While much of the focus leading up to the NHL’s Feb. 27 trade deadline continues to be on where Rick Nash will be dealt, another interesting rumor is beginning to take shape involving another current member of the Columbus Blue Jackets: Jeff Carter.
It’s been no secret that Carter has been unhappy since he set foot in Columbus. It’s also been made public knowledge recently that the Jackets have been trying trade the forward and the remainder of his 11-year, $58 million contract he originally signed with the Flyers.
With the NHL trade deadline now just three weeks away, the trade rumors are out in full force. Here are the latest:
Smyth Broadway Bound?
When Ryan Smyth returned to Edmonton this offseason, it was an emotional experience. The 35-year-old veteran was back home with the team that drafted him first overall back in the 1994 entry draft.
However, Smyth has yet to have his name engraved on Lord Stanley’s Cup, and with the Oilers sitting 13th in the Western Conference, 11 points out of the eighth and final playoff spot, he’ll have to be traded to complete the dream.
If you didn’t catch the Kings-Blue Jackets game last night at Staples Center, Los Angeles won 3-2 thanks to a goal from Drew Doughty in the final second of the third period.
Actually, as it turns out, he didn’t.
On-ice officials reviewed the goal and found that the puck crossed the goal line with four-tenths of a second on the clock. However, upon further review by the War Room in Toronto after the game was already decided, it was spotted that at the 1.8 second mark, the clock inexplicably stopped. Therefore, Doughty’s wrister technically should not have counted.
It was only a matter of time before Columbus Blue Jackets head coach Scott Arniel was shown the door.
That time has finally come.
Arniel’s fate was sealed following the Jackets’ 7-4 loss last night against the Anaheim Ducks, solidifying their place as the worst team in the NHL with a 11-25-5 record.
Assistant coach Todd Richards will be Arniel’s replacement, on an interim basis, for the rest of the 2011-12 season.
There is no doubt that Columbus is the gloomiest city in the NHL right now. The Blue Jackets have just three wins on the season and with eight points, they currently own the worst record in the NHL.
For some players on the team, enough is enough. And you know the old saying, “When the going gets tough, the tough quit.”
Desperate for some sort of change that could reverse their losing ways, the Columbus Blue Jackets acquired Mark Letestu from the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for a fourth-round pick at the 2012 NHL draft.
The 26-year-old Letestu had 14 goals and 13 assists in 64 games for the Penguins in 2010-11 but has just one assist in 11 games this season.
While rumors are already swirling that the reason the Pens made the move was to clear a spot for the anticipated return of captain Sidney Crosby, that still remains speculation at this point.
Just two days after finally earning their first win of the season, an impressive 4-1 victory over the Detroit Red Wings, the Columbus Blue Jackets fell right back into their losing ways with a 4-2 loss to the Buffalo Sabres.
While it can be agreed that everyone within the lineup has underperformed thus far, no one individual may be shouldering the blame more than goaltender Steve Mason.
After beginning the 2011-12 NHL season 0-7-1, the Jackets finally got into the win column with an impressive 4-1 victory over the Detroit Red Wings.
First-round picks Ryan Johansen and John Moore both scored their first NHL goals, defenseman James Wisniewski played in his first game of the season (after serving an eight-game suspension for a boarding hit during the preseason) and Steve Mason stopped 30 shots to help stop the bleeding in Columbus.
After having a terrific preseason, Jaromir Jagr had failed to put a single puck in the net through his first seven games as a member of the Philadelphia Flyers.
So naturally, when Jagr was asked prior to the Flyers’ game against the Toronto Maple Leafs Monday night about feeling any pressure to get his first goal of the season, the superstar said that he wasn’t, but he did indicate that he was a little superstitious about it.
“I changed everything,” he said. “The skate, gloves. I got hit in the head during warm-ups, so that helped.”
Just when things seemed like they couldn’t get any worse for the Columbus Blue Jackets in the early going of the 2011-12 season, it’s now being reported that center Jeff Carter will be listed as questionable on Tuesday with a slight fracture on the top of his right foot.
“It’s a little hairline crack where he took a shot (in Saturday’s loss to the Stars),” Columbus coach Scott Arniel said. “It’s an old injury. We’ll see where it’s at (today). We’re hoping it won’t be too long. We might get him back for the weekend. The ones on top you can sometimes play through.”
While much of the focus leading up to the NHL’s Feb. 27 trade deadline continues to be on where Rick Nash will be dealt, another interesting rumor is beginning to take shape involving another current member of the Columbus Blue Jackets: Jeff Carter.
