Only the Blue Jackets—The State of Columbus' Hockey Team

Only the Jackets could take the great momentum they had going into the All Star break and let the wheels completely fall off and get their butts kicked in 3 straight games—2 of which were at home.

Only the Jackets could use the trading of Jody Shelley as an excuse to stop playing.

Only the Jackets could have their superstar player play the invisible man during the most important stretch in franchise history.

Only the Jackets could pretty much take themselves out of the playoff picture in a matter of a week. (They have to win 20 of their remaining 28 games to really have a legitimate shot—that would put them at 96 points—ain't happening).

Lit it up

Marion Gaborik: Jackets needed to contain him and they didn't get it done, not even close. Gaborik had two goals and could have had more.

Opportunistic Wild: We may have outshot them by a considerable margin but when the Wild decided to turn it up, the Jackets had nothing for them. The Wild completely shut it down in the 3rd and sat on their 3 goal lead. They gave the Jackets low percentage shots that Backstrom ate up.

Sell out crowd: Too bad it was the worst played home game of the season. Great timing Jackets.

Dim the light

Derick Brassard: Got his first goal and made an impact out there offensively.

Busted bulbs

Nothing disappointed me more last night than the fact that a record crowd witnessed that mess from the home team. Last night was a real chance to win back some fans and make some new ones. Those fringe fans not only left early but certainly won't invest any more money in this team any time soon.

Getting humiliated like that on your home ice can't happen and the players have got to understand that. Columbus isn't Toronto or Minnesota—it's still a new market team being developed and it's imperative to take advantage of these opportunities to win new fans over.

Can the Jackets gets some new sticks? Seriously have you ever seen as many broken sticks as there were last night? At one point two Jackets had broken sticks on the same shift.

Rick Nash: What is up with this guy? Our franchise player cannot disappear during the first ever playoff push. This guy has been completely invisible out there. I think he maybe had one good chance last night. I'm personally starting to get concerned over when, if ever, this guy is truly going to develop into that "go-to" player—maybe I have to high of expectations.

I just don't know if he'll ever reach that Lecavlier, Sundin, Sakic, Modano type status—he definitely won't be a Crosby/Ovechkin type. I do really want to see him with a legit #1 center on his line.

What in the hell was Novotny thinking on that second goal? He just gave the puck back to the Wild right in front of the goalie. Those are the kinds of mistakes this team did not make prior to the All Star break. That play completely changed the momentum that the Jackets had after Brassard got his first goal.

Vyborny played only 8:45 minutes. At this point why not just scratch this guy. Call up Lindstrom to take his place. I guess the reason to put him on the ice is to have him play and deal him by the deadline for whatever you can get.

Norrena had no big saves last night. He should have stopped that opening goal, a wrist shot from the point. A friend of mine said it best; Norrena is just good enough to lose with this year.

Last night, he allowed 4 goals off 20 shots. To his defense, however, a couple of those shots even superman couldn't have saved.

Brule had the best seat in the house on that 3rd goal. Hey Gilbert—its called defense—you can't let the opposition's best player walk in free for a tap in goal. Pathetic.

Nash got worked on the 2nd goal by Gaborik as he allowed him to completely walk around him into the slot. Nice 'D' franchise.

Got to question Hitch a bit tonight as well. He should have called a time out after that 3rd goal and considered pulling Norrena. A two goal lead is pretty much insurmountable against a defensively sound Wild team, but a three goal lead put the nail in the coffin.

3 bright lights on the night

1. Sold out crowd

2. Derick Brassard—1st career NHL goal

3. Z's jersey and pads a mess—hey, it was somewhat entertaining to see Z scrum it up a bit in the 3rd period

I can guarantee you that there are some serious discussions going on in Nationwide Arena offices as to just what the state of this team is. I hate to say it but, although it hasn't eliminating them, this three game losing streak has badly hurt the Jackets chances to say in the playoff hunt.

Another loss or two and I think it will be clear this team will become a seller, and in my opinion it's time to completely gut this fish. Any player that's not in the long term plans of this team gets put on the block and is dealt to the highest bidder. From what I can tell that would be these players in no particular order:

Fedorov, Vyborny, Malhotra, Chimera, Fritsche, Brule, Tollefsen, Peca. Foote is on this list too if they aren't close in terms of a contract extension.

All these guys won't get dealt because they need bodies to finish out the season, but these are the players who are most likely on the trading block.

The Blue Jackets have overachieved thus far and Hitch has gotten about all he can out of this group. I think its crystal clear to both Howson and Hitch that to take that next step there are still some major weeds that need to be pulled out.

These changes need to happen at the trade deadline and during the  off season.

The 2008 team will surely look extremely different from the 2007 version of the squad, and that's a good thing.

The Jackets' next game is against Ovechkin and those surging Capitals.