It was Patrick Duffy, right?

/can't click on YouTube at work

Goal by Jamie Benn, assist by Jamie Benn and Jamie Benn.

/Jamie Benn
//GO STARS

That's OK, I'm sure Columbus will be much better once they get James Wisniewski back.

I mean, a $5.5 million per year defenseman HAS to be really good right? Right?

HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! Scott Howson makes Don Waddell look like a genius.

Well, on the upside, at least they'll have a top 3 pick and a new GM next year, so things have to be looking up...

Columbus is just a joke. I like underdogs, but I long ago stopped pulling for the BJs. They're just too pitiful to root for. At some point you've got to accept that they're not going to get better, at which point, what's the use in hoping to see them succeed?

All teams can struggle. The answer isn't always so simple as rebuilding. But when you've had years of mediocrity and basically nothing to show for it, something is messed up. It is no longer a matter of being unlucky in the draft. It becomes a sign that the organization is infected. Forget rebuilding on the ice. Level the front office and restock.

But the season is young. For all I know the BJs will come together as a cohesive unit and shoot up in the standings (I swear I did not plan for that sentence to read like that). But that is doubtful considering their history and what they've looked like so far.

In other news, Dallas has been surprising. Again, season is young, but I expected them to be fairly bad. Not lottery pick territory, but outside any bubbles.

Hey Columbus fans re: Jeff Carter


Wamp-wamp

i loved the call: "... bats it away, and shoves it upstairs!"

there's gotta be a good euphemism in there somehwere.

Its a sad life being a Blue Jackets fan :(

Sometimes I regret giving up my fandom to the Pittsburg Penguins, which was the closest hockey team to where I lived, when the Blue Jackets were added to the league. But these days I just cant bring myself to root for anyone from Pittsburg.

Cool -- give that guy the Brett Hull Selfish Hockey Player award!

jennyz: Goal by Jamie Benn, assist by Jamie Benn and Jamie Benn.

/Jamie Benn
//GO STARS

Isnt that the creepy guy from Silence of the lambs?

Swoop1809: Its a sad life being a Blue Jackets fan :(

Sometimes I regret giving up my fandom to the Pittsburg Penguins, which was the closest hockey team to where I lived, when the Blue Jackets were added to the league. But these days I just cant bring myself to root for anyone from Pittsburg.

We wouldn't want you cheering for a team from a city that you can't spell any way.

I've seen individual players quit on a play, but four at once? Nash could have planted him into the boards and all he did was wave his stick in his general direction. Anyway, good on him for scoring.

The Stars' start is encouraging. I'm not going to hold my breath that they can keep it up the entire season, but I am starting to mentally prepare a letter to Sports Illustrated who predicted that they would finish dead last.

I was at the game last night. The CBJ are in serious trouble. Not sure how much longer Scott Arniel keeps his job behind the bench. My guess is that if we can't get past DET or OTT this weekend on the road, he'll be fired Monday.

Worst start to our season EVAR, and that's actually really saying something

Columbus was spoiled for far too long in not having a professional franchise & thereby avoiding the Ohio Curse of Perpetual Sports Suckage.

Jooooooiiiiiiiiiiinnnnn usssssssssssss

Sincerely,

Cleveland & Cincinnati

swahnhennessy: Columbus is just a joke. I like underdogs, but I long ago stopped pulling for the BJs.


Uh... huh, huh, huh... You said, "Pulling for the BJs." Huh, huh, huh...


/hot like BJs

plong: I was at the game last night. The CBJ are in serious trouble. Not sure how much longer Scott Arniel keeps his job behind the bench. My guess is that if we can't get past DET or OTT this weekend on the road, he'll be fired Monday.

Worst start to our season EVAR, and that's actually really saying something

It's easy to blame Arniel and I know he's not exactly doing the job for us, but it comes down to the guys on the ice and they just don't have it. Or worse, they have it but they don't use it. Nash will sometimes be all over the ice and make miracles occur, then the next night he's invisible. Mason was unstoppable until the rest of the league figured out he can't stop high glove-side to save his life. And how many times have we seen Jackets players fumble on the ice only to get traded and climb the ranks wherever they went?

I don't even know what they need at this point. I just know it's really goddamn hard to keep watching them lose over and over with no improvement in sight.

List of the BJ's first-round picks:

2000 Rostislav Klesla
2001 Pascal Leclaire
2002 Rick Nash
2003 Nikolai Zherdev
2004 Alexandre Picard
2005 Gilbert Brule
2006 Derick Brassard
2007 Jakub Voracek
2008 Nikita Filatov
2009 John Moore
2010 Ryan Johansen

For a team that has struggled so much that is a pretty mediocre list of players. Of course not every pick is going to pan out, but they've had more than their share of misses. Especially considering that every player listed, with the exception of Moore, was a top 10 pick. Otherwise, they have all been 8 or lower (or higher, depending on your perspective). Columbus, whether under Howson or (especially) MacLean, has been awful at evaluating talent and just as bad at developing it.

swahnhennessy: List of the BJ's first-round picks:

2000 Rostislav Klesla
2001 Pascal Leclaire
2002 Rick Nash
2003 Nikolai Zherdev
2004 Alexandre Picard
2005 Gilbert Brule
2006 Derick Brassard
2007 Jakub Voracek
2008 Nikita Filatov
2009 John Moore
2010 Ryan Johansen

For a team that has struggled so much that is a pretty mediocre list of players. Of course not every pick is going to pan out, but they've had more than their share of misses. Especially considering that every player listed, with the exception of Moore, was a top 10 pick. Otherwise, they have all been 8 or lower (or higher, depending on your perspective). Columbus, whether under Howson or (especially) MacLean, has been awful at evaluating talent and just as bad at developing it.

It gets worse when you look at the guys they passed on.

2000-Scott Hartnell
2003-Tomas Vanek
2005-Luc Bourdon(RIP), Devin Setoguchi, Anze Kopitar
2007-Logan Couture
2008-Cody Hodgeson, Josh Bailey, Tyler Myers

Now granted it can be argued the draft is a bit of a crapshoot at times, that's a farking All Star lineup worth of talent they let go.

Flappyhead: 2000-Scott Hartnell

He stinks

Maybe the jackets are just rushing their talent to NHL level too soon and ruining their players' development. Rushing guys up to NHL level only works for #1 picks/generational talents; otherwise, average first rounders (and everybody else really) benefit a lot from spending some more time in the minors before making their way up to the NHL. The Jackets' list of failed draft picks in the last decade is impressive considering how other clubs in recent history have essentially drafted their way to Cups after a few years of being terrible (Chicago, Pittsburgh... Edmonton in a few years probably).

MugzyBrown: Flappyhead: 2000-Scott Hartnell

He stinks

20+ goals in five of the last six seasons is hardly anything to sniff at.

Flappyhead: swahnhennessy: List of the BJ's first-round picks:

2000 Rostislav Klesla
2001 Pascal Leclaire
2002 Rick Nash
2003 Nikolai Zherdev
2004 Alexandre Picard
2005 Gilbert Brule
2006 Derick Brassard
2007 Jakub Voracek
2008 Nikita Filatov
2009 John Moore
2010 Ryan Johansen

For a team that has struggled so much that is a pretty mediocre list of players. Of course not every pick is going to pan out, but they've had more than their share of misses. Especially considering that every player listed, with the exception of Moore, was a top 10 pick. Otherwise, they have all been 8 or lower (or higher, depending on your perspective). Columbus, whether under Howson or (especially) MacLean, has been awful at evaluating talent and just as bad at developing it.

It gets worse when you look at the guys they passed on.

2000-Scott Hartnell
2003-Tomas Vanek
2005-Luc Bourdon(RIP), Devin Setoguchi, Anze Kopitar
2007-Logan Couture
2008-Cody Hodgeson, Josh Bailey, Tyler Myers

Now granted it can be argued the draft is a bit of a crapshoot at times, that's a farking All Star lineup worth of talent they let go.

Trust me, they didn't miss much with that one.
/Isles fan

swahnhennessy: List of the BJ's first-round picks:

2000 Rostislav Klesla
2001 Pascal Leclaire
2002 Rick Nash
2003 Nikolai Zherdev
2004 Alexandre Picard
2005 Gilbert Brule
2006 Derick Brassard
2007 Jakub Voracek
2008 Nikita Filatov
2009 John Moore
2010 Ryan Johansen

For a team that has struggled so much that is a pretty mediocre list of players. Of course not every pick is going to pan out, but they've had more than their share of misses. Especially considering that every player listed, with the exception of Moore, was a top 10 pick. Otherwise, they have all been 8 or lower (or higher, depending on your perspective). Columbus, whether under Howson or (especially) MacLean, has been awful at evaluating talent and just as bad at developing it.

As a contrast, here's Dallas.

2000 Steve Ott
2001 Jason Bacashihua
2002 Martin Vagner
2003 No pick
2004 Mark Fistric
2005 Matt Niskanen
2006 Ivan Vishnevskiy
2007 No pick
2008 No pick
2009 Scott Glennie
2010 Jack Campbell

Of those, 3 years with no first-round pick, two defencemen playing solid minutes (but one of whom is a #7 most of the time), and Steve Ott, one of the better agitators in the NHL. That's it. Three out of eleven, with two guys too young to judge yet. Bacashihua is playing for a lower-level AHL team, Vishnevskiy is in Russia, Vagner's never crossed the pond. That's a team that has had poor drafting. Complain all you want about Columbus, but .. yeesh.

Flappyhead: 20+ goals in five of the last six seasons is hardly anything to sniff at.

I watch him every game. He can't skate. Really like, he falls all of the time.

He has no real skills. He doesn't have a good net presence. he takes stupid penalties.

He's just been on a good team and can get some garbage goals.