SB Nation - Nikita Nikitin

Get to Know Adrian Aucoin

Matt Wagner — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 13:00:10 -0000

A bit of a surprise acquisition in free agency, Adrian Aucoin could be a major find for Scott Howson, much like the addition of Vinny Prospal to the team's forwards last season.

Position: Defense

Number: 33

Birthplace: Ottawa, ON (Canada)

Age: 39

2011-2012 Stats: 64 GP, 2 G, 7A (9 pts) +14, 42 PIM

Previous Team: Phoenix Coyotes

Who Columbus Gave Up: None - acquired as a UFA

Contract: 1 year, $2.25 million dollars. The team could negotiate another deal during the season, or wait until next summer if they want to retain him. Otherwise he'll be able to seek a new contract elsewhere on July 1st.

Strengths: Aucoin is known for being an excellent puck handler who has great "hockey sense". Despite his age, he's extremely solid in his own end. He can settle the play down easily and has a hammer of a shot when he gets the opportunity to use it. He's also surprisingly solid in the shootout for the same reason. Known for being a leader in Phoenix and Calgary, he's respected for his mentoring and work ethic.

Weaknesses: At 39, he's beginning to slow down, and his skating ability has never been regarded as top-tier. He tends to be a little less aggressive than many like to see from a "shut down" player, and he's frequently chided for not shooting the puck enough, though it's worth pointing out that Phoenix and Calgary both tended to pair him with more offensively minded partners the last few seasons.

The Bottom Line: Aucoin adds veteran experience and mentoring ability, much like Vinny. He's not going to accept anything less than top effort from anyone, including himself, while teaching guys like Ryan Murray, Tim Erixon, and Nikita Nikitin some of his tricks. I'd expect him to spend most of his time on the third pairing, but don't be surprised if he acts almost like an additional assistant coach in practices. I'd be interested to see if he spends some time on the PK units, and I'd love to see his howitzer in the shootout now and then as a surprise for opponents. Given his experience and history of leadership, I'd also bet he has a few lessons to pass along to guys like Derek Dorsett, Jack Johnson and James Wisniewski as they take up larger leadership roles in the room as well.

A few thoughts on Aucoin from Travis Hair over at Five for Howling:

Aucoin basically gets you what you'd expect in an older veteran d-man. He's not going to rack up many points nor is he going to be the fastest guy out there. However, he does a few things that many defensemen don't.

Chief among them would be you hardly ever find yourself yelling at him for missing coverage or making a boneheaded play. He's the perfect guy to have show your young players the ropes. For most of last season he was paired with Oliver Ekman-Larsson. That turned out pretty well for both of them as Aucoin's defensive focus allowed Ekman-Larsson to join the play more frequently. OEL has also cited Aucoin's guidance as one of the main reasons that jump to the NHL last year was so easy.

Finally, the last place Aucoin will be missed will be, oddly, in the shootout. He didn't do anything fancy, just blasted it from between the dots but no one could stop him. That got him the nickname "The Closer". Frankly the only reason Aucoin isn't back with the team is we have too many young guys that are very talented and need to start getting playing time. He's a great guy that just does his job and eats up minutes.

Sounds like exactly what this team needs to help cement their defense behind Wiz, JJ, Tyutin, and Niki6. I wouldn't be surprised if we see him logging 15-18 minutes a night and taking key defensive starts.

Shrapnel - 9/3/12

Matt Wagner — Mon, 03 Sep 2012 14:22:35 -0000

If you're in the US, happy Labor Day! Hope you're enjoying the holiday. If you're not inside the US, it's just Monday, and we apologize for that.

Speaking of labor, there's still no movement from the NHL or NHLPA after talks came to an abrupt end on Friday, but that hasn't stopped fan groups from trying to get fans together to send a message, even though there's little reason the Owners or Players will heed them.

In what could be a sign of optimism, the Red Wings did unveil a Winter Classic logo, but it's also been pointed out that this logo does not feature a year. At the same time, Ellen Etchingham talks about taking the game outside, and wondering if it's better suited for an all star style format.

Backhand Shelf also features some talk about labor economics, and Puck Daddy gets a guest post about marketing. Don't we sound all grown up?

Just to dial things back a bit, #CBJ takes us back to school with a plan to attend OSU hockey in case of a lockout, while Puck Rakers finally offers Fedor Tyutin's report card.

Over at Burnside Carbine, we've got "What to Expect" posts on Nikitin, Aucoin, Atkinson, and Gillies.

Over at DBJ, they're starting a new series to examine the team in detail, starting with the team's executives, and a call for J.P. Mac to vote "No" on a lockout. Symbolic or not, I suspect it would mean a lot to the fanbase if they saw their owner take that stand.

Finally, some hockey school for you courtesy of "The Coach" over at Union Blue, as he details what it means to play on the left or right side.

LBC's All-Time Florida Panthers Roster Countdown: 19. Mike Van Ryn

Kevin Kraczkowski — Thu, 30 Aug 2012 12:00:40 -0000

Greetings, salutations, and welcome back to the Wednesday installment of LBC's exclusive all-time Panthers countdown. If you need to know why some of your favorite players are falling lower than you'd like (or why some of your least favorite are coming in higher), click here for the details on the standards involved in this lists' compilation.

In yesterday's shout, we took a look back at natural left winger and native Detroitian David Booth (309 games, 87 goals, 80 assists). Today, we continued to climb the ladder to number one (and hopefully a season soon afterward) with a look into a defenseman from London, Ontario.

For even more creamy goodness, follow the following link.

19. Mike Van Ryn

Van Ryn was a 6'1" defenseman from London, Ontario. He had played one season of collegiate hockey with the Univeristy of Michigan in 1997-98 (38 games, four goals, 14 assists) when originally selected by the New Jersey Devils in the first round of the 1998 NHL Entry Draft, with the 26th overall pick. Instead of joining the Devils organization, Van Ryn played another season of college hockey (37 games, 10 goals, 13 assists) with the Wolverines. In 1999-00, he played 61 games with the OHL Sarnia Sting (six goals, 35 assists).

Van Ryn didn't like the status quo as it pertained to NHL's rights to collegiate players after a draft selection. According to wikipedia.org:

In June 2000, through a loophole, Van Ryn signed as a free agent with the St. Louis Blues. NHL teams retain the rights of drafted college players until they leave the school. Van Ryn challenged this practice in court and an arbitrator ruled that a player drafted off a college team could play one season of major junior hockey and then become a free agent. Thus after two years at the University of Michigan, Van Ryn went on to play one year for Sarnia Sting, and then became a free agent, which allowed him to sign a three-year deal with St. Louis.

Van Ryn opened the 2000-01 season as a member of the Blues, failing to score and ending the game with a minus-2 rating. He was sent down the St. Louis' AHL affiliate, the Worcester IceCats (37 games, three goals, 10 assists) soon afterward. The following season, he played a substantial portion of the year in each of the two clubs, scoring two goals with seven assists in 24 games with the IceCats and two goals with eight assists in 48 NHL contests with the Blues.

In 2002-03, Van Ryn was again splitting the season between Worcester (33 games, two goals, eight assists) and St. Louis (20 games, zero goals, three assists). The Blues sent him to Florida on March 11th for Valeri Bure and a fifth round draft pick (Nikita Nikitin). He would finish the season with the San Antonio Rampage, tabbing three assists in 11 games.

Van Ryn opened the 2003-04 season as a full-fledged NHLer for the first time. Out of 79 total games, he tabbed multiple points six times, including a season best three assists on April 4th in a 6-6 tie with the Carolina Hurricanes, the last tie in the history of the NHL (the New York Islanders and the Philadelphia Flyers also tied that night, 3-3). He led the team with an ATOI of 24:26, while leading the blueliners with 24 assists (third on the team). He scored a career high and team fifth best 13 goals on 136 shots, finishing tied for a team worst minus-16 rating.

As 2004-05 passed without hockey, so too did Van Ryn do without. Unlike most of his contemporaries, he took the season off, not playing anywhere. When play resumed in 2005-06, Van Ryn rejoined the Panthers, playing in a career high 80 games. In the sixth game of the season, he notched an assist on each of Florida's three goals in a 3-2 win over the Buffalo Sabres. He would duplicate the feat on February 28th as the Panthers mauled the Tampa Bay Lightning 8-2. In the last game of the season, he scored a season high two goals in a 2-1 win over the Atlanta Thrashers, on April 18th. In total, he scored eight goals on 129 shots with a career high and team fifth-best 29 assists. He averaged a team second best 22:36 TOI, finishing at a team second best plus-15 rating.

In 78 Panthers games in 2006-07, Van Ryn made two assists in five of them. He scored four goals on 121 shots, also collecting a team eighth best 25 assists. He had a minus-5 rating as he was relegated to the second pairing, averaging 21:08 TOI (fourth among Panthers blue-liners).

Pantherrrr...GOOAALLL! (via gabtabulous125)

After 20 games with the Panthers in 2007-08, Van Ryn was sidelined for the rest of the season with a wrist injury and subsequent surgery and rehabilitation. He had gone scoreless on 16 shots with two assists and a minus-2 rating. Just prior to the 2008-09 season, the Panthers sent Van Ryn to the Toronto Maple Leafs for Bryan McCabe and a fourth round draft pick (Sam Brittain).

Van Ryn scored three goals and eight assists in 27 games for Toronto in 2008-09, suffering from assorted knee injuries and concussion issues. After missing the entire 2009-10 season, he officially announced his retirement. He joined the coaching ranks with the Niagara IceDogs of the Ontario Hockey League, and is currently with the Houston Aeros in the same capacity.

All-Time Statline: Four seasons, 257 games, 25 goals, 80 assists, 105 points, minus-8 rating, 220 PIM, 17.3 APS.

That's all for today. Thanks for stopping by and wasting your time to read about a pretty good blue line setup man. Leave some comments, and check back tomorrow as we take a look at yet another defenseman from Ontario.

Let's Chat About the Columbus Defense

Mike MacLean — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 13:00:18 -0000

I don't think you'll see many fans of the Jackets argue with you if you say the Columbus Blue Jackets defense has traditionally been the weakest part of the roster.

That is, until this upcoming season, providing the CBA nonsense gets cleared up.

For the first time since expansion, the Jackets' strength is on the back-end. Take into consideration the moves that GM Scott Howson has made in the last year or so. He signed James Wisniewski after finishing fifth in defenseman scoring the year prior. Midway through the season, he acquired Nikita Nikitin from the Blues, and "Nikki Six" wert on to have a very strong season. At the trade deadline, Jeff Carter was dealt to the Kings for Jack Johnson, who was instrumental in changing the culture of the team for the better, regardless of what the stats geeks will have to say about him. When free agency opened up, veteran Adrian Aucoin was brought on board to mentor the young guys. Most recently, Howson picked up top prospect Tim Erixon from the Rangers in the Rick Nash deal. This was after taking highly-touted Ryan Murray second overall in June's entry draft.

Those are just the new guys. You can't forget about Fedor Tyutin, arguably the team's most complete defenseman- for now, anyway. Former first round pick John Moore is also in the mix, along with high-end prospect David Savard and AHL veteran Nick Holden. Dalton Prout is another name to keep in mind, he had a cup of coffee with the Jackets last year and didn't look out of place.

It will be interesting to see how the three defense pairings look when the Jackets start the regular season. Based off the lineup from last season, I think it's easy to put Tyutin and Nikitin together again. The duo showed chemistry, and their skill sets offset eachother nicely. Johnson and Wisniewski played together for a spell, and when together, dubbed themselves "Controlled Chaos". I think it's safe to say we'll see more of #CCCBJ in the future.

Things get muddy after that.

Is Murray ready for NHL-duty? He was touted as being the most NHL-ready at the draft. In talking to followers of the Rangers, Erixon is ready to make the next step. Moore and Savard each spent time in Union Blue. Aucoin is a wily veteran, who can still put the puck through, rather than past a goaltender when given the opportunity. Holden and Prout have both shown that they can hang in the NHL.

That's a lot of talent for two to three spots. I've always been a proponent of letting the best players play. They are wasted if they are sitting the press box more often than not. Let's assume that the top four that I mentioned earlier, the All-American pairing, and the Russian duo, make up the first two pairings.

I'd like to see Murray get in as much action as possible, with Aucoin backing him up as his partner. One of Prout or Holden would make a good seventh defender.

That would allow Moore, Erixon, Savard and either Holden or Prout to get major minutes with Springfield of the AHL. Based off of their level of play in Springy, these guys would be called up when/if injuries happen.

Never in the Jackets' history have they had the luxury of having so many defensemen with such talent. The coaching staff are in for some hard discussions when deciding on which seven guys make the team. Heck, I wouldn't be shocked if the team carried eight blueliners and rotated the bottom pairing in and out for the first few weeks of the season.

Either way, both the Columbus and Springfield bluelines are chock full of excellent defensemen, and this, my friends, is a good problem.

Dan P.'s Mailbag: Wednesday, August 22nd

Dan P. — Wed, 22 Aug 2012 18:30:16 -0000

Welcome back to another edition of Dan P.'s Mailbag here at The Cannon! Thanks to everyone who sent in a message. It appears that my e-mail link had a superfluous http:// tag in it, so I apologize for the issue. I believe it's fixed now, so you can send me an e-mail with your question. Be sure to include your Cannon commenting name, so that everyone knows who's writing in if your mail message gets chosen for the week.

Alright, this week there are two items that were left in the comments last week (again, sorry for the e-mail glitch) that I wanted to touch on. Here we go!

How would you guys feel about a high-risk, high-reward deal? Say a conditional 7th round pick for... wait for it... Rick DiPietro. Now hear me out... When healthy, he is a very solid goalie. Yes, the contract is a huge risk, but Columbus has never been in any kind of cap trouble. And the draft pick would be a pick that Columbus wouldn’t even score on anyway. I’d say take a risk that DiPietro stays healthy and Columbus has a number 1 goalie. --FFmorgan89

Woah. This is a pretty big matzo ball! It's also the second straight week we've had a big goalie question. I'll break this out into two parts: the player, and the contract. Both are worthy of their own discussion points.

The Player

Hmm, where to start? It really is the tale of two players. Drafted first overall in 2000, DiPietro is now officially on the wrong side of 30. At one point in time, he was on track to be a solid #1 goalie. His third year in the league, he won the starting job and had a very good year: 50 games, 23-18-5 record, 2.36 gaa, .911 sv%. He had a couple of "OK" years in his four-year run of playing consistently.

Here's the rub, though. He's only played more than 26 games four times in his 10 year career. These aren't just some bad-luck injuries; this is a pattern and history of not being able to be counted on to play. And, as we noted, he's not getting any younger. His career has gone off the cliff since 2008. He's played just 47 games total in the past four seasons. His gaa is 3.34, and his save percentage is a groin-kicking .888 over that span. Would you trade for that player right now? I don't think I would.

In your question, you noted that "when healthy, he's a very solid goalie." I don't know that I would agree with that, since the last time he played enough games to really be considered "healthy" was four years ago. He did have four straight years in which he played over 50 games; during that stretch, though, he had a pedestrian 2.71 gaa and .908 sv%. In other words, he's not exactly a guy that would bowl me over. And that's just the player, in a vacuum.

The Contract

This is where it gets completely insane. Whereas, to me, you could make an argument for a late-round pick as a flyer on DiPietro the player, even with the numbers above, the contract is where the deal goes flying off the rails. He is starting year-seven of a 15-year contract. !!!! Think about that for a second. If this guy is on your team, you're stuck with him for NINE seasons, and for $40.5 million. !!!!!!!!

Holy crap.

And, this isn't one of those "let's circumvent the cap!" contracts. He makes $4.5 million EVERY season for the duration. !!!!!!!!!!

HOLY CRAP.

There are a couple of ancillary factors involved, too. The Islanders are currently below the projected salary floor, so you'd probably have to send a player (or two) back for the salary to work for New York. I don't think I could get on board for that at all with respect to bringing in DiPietro. They also wouldn't have two goaltenders on their NHL roster, so they might fish for a goalie in return. As much as I don't care for Steve Mason, I wouldn't trade those two straight up, let alone as part of a package.

In summary, there's only a tiny sliver of up-side in this deal for me--the off-chance that a guy who's averaged 12 games over the past four seasons if suddenly healthy again, and reverts to better-than-his-averages form--and waayyyy, WAYYYYY too much risk in this trade. I would drive down to Nationwide and demand Howson be fired immediately if he made this deal.

I am excited for the season to start, but realistically looking forward what do you think this year's lineup looks like? And, what does 2015-2016’s lineup look like? --wolfertj3

Wow, this is a good question. I'm hesitant to throw out line combos until we see some practices, but I'll take a stab and try to lay out why.

SC-1: Cam Atkinson -- Derick Brassard -- R.J. Umberger

I think Brassard and Umby are going to be together; once they got more minutes together away from Rick Nash last season, they clicked. Remember the Carolina game with Umby's hatty? Brassard was with him for all three goals. Atkinson might be a little high up, but he's more of a sniper type to offset Umby's grittiness. He also gets to play with some more experienced guys.

SC-2: Vinny Prospal -- Artem Anisimov -- Ryan Johansen

Hear me out: I like Joey as a center, but I think he really did his best work last year on the right wing, and did so with ice time with Prospal. I think Anisimov is ready for more minutes, and so he gets the #2 center spot because of it. Prospal is the anchor, here, giving the two more raw players that veteran presence.

CK-1: Derek Dorsett -- Mark Letestu -- Brandon Dubinsky

I wrestled with this one for awhile. It bumps a guy to the fourth line that maybe shouldn't be there, but there is just so much fog around this team's lineup, especially at the bottom. I think that Dubinsky and Dorsett will THRIVE together, as they both play all-out, all the time. If Dorsett can build on his year from last season and Dubs can return to form, Mark Letestu is solid enough to center this line, and if he struggles on the pivot you could switch he and Dubinsky and Dubs can play center as well.

CK-2: Nick Foligno -- Derek MacKenzie -- Jared Boll

Foligno is the proverbial odd-man-out. I think he deserves a spot higher than this, but I just couldn't bump anyone else down here. He's a hard worker who will work well with DMac, and Boll can cruise around laying waste to people. Perhaps swap in Colton Gillies for Boll, but that's basically how I see it shaking out. This line could actually play more than the usual fourth-line minutes, and could generate a little offense here and there with Mac and Foligno.

D1: Fedor Tyutin -- Nikita Nikitin

No-brainer here. If healthy, this is our best all-around pairing based on how they played last year.

D2: Jack Johnson -- James Wisniewski

This is the offensive pair. They're on the ice for offensive zone starts, PP1 unit time, and any time you need to generate offense.

D3: Ryan Murray -- Adrian Aucoin

Assuming, of course, Murray stays in Columbus, this is the "learning curve" pair. Murray plays with a solid vet, and probably doesn't see a ton of minutes at first. John Moore is the odd-man out to start the season and heads to Springy. Look for someone like Nick Holden as the seventh D-man.

G1: Sergei Bobrovsky
G2: Steve Mason

Bob was brought in to challenge for the starting job, and I believe the team will give him every chance to beat Steve Mason; I think he will. Hopefully his rumored work ethic--something for which Mason has drawn fire from some in the media--combined with Ian Clark working with him (and maybe having seen something in him that pushed the Jackets to go and get him) will pay dividends.

As for three years from now, well, that's a bit of a crap-shoot. There are currently only four guys on the roster signed long enough to be on that team for sure: Umberger, Wisniewski, Tyutin, and Johnson. Obviously, you would hope young players such as Johansen, Atkinson, and Murray will be entering their primes.

Brassard will be an RFA in the summer of 2014, and by then he will have reached "now or never" status if he hasn't developed more. Anisimov is 24, and is an RFA this next summer; my guess is he'll be back, as otherwise the club probably wouldn't have gone after him in the trade of Rick Nash.

Here are some other names that may be on the horizon:

Tim Erixon - Defenseman who came over from the Rangers, and who is widely considered to be a top-four defenseman after he develops.
David Savard - Defenseman who made his debut last season, and showed small flashes of having an NHL ceiling.
Boone Jenner - Jackets' second-rounder from last year, he captained Oshawa of the OHL this past season and should make a long-term push for the Jackets' third line center for the future.
Michael Chaput - Made a huge stride forward in the Q this year after coming over from Philly in 2011 for Tom Sestito at the deadline. Chaput is a bit of a tweener, but could perhaps become a scoring line player in the future.
Oscar Dansk - the Jackets' second-rounder this year, the goalie went high in the CHL import draft and will hopefully be pushing to come to Columbus by 2015.

The question marks surround guys like Dubinsky, Foligno, Matt Calvert, and the like. Are those guys in the team's long-term plans? Of that, we can only wait and see how they play.

***************

Thanks to everyone who sent in questions! See you next week!

What Do We Have Now?

Matt Wagner — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 13:01:03 -0000

With the Rick Nash deal complete, we finally have a bit of closure to the speculations and painful flood of rumors that have run amok since January. As you'd expect, some people are fairly positive about the results for the Blue Jackets, others negative, and the majority of Blue Jackets fans simply want to know what this will mean for next season here in Columbus.

One of the more interesting things I've heard in reference to the trade was XM Radio's Scott Laughlin, who asked "Is Glenn Sather building a team, or just collecting talent?"

(For the record, he didn't like the trade for New York. He suggested that they removed some excellent depth up the middle to add a winger who might improve their power play, but does little to drive their transition game. It's worth keeping that in mind...)

That question about building vs. collecting, though, is a good one, and I think it's worth looking at why this off season's changes may be rather different than last...

I don't think anyone would argue that last offseason was much more of the "Collecting talent" variety. Jeff Carter was acquired based on his offensive skills, and the questions around his off ice behavior and character would eventually spill over in the worst way possible. James Wisniewski has been a positive influence for the room, but he was acquired more for his shot and sandpaper game. Vinny Prospal was an emergency fill in that turned out to be, perhaps, the biggest signing of the summer for Columbus. Mark Dekanich was a pure "talent" signing, and sadly backfired.

The changes seemed to start when Kris Russell was sent to St. Louis for Nikita Nikitin, but aside from the simple "shake up", the most subtle, yet interesting, sign of a change in strategy was Howson's request for Fedor Tyutin to stay behind after the trade call to speak with his countryman, kickstarting the process of getting him comfortable with Columbus.

At the same time, when Prospal called out the team on their work ethic, Scott Howson made the move to pick up Mark Letestu, who brought versatility and notable dedication to hard work and earning his ice time. Colton Gillies, acquired from Minnesota on waivers, brought strong defensive play, even if his offensive talent has not translated to the NHL game.

Then, there is the matter of the acquisition of Jack Johnson. With the arrival of Johnson and the slow reduction of Rick Nash both in the media and, one would suspect, the room, the change in the locker room has been palpable. As others have noted, the team did not surrender a game when they lead after two periods once Johnson came on board, and while some of that may owe to Todd Richards getting a better handle on what his team could and could not do compared to Scott Arniel, one must wonder if the new voices in the room finally had an impact. Complacency is no longer an option, and the more the team seemed to stop looking to Nash for clutch performances, the more they found their own strengths.

The move to acquire Sergei Bobrovsky is another attempt to fix a glaring problem on the Jackets' roster, but it's worth considering that "Bob" will be given a strong defensive core to work with, and a solid group of countrymen to aid in his transition. Perhaps he and Steve Mason will be able to push each other in a positive manner, but I still wouldn't be shocked to see Mason moved before the start of camp, especially if Columbus is able to successfully acquire Jonathan Bernier to provide a true competition for the #1 job.

The July 1st acquisitions of Adrian Aucoin, Nick Foligno, and Jonathan Audy-Marchessault seem to also fit into a new "team" identity for the club. A veteran, hardworking defenseman who is looking to mentor younger players (one would think that Ryan Murray and Tim Erixon will both be getting a lot of exposure to the former Coyote), a forward just coming into the prime of his career who is well regarded for his all around play and energy level, and a prospect who has been fighting tooth and nail to earn opportunities since going undrafted, and shows signs of becoming a strong impact player who could be ready for the NHL in the near future.

You keep hearing the same words over and over again. "Gritty. Hard working. Versatile. Defensively solid. Good energy. Great character."

Perhaps there won't be a player or two with 60+ point potential on the first line, but the rise of four or five guys with 35-40+ point seasons would be an excellent change.

Then, finally, there are the new guys. Dubinsky and Anisimov both have been regarded as excellent two way players who can bring some solid offense. Dubinsky was regarded as a major leader in the room for a New York team that kept finding ways to win even when the goals weren't flowing. A.A. is a BIG guy (6'4", 200lb) who may still be able to add a bit more muscle to his game and has shown some excellent playmaking skills. Both have solid ability to play up the middle or on the wing, though feedback we've gotten from Rangers fans indicates that Dubinsky may be more comfortable making that switch.

Finally, there's Erixon, and despite some (legitimate) concerns about his attitude given his previous work to leave Calgary, it would seem he's on board with making an impact here in Columbus, and he adds an interesting wild card to what already appeared to be an impressive blue line. If the team's top two pairings are basically set, and Aucoin is likely to anchor the third pair, you have Erixon, Ryan Murray, John Moore, and David Savard all positioned to battle for that final NHL spot, or perhaps two of the younger guys rotate in and out as #6 and #7. Either way, the stage is set for some major competition, and players are going to be asked to earn spots rather than simply receive them.

Again, the guys who will play will earn the minutes with hard work, and they'll be expected to contribute with solid play on both sides of the puck, not just scoring. Seeing a theme here? Don't be shocked if players like Ryan Johansen, Cam Atkinson, Ryan Russell, and even Derick Brassard find themselves fighting for ice time in camp under the exact same expectations - and that the Blue Jackets will be a better club for it.

Are the Jackets a much less talented set of players without Rick Nash and Jeff Carter? Arguably.

Have Scott Howson and Craig Patrick built a better team in their wake?

Quite possibly.

Poll

In the wake of the Rick Nash trade, has Scott Howson turned the organization from a collection of talent into a properly assembled team?

Yes

165 votes

No

144 votes

Waiting for training camp to decide.

262 votes

571 votes | Poll has closed

Let's Get a Defender - The Trade Route

Alan Hull — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 12:30:10 -0000

In a follow up to an excellent post by Scott yesterday about UFA options for the Oilers, it is my job today to take a look at the available defencemen that could be acquired through trade.

Here's the thing though...you know who can be acquired through trade? ANYONE. The parameters for finding trade options are impossible to narrow down because of all the variables. We'll look at this a little bit more closely, but in the words of 80's wrestling legend "The Million Dollar Man" Ted Dibiase..."Everybody's got a price".

The player the Oilers really need is Tom Gilbert, but sadly that ship has sailed, so we're forced to look for other "Gilbert-like" players to fill the gaping hole left by his departure.

With that in mind, at the end of the day one name stands above the rest for me as the guy the Oilers should have at the top of their list of targets. If you're thinking it's the guy in the picture...well, that would be a safe bet. Follow me after the jump where I will explain why this player is the ideal fit for the Edmonton Oilers.

For those of you who don't have every player and their jersey number memorized, the player in the picture at the beginning of this article would be Andrej Sekera of the Buffalo Sabres.

Before we zero in on Sekera, let's take a few minutes to explain why I have discarded all other options to focus on him as my primary trade target.

As I mentioned previously, any player can be a trade target. Any GM could quite easily pick up the phone, call Steve Yzerman and say "Steve, I'd like to talk to you about a deal for Victor Hedman", and if you have players like Taylor Hall and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, you probably don't get the phone smashed down in your ear, but unless you're willing to part with one of your cornerstone players, you won't be getting someone else's. This line of thinking takes out the most sought after kind of player: the all situation, tough minute beating young franchise Dmen like Shea Weber, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, PK Subban, John Carlson, Hedman, Cam Fowler, etc.)

The opposite end of that spectrum are the players who are on their last legs. The brethren of Andy Sutton, so to speak. There are some players out there in their early-to-mid 30's who are still legitimate NHL players, and while they could certainly serve as a stop-gap until Oscar Klefbom is NHL ready, the team is in need of longer-term solutions as well. These players shouldn't be entirely discounted, but I wouldn't have any among my primary list of targets.

There are also Dmen who are solid players, but who have the mis-fortune (or good fortune if you ask their wallets) of having signed a contract that makes them unattractive to acquire. Jay Bouwmeester would be one example. Given the Oilers are entering the final year of the entry-level deals for Hall and Jordan Eberle, it's probably not a wise decision to take on a $6 Million+ cap hit for a player who has some limitations to his game (in J-Bo's case...offensive production).

Speaking of limitations...that brings us to our next category of trade target. The one-dimensional player. Fans are typically deceived by these players because they think about how valuable the players are to their fantasy teams and assume that they would carry equivalent value to an NHL franchise. Stand up and take a bow Keith Yandle, because this is where you take centre stage. Yandle is a guy who has been rumoured to be available, and has some highly enticing point totals in the last few seasons. However, for a team like the Oilers, who truly need a top pairing player to play in all situations, Yandle falls well short of the sniff test. He plays among the most protected minutes of any Coyotes' blueliner and basically spends his time at even-strength playing against the oppositions 3rd and 4th lines. There are also guys who are the polar opposite of Yandle, like Niklas Hjalmarsson who can provide a decent level of support defensively, but who lack the ability to produce offense.

The last group of players to strike from the list before we really start to hit our targets are prospects. For a team lush with defensive prospects that are starting to creep into the pro level, acquiring the Brandon Gormley's of the world isn't what Edmonton needs. Now, I like Gormley, and would certainly welcome him in the right deal, but that type of acquisition will not impact the team's performance next year in a positive way. For the Oilers to start making strides towards playoff contention, they need to target players with proven ability at the NHL level.

Now then, this narrows our list down to players who are likely not considered their team's #1 Dman; who are preferably between the ages of 23 and 27; play against significant levels of opposition both in terms of Quality of Competition (QoC) and in their zone start percentages; are a significant contributor on at least one special team; produce a reasonable if not significant amount of offense and are signed to a reasonable contract. On top of that, we need to confirm that the player's current team has a willingness to deal them and find a match in terms of what assets would have to go the other way in any potential deal.

I took a similar look around the league back in April and came up with 3 trade targets: Carl Gunnarsson of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Nikita Nikitin of the Columbus Blue Jackets, and Sekera. (That list also included Justin Schultz, so we've at least checked one off the list). While everyone may have their own versions of players who may fit into this list, these are the three that were the standouts in my opinion.

Since that time, Nikitin, who was an RFA, has signed a new 2 year deal with CBJ. While that doesn't preclude him from being dealt, it is rather uncommon for an RFA player to be dealt during the same off-season that they sign a new contract before playing a game under their new deal, so I consider the likelihood of his availability to be slim.

As for Gunnarsson, the Leafs' depth on their blueline was sufficient to trade one of their young core (excluding Phaneuf) of Jake Gardiner, Luke Schenn, Cody Franson, and Gunnarsson. With Schenn being sent to Philadelphia for James VanRiemsdyk earlier in the off-season, the team will already likely be promoting one blueliner from the AHL next season, so it is doubtful that Steve Tambellini could get them to part with Gunnarsson without getting an NHL ready Dman back in return, which would defeat the purpose of the deal unless that player was Theo Peckham.

After those two players became less likely to be available, the obvious choice remaining for me was Sekera. Before I give off the impression that he is simply the "best of the rest", I assure you there is a lot to like about his game.

As I wrote in April:

Sekera has played significant, yet not astonishingly high minutes for Buffalo over the last few seasons. He plays some of the toughest minutes of any player on the Sabres, and has been tasked with protecting Tyler Myers, which, despite what some may think, has not been an easy task. He plays significant PK minutes, and was the 4th option among defensemen on the PP for the Sabres this year. He is a left-handed shooter, and typically plays on that side, but like Nick Schultz, he has spent significant time on the right side in the past, which provides some nice flexibility.

To expand on that, let's look at the specifics of Sekera's performance last season:

NAME	Corsi Rel QoC	Corsi QoC	Corsi Relative	Corsi On	Off Zone Start %	Off Zone Finish %
ROBYNREGEHR	1.153	0.581	-13.9	-10.88	46.8	50.5
ANDREJSEKERA	0.878	0.74	7.3	1.93	48.9	52.3
TYLERMYERS	0.279	0.053	-7.1	-7.17	51.4	51.7
MIKEWEBER	0.258	0.812	-3.1	-4.1	47.6	50.3
CHRISTIANEHRHOFF	0.254	-0.109	3.9	0.86	52.8	52.2
JORDANLEOPOLD	0.203	0.193	-3.1	-3.71	52.5	52
ALEXANDERSULZER	-0.024	-1.157	6.4	5.49	49.2	53.8
BRAYDENMCNABB	-0.295	-0.708	-0.6	-1.23	50.5	48.2

Sekera has some very attractive numbers here. His Corsi Rel QoC tells us that he faced the 2nd toughest minutes among Sabres defenders this season, and with the exception of Alex Sulzer's strong showing in a small sample size after being acquired from Vancouver, Sekera was clear of the pack in terms of how well he handled his minutes. While his zone start/finish numbers don't break any records (players with sub 50% zone starts will frequently show at least a modest positive in ZS/ZF differential), they certainly are reflective of a player who is at a minimum holding his own in the defensive end, and probably a fair bit more.

In terms of special teams, Sekera is a bit of a jack of all trades, although based on his TOI numbers, it is safe to say he excels more on the penalty kill:

NAME	5v5 TOI/60	5v4 TOI/60	4v5 TOI/60
CHRISTIANEHRHOFF	17.87	2.76	1.31
JORDANLEOPOLD	17.41	2.02	2.26
TYLERMYERS	17.19	2.38	2
ALEXANDERSULZER	16.58	0.34	0.49
MIKEWEBER	16.34	0.07	1.66
ANDREJSEKERA	16.26	0.88	1.61
BRAYDENMCNABB	15.6	0.47	1.33
ROBYNREGEHR	15.31	0.05	2.53

Based on his percentages, I'd say that Sekera was a little bit under-utiiized in Buffalo last year, which could be a good thing for the Oilers. It's understandable with experienced vets like Reghr and Leopold as well as a young up-and-coming Tyler Myers that the team would prioritize those players a little higher on the depth chart. Frankly I'm a little surprised to see him fall behind Weber and Sulzer 5v5 (Sulzer only played 15 games for the Sabres last season) although Sekera did rank higher than either in Total TOI/60.

Buffalo's depth on the blueline, and the fact that they just added Adam Pardy in the Derek Roy deal makes Sekera quite expendable in Buffalo. They have 6 Dmen signed to contracts of $2 Million or greater, plus they have Mike Weber and Sulzer, not to mention two prospects nearly ready to take the step to the NHL. Cutting Sekera's 3 more years at $2.75 Million off the books in order to allow them to add to their offense would certainly be something I would expect Buffalo to consider.

In terms of what the Oilers would have to part with in order to land Sekera, while I'm certain he would not be the focal point of a deal, I could absolutely see them having interest in Eric Belanger. The Sabres struggled on the dot last year with their only bright spot on face-offs (Derek Roy) having been moved during the off-season. Roy was the only Sabre to take more than 100 draws last year and win better than 50%. Beyond that, he was quite obviously their key face-off man, taking over 1300 draws last season, and that skill set has not been replaced yet in Buffalo.

There is a big part of me that imagines they would initially ask for a Sam Gagner or Magnus Paajarvi in return, but Gagner is certainly too high a price, and I'm hesitant to part with MPS at this stage either. The only snag in acquiring Sekera is finding an acceptable price. I don't know if a package of pieces like perhaps Tyler Pitlick or one of our Defensive prospects, Belanger to help them on the draws, and an early (not 1st) round pick would be attractive to Buffalo given their current needs, but I'd certainly put the offer out there. Given Sekera's expendability, they may consider it. A more notable young player may need to be included in order to get the deal done, but I'm not a fan of speculating on specific trades. The bottom line is that none of the Oilers' current core pieces should be required in order to get the deal done, and Sekera would be a perfect fit in Edmonton's top four.

A few final notes about Sekera that I should include, he just turned 26 this summer and he is 6'0 200 lbs. As mentioned he is a left-hand shot, but has experience on the right side and he is signed for 3 more seasons at a $2.75 Million hit on the cap. He had a career high 29 points in 2010/11, but saw those numbers regress this year with lesser opportunities. Assuming a larger role were he to come to Edmonton, I'd expect he could be somewhere in the neighbourhood of a 20-25 point player.

While the Oilers' are far from winning a championship and Andrej Sekera won't get them there on his own, he would be a strong addition to the weakest part of the roster and they would be a much better team with him in the line-up next season.

Friday Morning Fly By: Free Agency Started Yesterday

Geoff Detweiler — Fri, 29 Jun 2012 10:00:17 -0000

Today's open discussion thread, complete with your daily dose of Philadelphia Flyers-related news and notes...

Despite not being in the final 5 for Justin Schultz, arguing he's actually worth the hype: [NHLNumbers.com]
Five questions: backup goalie options: [Flyers Faithful]
Jonathan Quick signed a ten-year, $58 million deal: [Jewels From The Crown] [Battle of California] [SBNation.com] [Puck Daddy] [Backhand Shelf]
Tuukka Rask signed a one-year, $3.5 million deal: [Stanley Cup of Chowder] [SBNation.com] [Backhand Shelf] [Puck Daddy]
Corey Schneider signed a three-year, $12 million deal: [Nucks Misconduct] [Puck Daddy] [SI Tracking Blog]
Nikita Nikitin signed a two-year, ~~$8.6 million~~ $4.3 million deal: [The Cannon]
Hall Gill signed a two-year, $4 million deal: [On the Forecheck] [SBNation.com]
Arguing that there is a reason the Penguins announced the Sidney Crosby extension before July 1: [PensBurgh]
Hybrid icing and video review are finally in the AHL: [PostStar]
Wrapping up the Atlantic Division draft results: [Hockey Prospectus]

Nikita Nikitin, Blue Jackets Agree To 2-Year, $4.3 Million Deal

Dan P. — Thu, 28 Jun 2012 19:27:35 -0000

The Blue Jackets' off-season continued today, as they announced the re-signing of restricted free agent defenseman Nikita Nikitin for two years and $4.3 million. This allows them to avoid arbitration with the Russian defenseman.

Nikitin came to the Jackets from St. Louis in a trade for Kris Russell during this past season, and had by far the best stretch of hockey in his career playing mostly with countryman Fedor Tyutin. Nikitin had seven goals and 25 assists in 54 games with Columbus after the trade. The 26-year-old Nikitin solidifies the Jackets' blue line corps going into the 2012-2013 season.

In 48 career games prior to the trade, he had just one goal and eight assists. His offense became a pleasant surprise for Columbus. Even more than that, his scoring was timely, as three of his seven goals were game-winners.

Considered a big-body, stay-at-home type, Nikitin's flash of offense was definitely a bonus for Columbus as an otherwise horrible season wore on.

Nikitin will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of this contract.