It's times like this I wish I worked in journalism. What? I do? Oh, then it's times like this I wish I covered the teams I care about. Blue Jackets training camp started over the weekend, meaning the start of the NHL season is less than a month away and that I'm going to be very excited very soon. Unfortunately, I now live farther from home than ever and it's not the best way to follow my favorite sports team. Thankfully Al Gore invented the internet so I'm able to stay somewhat connected to the Blue Jackets, mostly by following CBJ beat writers on Twitter and checking this site often. From what I've read, a few very interesting stories are already developing after the first few days that have started to put me in the hockey mood.
Kris Russell sprains his knee
This may sound extreme, but Russell getting hurt is one of the worst things that could happen to the Blue Jackets. One of the biggest changes new coach Scott Arniel is said to be bringing to the team is the philosophy that defensemen should be very active in joining the play, and Russell is easily the team's rearguard most suited for this. It's not even close. GM Scott Howson says he will probably be out 2-4 weeks, so it could be much worse and they definitely shouldn't rush him back into the lineup, but it's still a big blow to a defensive corps that is already not very offensive-minded. What the heck happened to not playing the owner's cup at the beginning of camp because so many guys got hurt early last season? If you want a positive twist to this, it could improve John Moore's chances to make the big club out of camp. I haven't seen him play so I don't know if he's NHL-ready yet, but he was drafted specifically to be the offensive defenseman this team needs.
Testing a young gun line
Word on Portzline's Twitter feed is that Arniel has been playing Jakub Voracek, Derick Brassard and Nikita Filatov together early in camp. While the new coach will obviously do a lot of experimenting with different line combinations, I love the potential here. Three first-round draft picks with great skill sets playing together could be just what an offensively-challenged team needs. All three of these guys have great hands and vision, and Filatov has shown flashes of goal-scoring touch in his limited NHL playing time. I'm not going to defend him leaving the team last season, but I have no problem giving him a second chance...it seems to me what he needs is an opportunity. Nobody can make much of an impact when they're only playing 6-8 minutes each game, like Filatov was last season. With a regular top-6 shift I think he could definitely score 60 points this season as a rookie...especially playing with Voracek and Brassard. While Brassard needs a big bounce-back year after being pretty awful last season, Voracek has quietly become an effective and pretty consistent scorer. If these guys develop some chemistry and are able to produce once the season starts, not only will their own stats receive a big boost, but things will start to open up for Rick Nash on the top line.
Souray trade rumors
Haven't heard a whole lot about this, but I read the other day the Blue Jackets might be the leading team in the running to trade for Edmonton defenseman Sheldon Souray. He is known to have one of the hardest shots in the league and is great on the powerplay, which is just what the Jackets are looking for on the blue line, so I definitely liked when I heard about a potential trade. Then, I heard Mike Commodore would likely be the player dealt for Souray and I was ecstatic. I made it no secret that I was incredibly frustrated with Commodore all of last season. He claimed his off-season conditioning program screwed him up, which could be true. But you can only use that for so long. At some point, you're a professional athlete and conditioning should not be an issue...especially not for a whole season. I'm not trying to attack the guy(haven't met him but I've heard he's a pretty cool dude), but he's definitely the first player I would want to be traded for Souray. Is Souray's more than he's worth? Yep. Is Commodore's more than he's worth? Sure is. For a cap hit that, in the grand scheme of things, isn't that great, I think this would be a great move. Souray is the offensive defenseman the team needs, and I'm not sure how well Commodore fits into Arniel's system...he's not exactly fleet-footed. I obviously don't know any details about a possible deal, and reporters say no deal is on the table, but this is a rumor I'm very interested in and hope has some truth to it.
Turns out my thoughts ran a little longer than I thought, and we're not even a week into training camp....I really like hockey.
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