Daily Buzz… another loss

Hopefully this will be a short rant.  Since we’ve last spoke, the Jackets have dropped 3 straight to the Rangers, Wild, and now the Ducks.  A couple things seemed to have been answered: see pre-season questions.

1. We got the short end of the Zherdev trade.  Tyutin and Backman have been below average defenseman and horrendous on the “first pass”.  Z has shown what he’s capable of when surrounded by modest talent (not Jiri Novotny).

2. Norrena only plays well when LeClaire is on the shelf.  Great in 06-07, bad last year, bad beginning of this year, great on Monday.  Sigh.  We should have tried to move Pazzy when his stock was up after last season.

3. Umberger was a wasted first round pick.  Now, I’m not sure if the Jackets had any other offers on the table, but it’s clear based on other trades that were made that we got the short end as RJ is now playing 3rd line wing…

4. On the lighter side, another question(s) was regarding the play of young Jake Voracek and Derek Brassard.  Both have played like absolute studs - and you know what?  They make Chimmer a better player.  All three players on the goat line have 7 points, the highest on the team.

5. The injury bug will not stay in the past.  I knew Modin wouldn’t play more than half a dozen games in a row, hopefully we’ll get a healthy Raffi Torres in a few games.

6. Nikita may get the call, but he won’t get the ice.  He’s been a scratch twice and gotten 4 measly minutes of ice time after his spectacular debut (where he scored!).  Please, send him back to Syracuse where the boy can play hockey.

7. On the Calder front - Steven Stamkos is averaging 11 minutes of ice time and has yet to record ANY points.

Lots of hockey left to play.

Posted in Bluejackets buzz   Tagged: Blue Jackets game review, Daily Buzz, Derek Brassard, Jakub Voracek, Nikita Filatov