Columbus BlueJackets Thread

[Sack]

He's old and he averaged a point per 4+games last year...welcome aboard!!!

Yeah if this was 7 years ago, I would be excited.

Actually, the one radio guy here who follows hockey thinks that this is a good, cheap signing and that Moreau will go on the third line with RJ and Paulsson. Whatever, BRING IN OVECHKIN!!!

[paddio]

It will be good to have Filatov back...we need him!

Filatov geared up for return
Thursday, July 15, 2010 02:54 AM
By Aaron Portzline
The Columbus Dispatch


Blue Jackets development coach Tyler Wright has returned from Russia with good news regarding Nikita Filatov.

Filatov, considered the top prospect outside the NHL by The Hockey News only one year ago, is working out daily, excited to return to the NHL this season, and planning to arrive in Columbus in early or mid-August, about a month ahead of the Blue Jackets' training camp.

That was the messaged delivered from Wright to general manager Scott Howson, who has decreed that all public comments by the organization regarding Filatov will run through him.

"The trip went very well," Howson said. "Tyler worked out with him, saw him working out and had lots of conversations with Nikita.

"Tyler was extremely impressed - and he's not easily impressed - with how hard Nikita is working."

Filatov has always favored a "natural" strength-training program, such as running in sand, dragging fallen trees and lifting and pushing boulders. He has not touched base with strength and conditioning coach Kevin Collins, but his body is filling out.

He weighs 187 pounds, Howson said, about 5 pounds heavier than when he arrived at training camp last fall.

"Nikita has always been in good shape," Howson said. "That's never been an issue. But 187 pounds is big enough to play in the NHL, yes, especially with his skill set."

New coach Scott Arniel plans to talk with Filatov by phone in the next few days, Howson said. Arniel has promised him a clean slate, and the Blue Jackets hope a new coaching staff will allow Filatov to succeed.

"From what Nikita has told Tyler, he's excited by the new direction we've taken with the coaching staff," Howson said.

Filatov, 20, did not have a good 2009-10 season by anybody's measure.

He left the Blue Jackets one month into the season because of dwindling playing time under previous coach Ken Hitchcock

In early January, while playing at the World Junior Championships in Saskatchewan, Filatov had his captain's "C" removed during a dismal tournament for Team Russia.

When asked if Filatov has matured in the past year, Howson paused.

"I don't have a good sense of that yet, either way," Howson said. "He went through a difficult year. That shapes you. That could be a very good thing for him."
Slap shots


Left winger Ethan Moreau will wear No. 19 this season. President Mike Priest said the Blue Jackets have sold the equivalent of 7,000 season tickets for 2010-11, roughly 3,200 behind where the club finished last season.

[Sack]

Sweeeeeeet...that is some very good news.

[paddio]

New Blue Jackets coach Scott Arniel plans to meet with team captain Rick Nash to find out where the winger wants to play this season.

Nash, a natural left winger, moved to the right side of the top line last season, as favor to former coach Ken Hitchcock, to accommodate winger Kristian Huselius, who can't play on the right.

Unlike Hitchcock, Arniel is not wedded to keeping Nash and Huselius together, and if Nash elects to go back to the left side, that could elevate Jake Voracek to the top line. The way Voracek finished last season convinced lot of people that if he isn't ready for the top line, he will be soon.

Antoine Vermette and Derick Brassard will center the first two lines.

What helps this work is the flexibility of R.J. Umberger, who can play all three forward positions. Nikita Filatov is the wild card; the former first-round draft pick could challenge for a spot on the first two lines and create a good problem for Arniel

[paddio]

*

Camp will resolve questions on defense
Sunday, August 1, 2010 02:58 AM
By Aaron Portzline
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH



Six weeks from the start of training camp, the Blue Jackets' forward lines appear fairly well settled. Left winger Nikita Filatov is a bit of a wild card, but otherwise there is a clear delineation between the club's top six and bottom six forwards.

The group of defensemen, which could still be jolted by a trade in the coming weeks, is not nearly as resolved. The Blue Jackets have seven defensemen on one-way NHL contracts, but none of the starting six positions appears set, nor is it known who will play next to whom.

"I have some ideas I'm thinking of," Blue Jackets coach Scott Arniel said, "but I'll have to get a feel for what's best, and that's what we'll use the early part of training camp and the exhibition games to find out.

"Do you want a shutdown pair and an offensive pair, or do you want three pairs with equal parts of both? We just don't know yet how it's going to look back there." Part of the wrinkle, Arniel acknowledged, is that the Blue Jackets' back end is unbalanced - five left-handed shots and two right-handed shots.

"We're missing one right-handed defenseman," Arniel said. "So somebody (with a left shot) will have to be ready and willing to play on the right side."

The variables at play among those seven defensemen with one-way NHL contracts - Mike Commodore, Jan Hejda, Rostislav Klesla, Marc Methot, Kris Russell, Anton Stralman and Fedor Tyutin - are numerous. And that doesn't even include top prospect John Moore and minor-league veteran Grant Clitsome, who will battle for spots in training camp.

Klesla, who has established himself as a top-four defenseman after a slow start to his career, missed 56 games last season and 48 in 2008-09. If the Blue Jackets have learned one thing about Klesla the past two seasons, it's how much they miss him when he's gone.

"Rusty makes a big difference for us," Blue Jackets general manager Scott Howson said. "He logs a lot of minutes. He kills penalties. He plays against the other teams' best players. He can play against size and skill."

Commodore was on the No. 1 pair with Hejda two seasons ago but struggled through a miserable 2009-10 season. He blamed a failed off-season conditioning program that he has since avoided.

Russell emerged in the latter half of last season, using his wondrous skating ability to carry the puck and create offense. But is he ready for a spot in the top four? That's a big question.

The Blue Jackets plan to use Anton Stralman on the third pair this season, noting that he played top-four minutes last season only because of a wave of injuries to Klesla, Hejda and Commodore.

The most likely left shot to move to the right side is Klesla, who has played there in the past, usually next to Tyutin.

Blue Jackets assistant coach Brad Berry, who will handle the club's defensemen, is watching film from the final 41 games last season. He's looking for hints, not answers, heading into training camp, which starts Sept. 17.

"You start every guy with a fresh slate," Berry said. "A big part of it, to me, is these guys earning it, too, showing what they have in the exhibition season. You can go by the past, but it's really about what you're going to do in the future.

"I look at our group of guys, and there are a lot of good things there. I like the group. And with the young guys we have, there's room to grow."

Howson said he continues to speak with other NHL clubs about a trade that would balance the blue line and bring a little more offense into the mix. Blue Jackets defensemen contributed only 91 points (22 goals, 69 assists) at even strength last season, 23rd in the NHL.

Arniel plans to promote a faster style of play, in which the defensemen are encouraged to move the puck quickly up ice and join the rush.

First, he'll need to find spots and partners for everybody.

"We'll have three weeks in camp to get our answers," Arniel said.

Jackets blue line

The seven Blue Jackets defensemen who have one-way NHL contracts, with NHL career totals:


Player AGE GP G A PTS +/-
Mike Commodore 30 434 21 77 98 -2
Jan Hejda 32 264 7 49 56 +23
Rostislav Klesla 28 470 38 85 123 -60
Marc Methot 25 155 6 23 29 +3
Kris Russell 23 203 11 42 53 -19
Anton Stralman 24 161 10 46 56 -29
Fedor Tyutin 27 412 30 102 132 -12

[paddio]

Filatov returns after shaky departure
Winger will need to rebuild friendships
Wednesday, August 4, 2010 02:52 AM
By Aaron Portzline
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH


Blue Jackets left winger Nikita Filatov has never arrived in central Ohio this far ahead of training camp, but he has never had so much to prove, either.

General manager Scott Howson said Filatov was to land in Columbus last night, giving him six weeks to meet new faces, mend old fences and gear up for the start of camp Sept. 17.

"It's a great step for him to take," Howson said. "We've talked about him coming over early in prior seasons, and he has, but never this early."

It's unclear when Filatov will set foot in Nationwide Arena - it could be as soon as today, Howson said - but lots of folks will be waiting to greet him.

Coach Scott Arniel said he has played phone tag with Filatov but will now get to meet him when Arniel gets back to town Sunday. Strength and conditioning coach Kevin Collins will greet Filatov with a handshake and a fitness routine, hoping the Russian can add more bulk to his sculpted frame.

And a handful of teammates will no doubt want to discuss Filatov's departure from the Blue Jackets last November, when he signed a one-year loan agreement with CSKA Moscow of the Continental Hockey League.

Filatov rankled many in the dressing room, not only by leaving the club but also by making dismissive comments to the Russian media regarding the Blue Jackets.

"(Filatov) has some work to do with players, to rebuild the bridges," Arniel said. "This shows an initiative by him. It's a real good sign that he wants to make amends. If he would have shown up the day before training camp, hoping everything was hunky-dory, that would have been a big mistake."

Arniel has high hopes for Filatov, 20, who will start training camp with a clean slate and be given an opportunity to nail down a spot on one of the top two forward lines.

[Sack]

Welcome back, Comrade, now get ready to put up an 80 point season.

[paddio]

Welcome back, Comrade, now get ready to put up an 80 point season.

Amen to that!