Columbus Blue Jackets: 4 Ways to Solve Their Problems

Last weekend, it was announced that the Columbus Blue Jackets and the city of Columbus would be the next to host the All-Star weekend festivities in 2013.

The news comes as what could be the only bright spot for the Blue Jackets this season, as the 2011-2012 season has gone nothing as was predicted in the offseason.

Columbus' front office had the most aggressive offseason to date last year, trading away their first- round pick in the 2011 draft and talented youngster Jakub Voracek for All-Star center Jeff Carter, finally giving captain Rick Nash the top-line center he desperately needed.

Then, the Jackets traded for the negotiating rights to defenseman James Wisniewski and signed the Michigan native to a six-year $33 million contract to solidify their power play.

The Jackets upped their payroll in hopes that they would become more competitive in the Western Conference and finally make going to the playoffs a regular thing.

However, the hopes for the Jackets quickly vanished as the team stumbled out of the gate and fell to the bottom of the standings.

Wisniewski missed the first eight games of the season due to a pre-season suspension. The Jackets would only record one point during that stretch and would not get their first win until the "Wiz" returned.

Shortly after that, Jeff Carter suffered a fracture in his foot and would miss some time. The team's newest acquisitions have rarely gotten a chance to play together this year.

The Jackets have struggled greatly this season; and with any losing season, there comes plenty of rumors.

The fans are calling for a fire sale in which not only would they get rid of players like Carter, as well as captain Rick Nash, but they would also clean house in the front office and start from scratch.

At this point and time, it seems unlikely that this will happen, but here are four possible scenarios we could see in an attempt to bring Columbus back to relativity.

Fire Sale

The most talked about scenario to fix the team's problems is to have a complete fire sale and rebuild the franchise from the ground up.

If the Jackets were to go with this option, Jeff Carter and captain Rick Nash would most likely be traded to contending teams for draft picks and prospects.

Carter's time in Columbus would end before it really even began, and Nash would finally say goodbye to the city he has spent his entire NHL career in.

The trades would pave the way for talented youngsters Derick Brassard, Ryan Johansen, John Moore, David Savard and Cam Atkinson to take over as the players to lead the Blue Jackets into the next chapter of the franchise.

A fire sale would not only make major changes to the roster, but would also involve major changes to the team's front office.

Several Jackets fans assembled in front of Nationwide Arena this past weekend to show their displeasure with the job that is being done by team president Mike Priest and general manager Scott Howson and ask for them to be replaced.

The Jackets' franchise has only made one playoff appearance in their 11-year history, and keeping both Priest and Howson around shows the fans, as well as the rest of the league, that Columbus is okay with consistently losing.

As much as fans may want this scenario to happen, after the team's owners' meeting it seems that a fire sale will not be happening and both Priest and Howson are safe for now.

Getting Rid of the Bad Apples

Although Rick Nash has spent plenty of time in the rumor mill this season, it seems that the 27-year-old will stay in Columbus for at least another year.

The same can not be said for Jeff Carter, however.

Carter has been in the center of trade rumors since what seems like the beginning of the season after it was reported in November that the All-Star center had requested a trade.

At first both Carter and the team's front office denied the trade request and stated that Carter was going nowhere.

However, as the Jackets continued to struggle, Carter's name continued to emerge in the trade rumors as it seemed that he was not happy playing in Columbus, nor has he ever been, since being traded from Philadelphia in June.

Now, the rumors are coming true as it has been confirmed that Carter is "definitely available" and the Jackets center could soon be packing his bags.

As much as the Jackets may want to trade Carter, one of the biggest things standing in their way is the massive contract he brought with him to Columbus.

Carter is currently signed through 2022 and is set to have an annual cap hit of over $5 million.

The Jackets will have a hard time finding a team to take such a large contract off of their hands, but someone could bite in hopes that this season's struggles were just a fluke.

Another issue the team is having with dealing Carter is his attitude, which was reported earlier as being a reason some teams have backed away from trade talks.

Carter is not the only Blue Jacket who the team should look to move elsewhere. Other players that could be on the move include Samuel Pahlsson, Vinny Prospal and Kristian Huselius; all players are set to become free agents at the end of the season.

Huselius has struggled to stay healthy the past two seasons. It would be in the Jackets' best interest to part ways with the 33-year-old, as he is overpaid and has been unimpressive when he is healthy.

Fixing the Team's Biggest Problem

If the Jackets want to have any chance of competing in the near future, they will have to fix their biggest problem, which is their play in net.

After back-to-back unimpressive seasons, many believed that young Steve Mason's time as the team's No. 1 goaltender had come to an end and the team would look in another direction.

However, general manager Scott Howson instead decided to hang on to Mason and sign two goaltenders, Mark Dekanich and Curtis Sanford, to back him up.

This would turn out to be one of the many decisions that would have fans calling for Howson to be fired, as Mason continues to struggle and is on pace to have the worst season of his career.

The former Calder Trophy winner has never been able to return to the form that helped lead the Jackets to their first playoff appearance, and the Jackets are done trying.

It has been confirmed by the Columbus Dispatch that the Jackets plan on attempting to trade the 23-year-old, a move that should have been made last season.

While Mason has struggled, Curtis Sanford has been a bright spot in net and could serve as the team's backup going into next season.

Who will be the team's future No. 1 goalie is still unknown as names like Vancouver's Cory Schneider, Boston's Tuukka Rask and Los Angeles' Jonathan Bernier have all been linked to Columbus.

If able to grab any of these goaltenders, the Jackets will most likely have to deal a top player, which is where Jeff Carter would come in, as a player of his caliber would bring the most in return.

Keep Things the Same

When dealing with possible drastic changes, one must think about the complete opposite scenario, which would be to keep things exactly the same as they are this year.

Yes, the Jackets have been anything but impressive this season, but they came into this season as a completely different team than projected.

GM Scott Howson did his job this offseason in acquiring a top-line center in Jeff Carter as well as a power play defenseman in James Wisniewski, and the Jackets had some people predicting a future playoff berth.

However, Wisniewski was slapped with a pre-season suspension, Carter was injured and missed several games and Steve Mason was forced to start several consecutive games in net, as both Mark Dekanich and Curtis Sanford were injured during the preseason.

Because of this, Columbus found themselves at the bottom of the Western Conference standings and could not recover, as the team that was put together in the offseason was never given the chance to develop a chemistry together.

Both Carter and Wisniewski have barely had any time to try and get settled in the Jackets' system, and it would seem unfair to already cut your losses.

Although it is the most frowned upon option for the Blue Jackets, one wonders what would have happened if the team that was assembled in the offseason was together on the ice on opening night and beyond.