SB Nation - Columbus Blue Jackets

Game 30 Recap: Mase'd

Clint Clark — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 03:00:16 -0000

More photos » by Mark J. Terrill - AP

When you team isn't playing well, there is one guy that can turn it around. A hot goaltender can carry a mediocre team through awesome stretches. Steve "Calder" Mason showed up tonight and played very well. A completely different goaltender from the last 5 or 6 games. He moved smartly, positionally strong. Not once did he look like his crease was on fire.

The Jackets shutout the Florida Panthers tonight 3-0 and they deserved it... a little bit. It wasn't a wonderful game, but it was an improvement. Lets turn this into a streak and get the excitement back in the Arena.

I thought the lines were okay tonight. I liked trying Derick Brassard with Dorse and Torres and bumping Pahlsson down to the fourth line. It makes the most sense to do this to try and get Brassard going and he finally got a goal. A skill goal too.

The major issue with the one line is still an issue. They give up numbers on the defensive end. It is our most consistent offender for odd man rushes. I'm not sure if it is an issue of our top players not busting it to get back or they are getting themselves in too deep and turnover the puck. Either way our best players can't be doing this.

Nash and Pahlsson were united in their brief PK stint tonight. It is a much better fit for Nash who likes to take risks. Im' glad coach was able to incorporate my suggestion (it might have been a line change coincidence tonight). Ideally I'd like Pahlsson - Nash, Vermette - Umberger, Murray - Chimera.

Jason Chimera keeps his magic touch going with another goal. He plays periods where you'd think he could be an All-Star, so we have to savor this.

A couple guys that I don't talk about a whole lot played really well tonight. Mark Methot and Jared Boll. Methot skated the puck out of the zone it seemed a half a dozen times. Boller really competed hard on the puck all night. During stretches it seemed we wouldn't win a puck battle, Boller hit the ice and did just that.

Mancrush: The Penalty Kill in the final 10 minutes. This could have easily sent the Nationwide Crowd to the surrounding hospitals. The kill was strong and even on the 5 on 3 limited most of the chances. If Florida scored there... I may have thrown something.

Doghouse: Mike Commodore he still looks out of shape and tentative. He takes over for Anton Stralman, who I thought played somewhat better tonight.

This game looked a lot better overall, but still is ways away from our potential. The second period was not strong and segments of the 3rd were not good.

Game 30 Preview: Jackets face Panthers in Columbus

Mike MacLean — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 14:56:59 -0000

More photos » by Jay LaPrete - AP

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The Jackets have had some time-three full days in fact-to regoup and, as I've said here many times before, right the ship. The team is coming off of two bad losses to the Leafs and Avalanche, two teams the Jackets need to beat. Tonight the Panthers come to town, and this being an out-of-conference matchup it is important to pick up these points. The Jackets have historically played well against the East, and that needs to continue this evening.

Dorsett makes his return to the lineup tonight-the team has missed his energy and forechecking badly. He brings a spark to the team that was obviously missing while he was out with a concussion. This is Murray's second game of the season, and I look for him to have a strong game. The lines have been adjusted quite significantly outside of the top line, with Umby sliding back to center with Jake and Chimmer. Chimmer has been playing very well lately, and I'm hopeful he can build on that given the chance to play with some skilled linemates.

Mase returns to the net, he simply must focus on the game and avoid letting in bad goals. The defense as a whole needs to continue to impove, and if the team continues to avoid playing the style the coaching staff is preaching, the ugly losses will continue to mount. If a team tries to play a skill game, without having the necessary skill to back it up, that's when you can kiss the season good-bye.

The Panthers have some skilled forwards and a decent defense, not to mention Vokoun is a fantastic goaltender. This will be a tough matchup, but one the Jackets can defeat. As far as I'm concerned, this is a must-win. In fact, you can say that about all of the games remaining this month. If they can go on a decent winning streak, they are right back in it.

Fearless Prediction: Victory?

Game Time: 7:00pm ET

Opponent's Blog: Litter Box Cats

Game Page: Panthers vs Blue Jackets Coverage

TV: FSN Ohio

Radio: WBNS-AM (1460); WWCD-FM (101.1)

More after the jump...

From the Columbus Dispatch:

Rule of thumb: He who forechecks, wins. The Blue Jackets have struggled against speedy forechecks this season, and they haven't established much of one lately, either. All that's left for the Panthers from three blockbuster trades (Roberto Luongo, Olli Jokinen and Jay Bouwmeester) are defensemen Keith Ballard, Jordan Leopold and Bryan Allen.

Jackets Links:

Columbus Blue Jackets / Columbus Blue Jackets Schedule

Columbus Blue Jackets Roster / Columbus Blue Jackets Stats

Here are the lineups for tonight's tilt:

Columbus Blue Jackets

Kristian Huselius	Antoine Vermette	Rick Nash
Jason Chimera	R.J. Umberger	Jakub Voracek
Andrew Murray	Samuel Pahlsson	Jared Boll
Raffi Torres	Derick Brassard	Derek Dorsett

Fedor Tyutin	Marc Methot
Mike Commodore	Jan Hejda
Kris Russell	Anton Stralman

Steve Mason

Mathieu Garon

EXTRA: Mike Blunden, Mathieu Roy, Derek MacKenzie

INJURED: Fredrik Modin, Rostislav Klesla

Florida Panthers

Steven Reinprecht	Stephen Weiss	Nathan Horton
Rostislav Olesz	Dominc Moore	Michael Frolik
Shawn Matthias	Jeff Taffe	Radek Dvorak
Victor Oreskovich	Kamil Kreps	Mike Duco

Bryan McCabe	Keith Ballard
Jordan Leopold	Dennis Seidenberg
Bryan Allen	Dmitry Kulikov

Tomas Vokoun

Scott Clemmensen

Jackets Trade Pelletier to Blues

Mike MacLean — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 19:18:57 -0000

The Jackets big offseason pickup for the Crunch this past summer-Pascal Pelletier- was traded to the St. Louis Blues today for defenseman Brendan Bell and prospect Tomas Kana. Things just weren't working out for Pelletier in Syracuse, and the Crunch defense needed an upgrade. Bell played over fifty games in the NHL last year with Ottawa, and will be another callup-worthy blueliner for Columbus. Kana is a prospect that I liked back in 2006, a guy I was following. I'm not sure why he hasn't been putting up major points in North America thus far, but I am excited to see what he can do in a fresh organization like Columbus. Without knowing the actual numbers, I'd say we have to be at or near the top of the league in terms of Czech players.

I like this move a lot for both the Crunch and the Jackets. Bell is a more offensive-minded defenseman, so in the case of injury, depending on who on the Columbus blueline gets hurt, Mathieu Roy won't be the default option. If they need points, call up Bell. Grit- call up Roy. Kana is intriguiing because he is a fairly recent second round pick who may just be a late-bloomer.

Good trade.

Riley Cote: Nice Guy, But Useless

Travis Hughes — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 16:57:27 -0000

More photos » by Paul Chiasson - AP

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I'm probably just stating what we already know, but Riley Cote has no worth on the Philadelphia Flyers.

It's really a shame, too, because Riley is truly a great guy. He does a ton of work in the community and works with several charities, especially those involved with fighting against multiple sclerosis, which his sister has. And his hockey career has been one that's defined by hard work and determination.

After playing his junior hockey with Prince Albert of the Western Hockey League from 1998 to 2002, Cote's eligibility ran out. He had not been drafted by an NHL team, something he calls a "blessing in disguise" today. He walked on to Toronto Maple Leafs training camp that year and left with a job. It was a Central Hockey League job, but a job nonetheless.

Playing for the Memphis Riverkings of the CHL, Cote tallied up the penalty minutes. He sat in the box for 241 minutes in 51 regular season games. After the Leafs passed him up the following season, he got another chance in Columbus. The Blue Jackets signed him to a two-way contract with their AHL club in Syracuse. He never played in the NHL that year, in fact playing most of his games with the organization's ECHL affiliate in Dayton. But the ECHL was a step up from the CHL, and Cote made his name known in that league.

It was in his time in Dayton that I first saw Riley play hockey. I was a season ticket holder of the Atlantic City Boardwalk Bullies, and Dayton came to town quite a bit. Cote was one of the better players on the Bombers, and he had a knack for ticking you off with his play. I always referred to him as one of those players who you'd love to have play for your team, but you'd hate to play against. Even from the stands, I could realize how hard Cote worked. My seats were right near the visiting team's tunnel, and as the Bombers walked back to the dressing room, I can distinctly remember seeing the fire in Cote's eyes. I was impressed by him. His hair was a little shorter back then, too.

For Cote to stand out to me, a visiting fan in an ECHL city, who saw hundreds of different players walk into the arena that season alone, is impressive. You can imagine how I felt the following season when he was signed by the Philadelphia Phantoms.

He quickly turned into a fan favorite in Philadelphia. His hard-working, physical style was perfect for this town. He played 61 games in 2004-05 with the Phantoms, tallying up 280 penalty minutes. That's a helluva number. He was a key role player -- an assistant captain, even -- in the team's run to the Calder Cup that season, and the following year, with the NHL lockout over, he would finally break through to the NHL. He played just eight games, but the following season, he stuck for good. He's been with the Flyers ever since.

And that's where the problems arise.

He doesn't score. Obviously. In 150 NHL games, Cote has one goal and six assists. It's a shame, too, because way back in juniors, while pugnacity still defined his game, he did show an ability to put pucks in the net. Some offensive prowess, if you will. Unfortunately, those skills never carried over to the pro ranks, as they so often fail to with so many players.

But it's the one thing he does do well, the fighting, that he in fact doesn't do well.

We could all cite about 20 different videos of Cote's fights in which he puts in a showing like this. But now we have some numbers to cite, as well.

Jonathan Willis at Hockey Or Die! has compiled a few numbers for fighters who fought at least ten times last season. Compiling numbers from the voting at hockeyfights.com, Willis tried to figure out the best and worst fighters in the league. Who had the most losses last season, of all the fighters in the NHL?

Yep, Riley Cote.

Most Losses: Riley Cote, Philadelphia Flyers (5-14, 26.3%)
Runner-Up: Jared Boll, Columbus Blue Jackets (5-11, 31.3%)

Riley Cote carried on the Flyers’ penchant for dropping the gloves, but his success rate left something to be desired, as he accumulated more losses than any other player in the league.

When 5 minutes, 38 seconds is the most time on the ice you've seen in a game all season and the only thing you're on the roster to do is fight, you need to win those fights. If you can't, you serve no purpose. It's become clear over his NHL career that Riley Cote cannot fight NHL enforcers. He may be a great guy, but John Stevens was too. It's time to part ways.

Best Managed Teams of the Last Decade

The Falconer — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 12:00:16 -0000

Puck Daddy wrote a piece on the "10 Best GMs of the Last Decade" which is pretty good. I've enjoyed his retrospective series on big stories of the 2000s. My biggest complaint about the list is the omission of David Poile who is nothing short of amazing in terms of contending on a budget. Rather than just complain about Puck Daddy's list, I've decided to come up with a list of my own. I will rank all 30 organizations over the last decade (as opposed to individual GMs) to see which ones were the best managed in that time frame. I will use two criteria 1) salary efficiency and 2) post-season success.

Salary Efficiency Rankings

Every GM competes against every other GM to build a team that can accumulate enough points to qualify for the post-season. The very best organizations get the most for their money. Some organizations bludgeoned their way to the post-season by out-spending the rest of the NHL on a 2-to-1 basis pre-lockout. Other organizations were extremely careful with their money and still qualified for the post-season. I prefer to give credit to those organizations that received the biggest return on their payroll investment. So the first ingredient is regular season salary efficiency which is basically Total Points Accumulated 2000-2010 divided by Total Accumulated Payroll 2000-2010. (For the 2009-2010 season I used projected final point standings and projected final salary numbers from www.capgeek.com).

So which teams have gotten the most for their money? (See the chart below.) The Nashville Predators not only lead this list but have a huge margin over the #2 team. David Poile is simply a master at contending on a small budget (doing it again this year after a rough start). The top three organizations in Wins/Payroll are Predators, Wild and Senators. Most of these teams are clubs that had small payrolls over the last decade. At the bottom are the NY Rangers--which should come to no one's surprise to anyone who followed the team pre-lockout.

Rank	TEAM	WIN:$$$
1	NAS	2.76
2	MIN	2.54
3	OTT	2.51
4	BUF	2.39
5	VAN	2.35
6	SJS	2.34
7	NJD	2.29
8	CGY	2.26
9	EDM	2.22
10	PIT	2.22
11	ATL	2.20
12	TBL	2.17
13	PHO	2.12
14	CBJ	2.11
15	CAR	2.06
16	BOS	2.05
17	NYI	2.01
18	MON	1.98
19	WAS	1.97
20	FLA	1.96
21	DET	1.96
22	LAK	1.93
23	COL	1.92
24	CHI	1.92
25	DAL	1.92
26	ANA	1.91
27	PHI	1.83
28	STL	1.79
29	TOR	1.79
30	NYR	1.54

Playoff Success Adjustment

Now salary efficiency is just part of the job of a NHL organization. Once you reach the post-season you want to win as many games as possible and putting together a team that wins in the spring also matters a great deal. How should you account for post-season wins? Clearly a post-season win is worth more than a regular season win, but how much more valuable? There is no perfect answer to this question, so I'm just going to copy what Nate Silver did over at Baseball Prospectus a few years ago and count post-season wins as double a regular season win (4 points instead of 2). It is crude perhaps but seems reasonable to me.

First let's look at which organizations racked up the most post-season wins. Cup Winners dominate the top of the list: Detroit Red Wings, New Jersey Devils. Colorado Avalanche, Anaheim Ducks, and Pittsburgh Penguins. At the bottom we see three teams which had zero post-season wins in the last decade: Atlanta Thrashers, Florida Panthers and Columbus Blue Jackets.

Rank	TEAM	Playoff Wins
1	DET	72
2	NJD	64
3	COL	54
4	ANA	49
5	PIT	46
6	SJS	44
7	PHI	44
8	OTT	43
9	CAR	39
10	DAL	39
11	TOR	32
12	BUF	28
13	TBL	24
14	VAN	23
15	CGY	23
16	STL	23
17	EDM	20
18	MON	17
19	BOS	16
20	WAS	15
21	CHI	14
22	NYR	14
23	MIN	11
24	LAK	10
25	NSH	6
26	NYI	6
27	PHO	2
28	ATL	0
29	CBJ	0
30	FLA	0

Now let's see what happens when we include playoffs wins (worth four points, x2 a season win) into our salary efficiency formula. This should provide a bonus to teams with a strong post-season and a penalty for those who were unable to contend on a budget.

The new top 10 includes cup champs Devils, Penguins and Detroit and a few teams that reached the finals (Senators and Flames). But it also includes teams there were extremely well managed in the regular season but came up short in the playoffs like the Predators, Sharks, Sabres, Wild and Canucks. Personally, I think this is a pretty accurate list of well managed organizations over the last decade. It also suggests to me that the Ottawa Senators and the Nashville Predators organizations have probably been under-rated because of their lack of post-season wins.

Who sits at the bottom? Teams that spend a lot of money and fail to win in both the regular season or post-season. In light of the cash expended the Rangers, Leafs, Blackhawks, Leafs, Capitals don't have much to show for it. Then there are the plain old terrible teams like the Blue Jackets and Panthers, Islanders. This part also passes the smell test for me. Some of these teams received a lot of attention because they threw money at problems while more efficient teams flew under the radar. Thrasher fans might wonder why Atlanta doesn't fall into the bottom 10 with 0 playoff wins? The answer is incredibly small payrolls back when Time/Warner/AOL owned the team--the Thrashers actually got some decent "bang-for-the-buck" when they were only spending $18-22 million on payroll before the lockout.

Rank	TEAM	adj. WIN:$$$
1	OTT	2.99
2	NJD	2.91
3	NSH	2.84
4	SJS	2.79
5	PIT	2.75
6	BUF	2.70
7	MIN	2.68
8	VAN	2.60
9	DET	2.52
10	CGY	2.52
11	CAR	2.49
12	TBL	2.45
13	EDM	2.45
14	COL	2.40
15	ANA	2.38
16	DAL	2.25
17	PHI	2.21
18	BOS	2.20
19	ATL	2.20
20	MON	2.16
21	PHO	2.14
22	WAS	2.12
23	CBJ	2.11
24	TOR	2.07
25	NYI	2.07
26	CHI	2.07
27	LAK	2.03
28	STL	2.00
29	FLA	1.96
30	NYR	1.65

Perhaps I should have made playoff wins worth even more. If they are valued at 3 times a regular season win (worth 6 points each) Carolina sneaks into the top 10 and Calgary falls out. The Devils move up into a tie with Ottawa, and the Thrashers slip down into the bottom third of the rankings (21st) while the Leafs climb into the middle third. Not a huge change but a few modest shifts result.

Conclusion

This organizational ranking is far from perfect. I have tried to anchor this evaluation in more objective data analysis rather than simply give my own personal impression.

Game 29 Recap: Not Enough

Clint Clark — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 02:46:48 -0000

More photos » by Jay LaPrete - AP

4 days ago: Colorado Avalanche's Peter Budaj, right, of Slovakia, makes a save as Columbus Blue Jackets' Raffi Torres slides into the net during the second period of an NHL hockey game Saturday, Dec. 5, 2009, in Columbus, Ohio. (AP Photo/Jay LaPrete)

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Jason Chimera brought his game tonight and scored a goal and almost saved a game. In the final 20 seconds Chimmer appeared to score to tie the game. After a replay, the puck clearly went under the goal as the net rocked on its moorings. Rimer may still not understand this. It was clearly a 'no goal' and with that the hopes of a snapped streak disappeared.

If we won the game, it would have been a lift, but to tell the truth this was far from the game I expected tonight. I was expecting a playoff type intensity tonight. What we got was a lot of timid play and a lot of guys overlapping work. I think our bad defensive zone coverage has guys slipping into other guys' areas to make sure stuff is covered.

Rick Nash needs to play better. I site him at fault for Colorado's third and winning goal. We had a great chance in the offensive zone and 3 on 3 coming back. For some reason, Nash goes for an open ice hit on the puck carrier who was being covered by the left defender. This left a 2 on 1 and Colorado scored. 3-2 game over. To me it was a brainless, immature play. Nash needs to take the left side wing in the case. No exception.

Anton Stralman continued his awful play and I think we are seeing the real deal. A lot of players a confidence guys. If a pro athlete is not mentally tough, they are prone to long periods of bad play. It has officially gotten into his head. With the state of play in our defensive core, it is not good timing.

I'm not sure what the point of putting Nash - Vermette - Umberger together is if they aren't scoring goals and all end up -2 on the book.

Stating the obvious we are in a crappy spot right now. Confidence is low, players are pressing, players are trying to do too much, Columbus fans. We know this feeling, but the reality is this team is very capable of turning this around. It might take Steve Mason to steal a game for us. It might take Derick Brassard to find his scoring touch. It might take Mike Commodore to look like an NHL defender.

Ultimately we need to stay in the mix. Not taking care of business now, will make games down the stretch much more meaningful. I have confidence we will be able to add a quality player when we need to. I have confidence we will be able to improve our defense and transition game.

Mancrush of the Night: Jason Chimera. He had his motor going tonight.

Doghouse: Hitch. Until improvement is seen. Time to earn your money big guy.

Voracek cut his hair. Filatov has left. Commodore has come back into the lineup. canon Which is to blame? I think it's looking like Filatov really added that wining element to the 3 minutes of ice time that he had. Maybe it is Voracek's hair cut. What do you think? Other variable?

Game 29 Preview: Return of the Foote

Mike MacLean — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 20:31:50 -0000

More photos » by Charles Rex Arbogast - AP

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This is going to be extremely quick, folks. I just found a computer and I don`t even know if the formatting will turn out. This is the return of Adam Foote, I won`t bag on him as much as others do, but it will be interesting to see how the fans treat him.

Andrew Murray and Raffi Torres return to the lineup, and the defensive pairs have been shaken up. Toots and Stralman aren`t together anymore, Stralman is with Russ and Methot returns to the lineup to play with Fedor. Should be interesting how the Russ-Stralman pairing does five-on-five.

I won`t be able to watch this game tonight unfortunately, but I will be checking the boxscore on my Blackberry. Here`s hoping the boys can pull one out and get back in the win column.

Fearless Prediction: A win, damnit.

Game Time: 7:00pm ET

Opponent's Blog: Mile High Hockey

Game Page: Avalanche vs Blue Jackets Coverage

TSN Preview: Avalanche vs Blue Jackets Preview

TV: FSN Ohio

Radio: WBNS-AM (1460); WWCD-FM (101.1)

More after the jump...

From the Columbus Dispatch:

Colorado captain Adam Foote makes his first appearance in Nationwide Arena since he was traded by the Blue Jackets to the Avalanche on Feb. 26, 2008. The Blue Jackets are in a 1-4-3 tailspin since Nov. 19. Columbus won all four games last season and has won six of the past seven games in the series.

Jackets Links:

Columbus Blue Jackets / Columbus Blue Jackets Schedule

Columbus Blue Jackets Roster / Columbus Blue Jackets Stats

Here are the lineups for tonight's tilt:

Columbus Blue Jackets

Kristian Huselius	Antoine Vermette	Rick Nash
R.J. Umberger	Derick Brassard	Jakub Voracek
Jason Chimera	Samuel Pahlsson	Andrew Murray
Raffi Torres	Derek MacKenzie	Jared Boll

Fedor Tyutin	Marc Methot
Mike Commodore	Jan Hejda
Kris Russell	Anton Stralman

Steve Mason

Mathieu Garon

EXTRA: Alexandre Picard

INJURED: Fredrik Modin, Andrew Murray, Derek Dorsett, Rostislav Klesla, Marc Methot

Colorado Avalanche

Matt Duchene	Paul Stastny	Chris Stewart
Wojtek Wolski	T.J. Galiardi	Milan Hejduk
Cody McLeod	Ryan O'Reilly	Darcy Tucker
David Koci	Chris Durno	Marek Svatos

Scott Hannan	Kyle Quincey
John-Michael Liles	Brett Clark
Adam Foote	Ryan Wilson

Peter Budaj

Tyler Weiman

Game 31 Preview: Avalanche at Blue Jackets

David Driscoll-Carignan — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 14:37:22 -0000


Colorado Avalanche	5: MT / 7 ET / 12 GMT	Columbus Blue Jakcets
15-9-6	December 5th, 2009	13-10-5
36 pts	Nationwide Arena	31 pts
t-4th in West	Columbus, OH	10th in West

The Avalanche continue their 5-game trek tonight with their first visit to the fine city of Columbus to take on the Blue Jackets. For whatever reason, these matchups always seem to be entertaining. There's been some chippy games and some back-and-forth games in the last few years. There's that annoying cannon, of course, and, if you happen to watch the Columbus feed you'll be watching two of the biggest homers in all of sports. Actually, analyst Danny Gare left after last season, so I don't know that new analyst Bill Davidge will be as bad, but given that he played for (*sigh*) The Ohio State University and coached at Miami of Ohio and that he's paired with pom-pom-toting Jeff Rimer, I think it's a fair guess. Neither team is playing well right now (both teams are3-4-3 in their last 10)

There's added intrigue in the game as it's the first return to Columbus for Adam Foote since his "controversial" trade to Colorado in 2008. When Foote missed both trips to Columbus last year, we was quietly (and not-so-quietly) accused of having a touch of Columbus flu to avoid any controversy. Sadly, I have another engagement tonight and will not be able to see the game until tomorrow. I won't have a recap up for this one.

Craig Anderson (neck) is not expected to play tonight, which should give Peter Budaj his 2nd straight start. Statistically, he's the better goalie. Columbus' Steve Mason has had a tough sophomore season, with a 3.46 GAA and an .888 save percentage. In his 22 starts, he's allowed 3 goals or more 14 times. The Jackets are 3-7-4 in those games, so I think the Avs goal tonight is clear: score.

As strange as it is to see the BJ's goaltending collapse (they went from 9th in the league last year to 29th so far this year), it's nothing compared to what happened to their powerplay. They had the worst PP in the league last year (yes, even worse than ours). This year? #1. They have almost doubled their PP efficiency so far, improving from 12.7% to 24.8%. Amazing.

Besides Andy, the Avalanche will be without the usual suspects tonight - David Jones, Ruslan Salei and Kyle Cumiskey. The BJs are without Rusty Klesla, Derek Dorsett, Andrew Murray, Frederik Modin. Raffi Torres and Marc Methot are both questionable.

Avalanche vs Blue Jackets coverage

The Cannon

Colorado			Columbus
7th	36	Points	15th	31
9th	2.97	GF/G	7th	3.04
21st	2.93	GA/G	29th	3.46
17th	19.7	PP%	1st	24.8
18th	79.4	PK%	23rd	78.2
30th	26	S/G	17th	29.4
26th	33.1	SA/G	23rd	31.4
29th	46.7	FO%	13th	50.2
16th	14	PIM/G	20th	14.4
Stastny	30 pts	Top Scorer	Nash	30 pts

Game 28 (Brief) Recap : Not a Good One

Clint Clark — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 03:00:18 -0000

More photos » by Jay LaPrete - AP

6 days ago: Columbus Blue Jackets' Mike Commodore, right, and Toronto Maple Leafs' Niklas Hagman, of Finland, chase a loose puck during the first period of an NHL hockey game Thursday, Dec. 3, 2009, in Columbus, Ohio. (AP Photo/Jay LaPrete)

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Of all the blowouts that we have endured this year. This one sucks the most. Home ice, the Leafs aren't great, and following a quality game against the Blackhawks. We feel victim to some terrible turnovers and then more overall bad defense... a recurring theme. Keeping it short tonight. 6-2 Toronto.

The defense needs a change. The Tyutin-Stralman pairing has continued to fall downhill. I'm not sure with our current personnel what the solution is. The decline in Stralman's play has really made me concerned.

I actually thought Brassard-Voracek-Umberger looked nice to start the game tonight. Not long afterward, they end up being -3 players.

We played very well in the second period until the Blake goal. A beauty from Toronto. They picked us apart after that.

We were a dominating 5 on 5 team last year and have been anything, but this year. I'm not sure what the significant difference is between this year and last year. Even our top line seems to be hemmed in the zone most nights during this slump.

The fourth line plays like we played last year. The only line that didn't get score on. Why this line creates the best offensive pressure isn't a surprise. They check, they pressure, and they fight for the puck.

This Leafs team will not make the playoffs and made us look silly. I wouldn't be surprised to see wide sweeping, line changes.

Doghouse : Hitch. I've finally put him here. He's too good of a coach to go through a period like this with no improvement. We are not good at the things he's supposedly good at. 5 on 5, defense, and PK. He's got to own it.

Comments? Suggested Changes? Solutions? Fire Away

Leafs at Blue Jackets

Chemmy — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 20:20:05 -0000

Jared Boll gets dusted by Luke Schenn

Puck Drop: 7:00 ET Leafs TV

Fresh off of first shutout of the year we've lost starting goaltender Jonas Gustavsson to another catheter ablation and so Joey MacDonald gets the start. Ordinarily this would be a total disaster but at least Vesa Toskala isn't starting.

The last time we played Columbus was 2/19/2009, the day after Tlusty's five goal game when another one of our prospects Justin Pogge stunk out the joint in the shootout after playing a decent game. What I'm getting at here is that Joey MacDonald is a lot better than Justin Pogge.

If the team plays stifling defense against Columbus like they did against Montreal we have a good shot at picking up a win against a stingy Blue Jackets team who are missing a ton of their own defenders. On the other hand look to Anton Stralman to have a big night against a club he felt didn't give him a big shot to crack the lineup.

Remember your SPG picks, check out The Cannon if you want Columbus' take on tonight's game, and go Leafs go!