. He’s a sharp guy.

"All I know is, the three times I saw him in international play, I thought he was exceptional. I’ve now seen him in about four hockey games here, and he has played very well for us. But to me, this is not surprising."

The Blue Jackets now have a good problem on their hands, heading into their game Saturday in St. Louis.

Pascal Leclaire has played well lately, stopping 61 of 64 shots in the first two games of the trip, losses to Vancouver and Calgary. He is the No. 1 guy, the future of the franchise, etc. But Norrena is the hottest goaltender in the NHL right now. It would be hard to rest him, especially for a club in dire need of victories.

It’s worth noting that after the game Tuesday, several Jackets frontoffice types went out of their way to say the team has two good goaltenders, hoping to steer the hockey world from believing that Norrena has supplanted Leclaire as the club’s No. 1 goaltender.

"We’re in a great situation," right winger Anson Carter said. "We have two No. 1’s, as far as I’m concerned. Freddy isn’t well known in North America, but he has a great track record in Europe, and Pascal is a real good, young goaltender.

"It puts us in a great situation where they both want to try and one-up each other."

Norrena doesn’t enjoy talking about himself. Asked Tuesday to pick his best save against the Avalanche, he actually blushed. Then he laughed.

"I don’t really know," Norrena said. "Lot of saves.

"They had a lot of shots, but — just like the other night in Edmonton — I saw almost all of the pucks, and the guys did a great job clearing the rebounds. I just felt really comfortable back there."


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[Buckeye]

All is right, even at home
Jackets improve win streak to four, set club record with five power-play goals
Monday, December 11, 2006
Michael Arace
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Coach Ken Hitchcock credits the players, and vice versa. Someone is to blame for this. The Blue Jackets have reached a point where, if they lose a shutout in the second or third period, it’s a surprising development.

So it was, again, last night. The Blue Jackets frustrated a highly skilled Ottawa Senators team, and when the Senators finally managed a goal, the fans headed for the exits in Nationwide Arena. How surreal was this? There is an odd denouement, now, to the daily whippings.

The Blue Jackets pumped in five power-play goals, a franchise record for one game, and rolled to a 6-2 victory. A crowd of 15,797 was on hand. If that wasn’t a huge throng to welcome the team home, the Jackets didn’t quibble. They just went out and did their part to rebuild the relationship.

The Blue Jackets (10-16-2) played their previous five on the road. They lost two by o ne-goal margins, then won three in a row by a combined score of 12-1. They hadn’t played within the friendly confines in 15 days, and they heralded their return by stretching their winning streak to four games and putting their new identity in a glowing light.

"Every line out there can score right now, and we still have Z (injured forward Nikolai Zherdev) back there somewhere," right winger David Vyborny said. "We trust every night, every line, and now we know we can beat anyone. It’s not just talking about it in the locker room, it’s happening on the ice."

Ten Blue Jackets players picked up at least a point last night. Wingers Rick Nash and Dan Fritsche had two goals apiece. Defenseman Ron Hainsey had the first three-point game of his career with a goal and two assists. Center Manny Malhotra had a goal. Defenseman Anders Eriksson and Vyborny each had two assists. Forwards Anson Carter, Jason Chimera and Sergei Fedorov and defenseman Aaron Johnson each had an assist. Granted, the Sens (15-14-1) were without two of their best players, winger Daniel Alfredsson and defenseman Wade Redden, who are injured. Granted, they had lost their two previous games.

What the Jackets saw was an alien Eastern Conference team, coming off a tough loss at home, laying in wait. What the Jackets saw was an extremely talented team that put together two four-game winning streaks in a recent span of 18 days. And the Jackets were coming back home, where they’ve been known to make sawdust of their sticks.

"I think we’re finding composure in competitive areas," Hitchcock said. "We’re playing with a level of intensity, where before we were just playing with a level of emotion. When you play with emotion (alone), you end up staring at the puck, you make mistakes chasing people around the rink. We can gather ourselves from shift to shift now. We couldn’t do that before."

Goaltender Pascal Leclaire stood up to some spirited forays until he suffered a lower-body injury, perhaps a groin or a knee, late in the second period. At that point, the Blue Jackets led 5-0. They had taken the best shots, and the stupidest shots, the Senators could muster, and they had their opponent thoroughly frustrated.

How frustrated? Brian McGrattan clipped Jody Shelley, who won the ensuing fight. Dany Heatley took slashing and high-sticking penalties, Antoine Vermette got a double-minor for high sticking, Joe Corvo was hit with an unsportsmanlike conduct and Andrej Meszaros took a major and was thrown out of the game for running Alexandre Picard into the glass. The Jackets set up their power play, and neither Senators starting goaltender Martin Gerber nor his replacement, Ray Emery, was able to thwart it.

"They’re a skilled team, and we wanted to jump on them and get them frustrated," Fritsche said. "That’s what happened."

It’s not as easy as it sounds right now, but everything is working. The next challenge is going back on the road with more injuries. Captain Adam Foote (lower body injury) might be able to go Tuesday in Dallas, but Leclaire is doubtful.


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[Buckeye]

Fans who wrote off Blue Jackets’ season need to think again
Monday, December 11, 2006
BOB HUNTER

Introductions would seem to be in order. The fans who went to Nationwide Arena last night saw the same Columbus players they had seen before. They didn’t see the same Blue Jackets team.
Regular viewers of the TV show Extreme Makeover might not have been shocked by what they saw — hey, those human morph jobs border on science fiction — but everybody else had to be wondering how these guys could possibly be those guys. The Columbus team that lost seven straight before Ken Hitchcock took over 2½ weeks ago and the one that beat Ottawa 6-2 last night don’t even bear a faint resemblance to each other.

This is no parlor trick. This makeover is more than a little makeup, a girdle and a pouffy wig. The names are the same, but since Hitchcock became coach eight games ago, the Jackets have become a different team.

"We are," Anson Carter said. "We have a little better focus right now. We have a lot more poise, a lot more patience. We’re playing with better hockey sense. Guys in this room always worked hard, but now, we’re combining that work ethic that was here before with working smart, and we’re getting results."

The numbers don’t lie. Since Hitchcock came down from the mountain — OK, maybe I am being a tad dramatic here — the Blue Jackets are 5-3, including four straight wins. A dramatic improvement in offense, much of which has been created from the defensive end, demands attention.

Before Hitchcock, the Jackets worked like madmen to score one lousy goal. Now the goals seem to appear out of nothingness, in part because the players always seem to be in the right position to score. Since Hitchcock took over, the Jackets have outscored opponents 26-12, and 12 players have scored.

The past four games have been even more amazing: The Blue Jackets have outscored opponents 18-3.

If you think about where the Jackets were a scant two weeks ago, it seems hard to believe.

"It’s not hard to believe," Carter said. "This is why I signed here. This is the kind of potential I saw."

But seriously, remember those poor guys — these guys — with the 5-13-2 record?

Can a new system really change all that?

"I think there was a skill level here that’s a good skill level," Hitchcock said. "There were good components put here. I think a lot of people saw that, but I think to even get a chance to see what we had, we needed to play a better team game to make it easier on ourselves.

"I think now we’re playing better as a team, so our skills are starting to show. We’re not chasing the game, we’re not chasing the puck all over the rink now. We’ve got good players. The thing that has surprised me is that we’ve become a good team quicker than I think anybody probably in hockey thought we would."

They seem to have caught Columbus fans unaware. After a 12-day trip that concluded with a three-game winning streak, there were only 15,797 in Nationwide Arena. A lot of fans apparently got the impression that the season was over, a notion that certainly isn’t shared by Hitchcock.

"To us, it’s just going on the road and getting points right now," Hitchcock said. "If we can just keep getting points on the road, it sets us up for great homestands coming back in. We’ve clawed our way into single digits from getting into the playoffs, and our goal is if we can keep having positive months like December is right now, four games over .500, then at the end of the day, we’re going to make a hell of a race of this thing."

The playoff race?

It seems crazy, but then, so does this.


Bob Hunter is a sports colum nist for The Dispatch

[Buckeye]

[McKinley]

Any news on Zherdev? I am really getting anxious.

[Buckeye]

mckinley said:

Any news on Zherdev? I am really getting anxious.

The team has been pretty quiet on Z's injury. I would love to see him get in on this scoring binge. He hasn't practiced with the team, but has been skating on his own.

[McKinley]

Not good news for fantasy owners This guy is just killing me, I'm trying to work him into a trade for another player right now, nobody wants him and my FA list is depleted.

[Buckeye]

Rematch with Wings to provide barometer
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Michael Arace
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Blue Jackets captain Adam Foote, out because of a lower-body injury believed to involve a hamstring, was a spectator Monday night in Nationwide Arena. He watched his mates score early, build a lead and hang on, for dear life, to a 4-3 victory over the Detroit Red Wings. It was like Billy Conn against Joe Louis, only Conn didn’t get KO’d in the 13 th. And it wasn’t a championship bout.

Foote rode the emotional waves with the rest of the crowd.

"It was a very big win, and one of the better ones to watch," Foote said. "We really dominated the first period, caught them on their heels, and then they opened the floodgates. They were definitely pressing us hard, but the guys dealt with it and got the big two points. It was quite a game."

Tonight, the teams meet again, this time in Detroit. Foote, who has missed four games, would give a whole ham, if not a hammy, to be on the ice.

"It’s better to jump back into a tough road game," Foote said. "You want to be there for the other guys, and those are the easy ones to get into. You have no choice. They (the Wings) are going to be flying."

Can the Blue Jackets withstand it?

They’re 7-4-2 with Ken Hitchcock as coach. They’ve beaten Edmonton, Colorado and Dallas on the road; Minnesota, Ottawa and Detroit at home.

"We’ve shown an ability to beat a lot of good teams," Hitchcock said. "We’ve played well against top teams. I think a four-point game for us now is against anyone who’s around us in the standings, anyone from the seventh to the 13 th seed (in the Western Conference). We’re eight points in back with a game in hand, which is more than manageable. But we’ve got to improve. We’ve got to get better."

As of yesterday, the Jackets were eight points behind Vancouver and Calgary, who were holding the seventh and eighth places on the conference ladder. The Jackets were in 13 th place, with four teams between them and the last playoff spot. Is it folly, if you live in Columbus, to read the standings in such a manner? Not for Hitchcock.

"I really believe that if every month is a positive month, at the end of the day that’s going to put us right back in the race," he said.

The Jackets went 3-5-1 in October, 3-10-1 in November and they’re 6-2-1 in December. They’re in a busy holiday stretch in which they can get points, or lose them, in bunches. Meanwhile, they’re getting accustomed to a new coach, a new system and different expectations. A home-and-home with the Red Wings, at this juncture, becomes a riveting litmus test.

"The momentum, the hunger, you can feel it coming back (Monday) night," said goaltender Fredrik Norrena, who rebounded from two middling outings with a sterling effort against the Wings.

Hitchcock said, "The best thing about playing Detroit is you know the things you have to work on to get better because they challenge a lot of aspects of your team game. The first challenge is you know, going in, that you’re not going to have the puck as much as you do against other teams, and you’re going to have to be positionally very good. Any lack of defensive communication, they will exploit."

In other words, the Blue Jackets will have to find a way to combat the persistent and dangerous counterattacks that the Wings employ. They’ll have to find a way to get the puck through the middle with more alacrity than they did in the second and third periods Monday. They’ll have to find a way to more uniformly pressure in the Wings’ end. It’ll be a stern test, and an important one, as they try to scratch their way to their first positive month this season.


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Goalie rebounds after bad outings
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Michael Arace
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Goaltender Fredrik Norrena won five consecutive starts and, in the process, put himself among the league leaders in goals-against average and save percentage. Then he gave up four goals on 29 shots in Phoenix at the end of a long trip. Then he gave up five goals and was lifted after 20 minutes against Chicago on Saturday night.

He got back on track with a sterling 33-save performance in a 4-3 victory over the Detroit Red Wings on Monday. Among other highlight-reel saves, he poke-checked Henrik Zetterberg on a mini-breakaway, gloved a slap shot on a rush by Johan Franzen and turned back a two-on-one with a stick save on Daniel Cleary. These were all third-period stops.

"Norrena played for us unbelievably. I think he should have been the No. 1 star," said Sergei Fedorov, the game’s No. 1 star.

Norrena wasn’t among The Dispatch’s three stars, but it wasn’t like he cared. He’s a rookie — a 33-year-old rookie with more than 350 European league games under his belt, not to mention his experience in international competitions. He learned to subjugate his emotions a long time ago.

"It’s nice to play against great teams, that’s for sure, but the points have the same value," Norrena said. "This is a team thing. It was a nice win after a couple of losses."

Norrena was asked whether he needed a strong performance for confidence reasons.

He said, "No."

He paused and added, "It’s a game. I can look at the other games, especially the Chicago game, at the goals. I would probably do the same things on every sequence. Chicago scored some nice goals. They’re on fire. Was it us that made them hot? I don’t know.

"There’s a couple of goals in Phoenix I probably should have had, but it’s too late for that. Work hard and move on."

Not going there

Three years after leaving Detroit for a free-agent contract in Anaheim, Fedorov remains the target of hundreds of boo birds in Joe Louis Arena. He’ll face them again tonight.

Asked whether beating the Wings on Monday night had a little extra oompf for him, he stuck to his game-oriented talking points.

"It’s never easy to beat a team like Detroit; they’re a good puck-possession team," Fedorov said. "Hopefully, your system works and you rely on your teammates. That’s the way we played. It was exciting."

Disa and data

Defenseman Adam Foote (lower-body injury), who has missed four games, had a full practice. He’s questionable for tonight. "I’m closer," he said. "Every day, I’ve felt better and better." Coach Ken Hitchcock said, "For us, the deal with Foote is how he feels the next day." … Goaltender Pascal Leclaire (knee) had a half-practice. Like Foote, he has been out for just more than a week. Hitchcock said, "(Leclaire) is not ready. He might be later in the week."


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Jackets get best of physical clash
Monday, January 01, 2007
Michael Arace
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Hockey games can be beautiful. They can be resplendent with speed, skill and scoring, with hair flying behind the forwards’ helmets and the goaltenders flashing their pads and the fans rising from their seats to hold their heads and say, "wow." Last night’s game in Nationwide Arena was not one of those.

The Blue Jackets and the Chicago Blackhawks, both clawing their way up the Western Conference ladder using pickaxes, met in a hard clash and the Jackets won 3-1 with an empty-netter thrown in at the end by Duvie Westcott. These teams have been reborn under new coaches and, in the third period, Ken Hitchcock of Columbus and Denis Savard were seen red-faced and angry, and craning to scream at one another. The reason is immaterial. The action is all-telling.

"Hitch is a good man and I have a lot of respect for him," Savard said. "It’s an emotional game and maybe a rivalry is getting created here, and that’s good."

The home team’s best players — Rick Nash and Sergei Fedorov — were dominant forces, particularly Nash, who had one assist but could have had many points on a night when he repeatedly pounded the opposition and threatened to score.

Fedorov and Manny Malhotra scored for the Blue Jackets. Goaltender Fredrik Norrena had 21 saves, controlled his rebounds and credited the defense in front of him. Thus did the Blue Jackets finish December with a 9-5-2 record, marking the best month in franchise history.

They’re 10-7-2 under Hitchcock. The Blackhawks are 9-5-3 since Savard stepped behind their bench Nov. 29. Both clubs consider the playoffs a possibility.

"We competed like (heck)," Hitchcock said. "I know the players are happy, I know they’re tired, but that’s the way we have to play to win."

The Blackhawks were the better team in the first period and they forced the Jackets to play from behind. The Blackhawks scored at 15 minutes, 23 seconds of the first on a shot from the point that pinballed through traffic. Martin Lapointe got the last tip and the puck hopped over Norrena’s right pad and trickled over the goal line.

Just 62 seconds into the second period, the Blue Jackets had a goal by Dan Fritsche waved off because Malhotra got nailed for goaltender interference. The Jackets killed off the penalty, got a power play of their own and scored in Orr-like fashion. Fedorov and Nash worked a give-and-go: Fedorov whipped a pass down the right side of the slot and crashed; Nash returned the pass to Fedorov, who was airborne when he redirected the puck past goalie Nikolai Khabibulin. That made it 1-1. The Blue Jackets scored again, this time at even strength, later in the second period. This was Malhotra’s goal, and he scored it on a flatwicked wrist shot from just above the right dot. That made it 2-1.

With a minute left in the period, Nash stole the puck and was gone on a three-line, shorthanded breakaway. He had Blackhawks defenseman James Wisniewski on his back, and Wisniewski needs a little more work in the weight room. Wisniewski took Nash down from behind, and Nash was given a penalty shot.

It was the first penalty shot awarded the Blue Jackets this season. Nash tried a series of dekes and wound up getting the puck poke-checked off his backhand. It was smart work by Khabibulin.

Nash was a rumbling presence all night. He had another short-handed breakaway, fed by Fedorov, early in the third period. He tried high glove and missed the net. Later in the third, he beat Wisniewski in a footrace to stave off an icing call, and Wisniewski thought he got charged or boarded and let the referee know about it. Wisniewski was whistled for unsportsmanlike conduct and, as the penalty was being assessed, Jackets center Alexander Svitov had a fight with, and beat the holy Hades out of, Blackhawks defenseman Duncan Keith. Moments after that, the Jackets had a power-play goal waved off because Nash used his hand to redirect a shot from the point by Ron Hainsey past Khabibulin.

In the middle of it all, the coaches were barking at one another. Happy New Year.


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Zherdev is stuck in neutral on the ice
Hitchcock says lack of competitiveness at root of problem
Wednesday, January 03, 2007
Aaron Portzline
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — Since Ken Hitchcock took over as coach of the Blue Jackets six weeks ago, almost every player has increased his productivity.

The exception would be the enigma, left winger Nikolai Zherdev.

In his past 13 games, Zherdev has no goals, two assists and a minus-10 rating. Remarkably, the Russian wunderkind, with only six goals and 14 points this season, is 10 th on the club in scoring, lagging behind the likes of third-liners Dan Fritsche and Jason Chimera and defensemen Ron Hainsey and Anders Eriksson.

During a time when just about everything is going right with the Blue Jackets, one has to wonder:

What’s wrong with "Z"?

"It’s all connected to competitiveness," Hitchcock said yesterday, as the Blue Jackets prepared to play the Los Angeles Kings tonight in the Staples Center.

"This is the same conversation we had about Rick Nash a month and a half ago, and Rick’s competitive level went way up really quickly, he started com- peting all over the ice.

"We need Nikolai to compete better, and when he does that, the scoring will take care of itself."

Hitchcock’s philosophy is that all good hockey starts with checking, that offense is created on the defensive end.

For Zherdev, it’s not just a matter of sweating more. It’s a matter of changing his DNA, from that of a Russian scoring wizard to a Russian scoring wizard who doesn’t mind backchecking — or checking at all, really — and isn’t afraid to stick his nose in traffic to score goals.

Zherdev admits that he has been slow to adjust.

"Like everybody else (since Hitchcock took over), I’ve had to adjust," Zherdev said, with interpretive help from center Sergei Fedorov. "I have to play more defense, more working defense.

"It’s very difficult for me, a new style. I played different hockey before. (The coaches) have put certain goals in front of me, and I’m trying to achieve them right now."

It doesn’t seem as though a language barrier is an issue anymore. Zherdev still struggles with English, but his teachers, according to Blue Jackets president and general manager Doug MacLean, have reported progress.

"When it’s really simple and defined, he really understands," Hitchcock said. "When it’s English vs. Russian, we use (center) Alexander Svitov a lot. When it’s a technical side of the game, we use Fedorov.

"Nikki understands the basic concepts of first, second or third forward. After that, the game is pretty universal."

The core issue, Hitchock contends, is getting Zherdev’s desire to match his skill.

Zherdev is on pace for a 30-point season, even though he has been among the Jackets’ top six forwards all season. He had 54 points last season, including 37 points in his last 39 games.

"This is the first time in Nik’s life, really, that he hasn’t scored on a consistent basis," Hitchcock said. "It makes you ponder if you’re a player: ‘What do I have to do to get to the level I want to be?’

"For a scoring player, there’s no other way to do it than to work hard. It’s determination. It’s going into hard areas to score. It’s just being an overall determined player. That’s how you score. Nikki is not there yet. He’s getting better, but he’s not there."


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[McKinley]

Oh my...oh my oh my oh my....

This doesn't sound good

[Buckeye]

Shelley no longer fights solo
Svitov, Tollefsen provide bruising elements if needed
Thursday, January 04, 2007
Aaron Portzline
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

LOS ANGELES — Left winger Jody Shelley remains the Blue Jackets’ enforcer, one of the top heavyweights in the NHL.

But heading into the game last night in Los Angeles, he was tied with two teammates — center Alexander Svitov and defenseman Ole-Kristian Tollefsen — with five major penalties for fighting this season.

The name that stands out in that trio is Svitov, not because he doesn’t like to fight but because he’s the Blue Jackets’ No. 2 center, a player who’s not as easily replaced as a fourth-line winger (Shelley) or a No. 5 or 6 defenseman (Tollefsen).

Svitov has dropped the gloves three times in the Blue Jackets’ previous six games before last night, and he led the club with 76 penalty minutes.

Coach Ken Hitchcock has no problem with the way Svitov has applied himself physically. In fact, he has been quite impressed.

"Svitov is a guy who’s playing a very abrasive style," Hitchcock said. "He’s hard on the puck. He’s hard on people. The fights you’re seeing with Svitov, they’re happening because the way he’s playing is getting people angry with him.

"I don’t see it as an issue. We have a number of people we can stick in there for a shift or two. (Rookie center Gilbert) Brule can spell him for a couple of shifts with no problem."

Hitchcock has left the decision to drop the gloves with all of his players — on one condition.

"My only red light is based on the score," Hitchcock said. "When we’re up and in control of a game and a certain point of the game, I don’t want to see it. I don’t want to see anything that’s going to risk giving away the momentum."

More on ‘ Z ’

During right winger Nikolai Zherdev’s scoring slump, even his signature moves — the toe-drag, dipsy-do, puck-between-thelegs specials — haven’t worked.

The reason? Word has spread, just as fast as the highlight films.

"When you come into the league, you don’t have a target on your back," Hitchcock said. "After a while, when you start scoring, especially the kind of goals that embarrass the other team, you get a target.

"The things you got away with a year ago aren’t going to happen for you. When he’s on the ice, people pay attention. So he’s not going to surprise anybody."

Klesla cleared

Defenseman Rostislav Klesla deemed himself fit to play after the morning skate.He had missed two games because of a bruised left foot.

"It’s still painful," Klesla said. "But it’s the kind of pain I can go through."

Hitchcock paired Klesla with Tollefsen last night.

[McKinley]

The news on Zherdev just doesn't get any better does it?