Columbus Blue Jackets: Playoff Bound in 2008-09

Everyone is great at something.

Some people are great artists. Put them in front of a wall, give them some spray paint, and they create magic.

With others, it’s cooking. They don’t need a recipe, they don’t need measuring cups. Just some ingredients, some fire, and they can prepare a meal fit for a king.

Well, the Jackets are great at something as well. They’re great at being average.

The salary cap helps to significantly level the playing field and ultimately negates the ability for wealthy owners to simply buy championships. The intangibles become what makes a good team great, and what makes a great team a Stanley Cup Champion.

Not only is there an upper limit under which your players cumulative salaries must not surpass, there is even a lower limit, forcing even the most penny-pinching of owners to spend some of their cash.

With all due respect to the late John H McConnell (sidenote: I rode the elevator with him after a Jackets game back in 2000, and he found it hilarious that my wife’s jersey had the C while mine sported the A), the purse strings have simply been much too tight. The Jackets were never any higher then 24th in the league in terms of money spent on player salaries in a given season.

I must stress that one does not assume that a higher payroll in and of itself makes a team better, more competitive, or more likely to win a game. But there absolutely is a correlation between how much a team spends and where they finish in the standings.

Sure, each year there is usually a high-priced team or two who tank and fall flat on their face. At the other end of the spectrum, there is that ragtag, vagabond team of outcasts and misfits that is able to somehow sneak into the playoffs and gets through a round or two.

But at the end of the day, let’s be honest. For the most part, you get what you pay for. Talent wins championships.

What is a bit baffling in the Blue Jackets' case is how the owners and coaching staff seem truly befuddled each and every time they go through a five or six-game losing streak (one of many each year). On top of that, they seem genuinely shocked when many of the games result in a shutout for the other team.

So what makes anyone think that things will be different during the 2008-09 season? Why should I buy what Scott Howson and Ken Hitchcock are selling THIS year?

I must confess, the team does have a different look to it. Given their relatively brief history in the league, the Jackets' facelift during this offseason has probably been the most significant to date.

So we all agree, they’re different, no doubt about that. But are they a better team? Will the notable new faces be enough? Will the talent they put on the ice truly be able to compete with their opponents night after night?

Can they not only shake that playoff monkey off their back, but really have a shot at the most coveted prize in professional sports, the Stanley Cup? Let’s start in the net and work our way out.

No surprise in goal—it’s the returning superstar Pascal LeClaire, who recently re-signed for three years at an impressive $11.4 million. After going down to injury during 2006-07 season, he settled in last year and served up nine shutouts, second in the league behind the Rangers Henrik Lundqvist (10).

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