Well, I think the dust has cleared...
The moves by GM Scott Howson have been pretty well noted, but a quick recap...
Added R.J. Umberger, Mike Commodore, Christian Bachman, Fedor Tyutin, and Kristian Huselius. Gone are Gilbert Brule, Danny Fritsche, and the enigmatic Nikki Zherdev. Still around are Mike Peca and Hitch.
My opinion is we are definitely a stronger club, especially on the back end. Down the middle we're better than we were a year ago, even if R.J. has to move up to play on the top line with Nash, and most likely Huselius.
What the moves didn't really do for me was get me excited about how many goals we're going to score. I still feel we're a player or two short in the scoring department, and shipping off Zherdev put a big blow to that goal total. Especially considering the move netted two mid-range defensemen.
On the blue line, Howson didn't net the big, numer one, puck-moving, power-play-quarter-backing defenseman. We lost Hainsey, who wasn't that guy - and in my opinion iffy in our own zone at best - but didn't really add a guy who put the puck on net like Ronny. Overall the blue line is upgraded, and should be getting the puck out of our zone. Nashville pulled the whole "overhaul the blueline" thing a few years ago, and it worked pretty well for them. And they found Kimmo Timmonen in the process.
Even though we didn't get the big #1 d-man, and are still a scorer short, I still can't help but get exicted about the upcoming season. First off, I'm a fan, so there's always some hope in the offseason.
First of all I'm excited for this season because Howson and Hitch seem to be building an actual team rather a collection of individuals. One by one, Howson's moves make you scratch your head, especially the Zherdev one. But, the overall result is going to be a stronger defensive team, and a team more committed to playing the system Hitchcock has in place. So, while there is much dissention on message boards, we don't know how the team will fare on the ice this fall at all. This is the most change any of us have seen to the line up since we participated in the expansion draft.
Secondly, we look to have two or three rookies coming in that aren't being rushed, that have the playmaking ability that made them top draft picks, and won't have the deer in the headlights look on their face all season. Brassard looks to be a lock at center at this point, and it's three years after he was drafted, so he's got some seasoning. He's also got about 15 more pounds on him since we saw him in January. Add Voracek to the mix, and possibly even Filatov, and could the Jackets be this year's version of the Kane and Toews show in Chicago last year? From a fan stand point, it's about our turn, isn't it?
The slow time of the offseason is almost upon us, so things will drag. But once again, for the umpteenth summer in a row, I'm again looking forward to what happens on the ice in September.
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2 comments:
Re: goal scoring:
Let me enlighten you. If you add up the points totals of the players we added (Huselius, Torres, Umbergers) over the last three years, and add up the totals of the players we let go: Fritsche, Brule, Zherdev we have a net game of 145 points. So, tell me again how we lost scoring? We didn't.
We also added scoring from the back end. We now have guys playing in the proper 'hole' ie: Manny in the 4 hole instead of the 1 hole. Peca in the 3-hole instead of 1-hole. If Modin is healthy we can likely count on him for 15-20 goals. Brassard has potential to be Kane-like. Voracek? No, nothing concrete there, but surely they can make up for the 7 that Vyborny scored and the 9 goals that Feds put up for us.
Our competitive level is so much higher and the scoring will take care of itself.
@anonymous (if that's your real name)
I didn't say we LOST scoring, I said I was concerned how we were going to score goals. Maybe we did net 145 points (how many goals?), but the Jackets have been at or near the bottom of the league in goal scoring almost every year of their existence. We don't need to just replace goals lost via trade, we need to increase goal scoring in a big way.
I'm well aware of the ifs going into the season, but after seven seasons I'm sick of counting on the ifs to lead us to the playoffs...I want something a bit more concrete. I want another goal scorer.
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