Columbus Blue Jackets: John's Wednesday Round Up

According to the Jackets web site Marc Methot, Alexandre Picard and Steve Kelly have all been signed to 1 year 2-way contracts.

Both Methot and Picard were restricted free agents. Methot is a 2003 6th round pick while Picard is a 2004 1st round pick. Both should have another year or two of Restricted years.

In signing the 1 year deals it gives the Jackets flexibility in terms of contracts and payrolls and more importantly the players as they will look to have strong years and try to earn that 1-way contract the following season.

NHL.com leaked the Kelly signing yesterday and the Jackets made it official today. Crunch scribe Lindsay Kramer seems to like it:

"...if he winds up playing in Syracuse, this is another major jolt for the Crunch on behalf of the Blue Jackets. Kelly is both a scorer and a grinder, although at age 31 he probably doesn't bang as much any more."

He certainly sounds like the type of player Howson/Hitch covet.

Filatov is now officially signed according the Dispatch. Howson and co. got that technicality corrected quickly and now its time to move on to Filatov's visa and get his butt state side.

A friend of mine had a good point -- it may not be a bad idea to ship Filatov off to Canada where they are less stringent on allowing foreigners into their county and have him train there until his US work visa goes through. Anything to get him away from the Russian "influence".

Regarldess its obvious the Jackets are working dilligently to get Filatov over aqap (as quickly as poss..) and I think its only a matter of time before it happens.

Ohio native (just wouldn't sound right without that preface) Dan Fritsche agreed to a 1 year contract with the NY Rangers yesterday worth 875,000. Quite frankly I thought he'd demand and get a little more dough in the 1 mil+ range.

No word yet on the NHL schedule but they have made one thing official today and that the next site for the "Winter Classic". It will indeed be held at Wrigley Field on New Years Day and the teams will be the Chicago Blackhawks and the Detroit Red Wings.

-LTL