The countdown is on!

10 days Jacket fans.

10 days until what we all hope will be a new era in Blue Jackets hockey.

10 days until the 1st round of the NHL draft where its expected that Jackets GM Scott Howson will be wheeling and dealing in hopes of getting a jump start on an offseason that is the most critical one in the Blue Jackets 8 year on-ice history.

10 days until we all hope is the start towards a playoff birth in the 2008-2009 season.

Okay a little overly dramatic there but you get the point I'm making here.

Jacket fans are jacked. There is a lot of anticipation over exactly what will Howson be able to pull off over the next 10 days.

Will he move the 6th for an impact center? What about the 19th - will that be moved for a quality guy. Zherdev, Brule, Fritsche, Tollefsen, Klesla -- all have been rumored as trade bait. Will they still be Blue Jackets after June 20th?

What happens if all Howson comes away with at the draft are two first round picks? How will the fan base react to that possibility.

All kind of scenarios to play out.

Its been quite out there. Damn quiet. There's been the Marleau for Z + 6th rumor out there. We've heard names like Jokinen, Kubina, Kaberle and Vermette among others on the block.

There are still all kinds of unsigned juicy RFAs out there. Some have speculated that perhaps this is a sign that GMs are waiting to commit the big dollars until they see what kind of trade packages could be offered....or maybe in some cases wait to see what kind of offer sheets they received.

Brian Burke has come out and said that they will not be signing Corey Perry until after July 1st for instance.

Is this the calm before the storm?

I hope so, especially from a Columbus standpoint.

I wouldn't count on any deals going down before June 20th though. There is a lot of tire kicking going on, trade talks are certainly heating up and perhaps even some frameworks to some deals in place out there but I don't see anyone faxing in signed papers consummating a trade until the pressure is at its highest which won't be until June 20th.

At that time teams, especially those with their sites set on either 1. landing impact NHLers 2. improving their draft positions, will have to make their final plays. In the case of teams like San Jose or even Pittsburgh, who are without 1st round picks and have attractive roster players, its now or never if they want to move into cream of the draft which is always that first round.

So be patient Jacket fans as we've still got 10 days until I expect anything to go down...and make sure come next Friday the refresh button on your computers is fully functional!

Update: The countdown is indeed on! I just read over on the Dispatch blog that it seems Pittsburgh and the Jackets are in trade talks regarding some player rights. I'll have a post on this later tonight.

-LTL