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.
The Columbus Blue Jackets can finally exhale. The hardest part is over.
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.”
For the Columbus Blue Jackets, 2012 is playoffs or bust.
The Jackets have qualified for the postseason just once (2008-09) in their 10-year existence, and apparently general manager Scott Howson is tired of waiting around for draft picks to develop.
On the eve of the 2011 entry draft, Howson put together arguably one of the biggest trades of the offseason by sending 2007 first-round pick Jakub Voracek and a pair of 2011 draft picks to the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for 30-goal scorer Jeff Carter.
Ever since the Philadelphia Flyers drafted Mike Richards and Jeff Carter back in the 2003 NHL entry draft, the two high-scoring forwards have been the nucleus of the team.
Eight years later, one day prior to the 2011 draft, general manager Paul Holmgren
traded away his captain and leading scorer in two separate trades within 30 minutes of each other.
Or as Flyers fans are calling it, the beginning of the end.
Everyone in Philadelphia knew that with the Flyers’ cap situation, some trades had to be made. But no one was expecting this.
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As tight as things have been in the Western Conference all season, Friday night provided a chance for several teams to finally create some separation.
Out in the East, Sabres fans can finally let out a sigh of relief after their team finally locked up a playoff berth against the Philadelphia Flyers. The victory came in dramatic fashion as Thomas Vanek won it with a breakaway goal 1:16 into OT to lift the Sabres over the slumping Flyers with a 4-3 victory. The victory capped a second-half surge by a team that was as many as 10 points out of contention in mid-January. Buffalo improved to 28-11-6 since Dec. 28, and is 15-4-4 since the team was taken over by a new owner back in February.
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