Category Archives: Hockey

Dear NHLPA…

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I’m a huge fan of the National Hockey League.  More specifically, I cheer for the Columbus Blue Jackets.  My wife and I go to up to ten games a season through a team ticket package.  We also drive three hours to get to Nationwide Arena.

I cannot tell you how much CBJ apparel we own.  From little things like a pen with the Jackets’ insignia to multiple jerseys.  In fact, we planned on buying a couple new jerseys this season as well since a certain Rick Nash no longer plays for the team (that would just be awkward).

On our trips to the Arena District, we pay to park.  We also frequent the establishments in the area for food and beverage prior to game time.  Inside we cheer loud, buy a drink to keep our throat wet and then cheer some more.  We may stop for food on the way home as well.

For the other 72 games we subscribe to DirecTV’s NHL Center Ice.  On top of that, the All-Star Game is in Columbus this season and we already have tickets to see it…those weren’t cheap.

When the lockout hit, I was floored.  I kind of assumed you’d reach a deal relatively quickly since you’ve already had a full season lockout just eight years ago.  I mean you’d have to be completely stupid to do it again, right?  RIGHT?

I stopped wearing anything with an NHL or CBJ logo, making my attire a bit more limited.  When my ticket agent called to offer 4% interest on my Blue Jackets account if I kept the money with the team, I said no and I want a refund.

A preseason game and opening night, two games we had tickets for, came and went.  I shrugged it off almost knowing I’d never see a game this season.

The NHLPA and the NHL owners were essentially refusing to talk to each other as if they were children.

Then, on October 16, the National Hockey League came out with a proposal.  It was a proposal that I never thought I’d see from the owners.  A 50/50 revenue sharing split.  This was significantly less than anything I thought the owners would ask for.  When terms of the deal were announced, it said that even current contracts would go untouched.  In other words, a majority of players would keep their full salary for this season and future seasons to come.

Donald Fehr said he wasn’t sure if this was a real effort by the NHL or not.  David Backes made an asinine statement that basically said it is like a person who makes $50,000 a year  getting dropping to $40,000 a year, even though their company is doing great.  Backes makes millions while the people that pay that salary, make nowhere near that.

The current face of stupidity when it comes to the NHL Players Association.  

So, NHLPA, here are some questions for you:

- What will it be like when you make next to nothing this season?
- How long until you get that money back?
- What feelings will you have knowing you are collectively destroying a great sport in the United States?
- Remember when everyone was saying you “just want to play”?  Why aren’t you playing?
- My life will go on just fine without the NHL, but what about the merchandiser who sold me the clothes and jerseys?   What about the employees of the restaurants in the Arena District who rely on the 41+ nights a year for big crowds?  What about the parking attendants who will work fewer events?  The arena employees, the vendors, the ticket sellers?  Do you ever think of anyone but yourselves?
- To those playing in other professional leagues, how do you feel about taking the job of someone who is barely getting by playing hockey?
- How much money is enough money when you have millions in the bank?

The time has come to show you aren’t a bunch of money hungry athletes.  The time has come to prove to the fans that you want to play hockey.  Are you man enough to take a small cut in pay while still being of the top paid professions by a long shot?

Man up and sign this deal because you are lucky the NHL is offering this much to you.  When you saw this, any reaction other than high-fiving one another is an insult to NHL fans.

Sincerely,

Your fan base that is decreasing daily.

NHL 13 Setting Sports Game Standard

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As I’ve mentioned in a previous article, gaming online cooperatively in a franchise mode is something I’ve longed for years ago.  While I’ve been slow to blog about it, my excitement piqued when information was released that NHL 13 would have this very feature in their game.  Being incorporated into a series I play far more than any other is a huge cherry on top of a giant sundae.

EA Sports is calling the mode GM Connected.  The premise is the same as Be a GM mode, where you control every aspect of a franchise over the course of multiple seasons.  The difference here is that GM Connected is an online mode.  That means up to 30 teams can be controlled by different people and play each other online.  Even better, there appears to be a plethora of options to play how you wish.  For instance, you can play “versus” style with one person controlling the whole team, or “online team play” style where up to 6 players are on the same team….or anything in between.

What I, and a couple of friends I regularly game with, plan on doing is taking over a single team and rolling against the AI.  We’ll of course use appropriate sliders and adjust the difficulty so it isn’t a cake walk.  I’d also like to keep a record of games and possibly even post highlights and stats.  There are so many great possibilities here and the excitement has me eagerly awaiting September 11, 2012, the release date of NHL 13.

Before I go any further, read this fantastic article from Game Informer that goes into great detail about the upcoming mode.  It should also be noted that much more information is expected to be released very soon concerning GM Connected.

A couple issues that bother me.

-  It was noted that the commissioner can advance the game in “three-day, one-week, or two-week periods.”  I truly hope this  is not interpreted as playing one game every three days.  If there is no flexibility here, this mode because useless since we will likely play several games a night.

-  There was no mention of customized sliders being used.  I have to think we will be able to adjust the period length, difficulty and all sliders you can change offline.

The article in question is close to two months old now, but is still by far the best information available.  My hope here however is that more games follow suit when it comes to the online co-op format that NHL is utilizing.

More to come on GM Connected.

 

Devils v. Rangers Game 1…LIVE BLOG!

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I’ll be live blogging game one of the NHL’s Eastern Conference Final between the New Jersey Devils and the New York Rangers.  Check back at 8pm and join in.

Random Thoughts: 4/27/12

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What a great night I had yesterday.  I got home just in time to see the New York Rangers defeat the Ottawa Senators in game 7.  I also found out that my favorite show currently on television, Fringe, has been renewed for a 5th and final season on Fox.

Onto a few thoughts:

- I love the NFL, but can’t really get into the draft like others can.  Even in years where my team drafts later on, I don’t find it all that compelling to watch.  It made it even worse when I knew several months ago who the Colts were going to draft.  I haven’t seen video of the announcement, and have no desire to.  The draft is great for the NFL, ESPN, NFL Network, and the fans who watch…but it is not for me.

-  Notre Dame WR Michael Floyd was picked up by the Arizona Cardinals.  If they could get a high quality QB, they would be sitting great with two outstanding receivers to throw the ball to.  A tandem of Larry Fitzgerald and Floyd could prove deadly.

-  NHL Playoffs, round 2, begins tonight with Phoenix hosting Nashville.   Two hot goaltenders from the previous round could mean several tight games.  Nashville is better though and they win in 5.  I’ll also take St. Louis over Los Angeles in 5, New York Rangers over Washington in 6, and Philadelphia over the New Jersey Devils in 7.

Community was brilliant. Every detail of Law and Order was executed perfectly.

-  Community spoofed Law and Order on NBC last night and it was simply amazing.   As a fan of L&O for years, it was incredible how detailed this episode was.  Everything from the intro to the one-liners and the detectives/D.A at the hot-dog stand was well done.  This was a gem of an episode.  I now have a problem with where to place this episode all time.  It surpasses the pillow/blanket fort documentary but was it better than the timeline episode?  Tough call.

-  All has been pretty quiet on the gaming front lately.  Nothing of too much interest, from my perspective, has been happening.

More NHL Playoff Predictions

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Even after a single day of playoff games, every series has a story already.  I’m talking about Pittsburgh blowing a 3-0 lead, Shea Weber’s head smash and Vancouver’s discipline.

Tonight however, we progress to a new set of games.

#8 Ottawa vs. #1 New York Rangers

A mismatch on paper in nearly every single way.  This was unfortunately the worst opponent for the Rangers.  Among the possible first round matchups, the Senators are the one team who have had New York’s number.  They are 3-1 against the Blue Shirts this season.

Not many pucks get this view.

Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist had a magnificent regular season.  He posted career bests in save percentage (.930) and goals against average (1.97).  He is a heavy Vezina trophy favorite and he led the team to the number one seed in the East.

The Senators meanwhile have a high potent offense.  They even have an offensive blue line led by defenseman Erik Karlsson who led the league at his position with 78 points.

This Rangers club is stacked with offense and goaltending, but can they stop the barrage of shots that the Senators will put on them?  This will be a wake up call for the NYR.  New York in 7.

#7 Washington vs. #2 Boston

The defending champion Bruins stumbled badly out of the gate this season, but nearly ran the table in November.  They’ve been one of the most inconsistent teams in the league.  They also have Tim Thomas who has stolen quite a few games this year.  However, there is something about this team that doesn’t seem right.

Washington meanwhile saw its star, Alexander Ovechkin have a downright dreadful year in comparison to his past.  The phrase “what have you done for me lately” comes into play here though.  10 goals in his final 13 games and a streaking Capitals team whose playoff hopes were nearly dashed 3 weeks ago.  They’ll also be going with an unproven netminder in rookie Braden Holtby.

It is impossible to ignore the playoff stigma that the Capitals have had in the Ovechkin era. Peaking at the right time though is huge in sports.  Going against the champs, a rookie in net, a history of failure…something’s gotta give…and it just might.  There hasn’t been a repeat champion since Detroit in 1998 and this year will be no different.  Washington in 6.

#7 San Jose vs. #2 St. Louis

What can you say about the St. Louis Blues?  They’ve been simply amazing since hiring Ken Hitchcock as their head coach.  It seems like nearly every time you see the nightly scores, the Blues had won.  Quite often, they’d win via shutout.  In fact, the Blues shutout the Sharks twice this season…and swept the 4 game series.

There’s no doubt the goaltending of the Blues has been a huge part of their success.   Between Jaroslav Halak and Brian Elliott, the team never has an issue sending out the wrong goaltender.  This could easily be the best duo of all time.  Halak, who took the Montreal Canadiens deep into the playoff a couple years ago, will start game 1.

For the Sharks, this season was nearly a massive disappointment.  A team who you can pencil into home ice advantage in the first round, barely made the playoffs.  The fact is, they are getting old.  But with age, comes experience.  Don’t overlook players like Dan Boyle, Patrick Marleau, and Joe Thornton.

I gotta say if San Jose wins this series, it would be the biggest upset in round one no matter what happens with everyone else.  The goaltending is too much and the Sharks simply don’t execute the way they used to.  If they get lucky and catch Halak on a bad night, they’ll simply have to deal with Elliott.  St. Louis in 5.

#6 Chicago vs. #3 Phoenix

Well someone had to win the Pacific division and get the 3 seed in the West.  The Coyotes edged out fellow division foes Los Angeles and San Jose.

This is how you do a proper “white out”

The big story with the Blackhawks is Jonathan Toews.  He’s been out with concussion symptoms since mid-February but hopes to return tonight for game 1.  This would be a huge boost to the high powered Hawks offense.

The Coyotes haven’t won a division since the team was in Winnipeg.  They’ve also never won a playoff series.  Home ice advantage means one of my favorite playoff traditions for the WPG/PHX franchise, and that is the White Out.  I’ve always found it to be quite awesome that the tradition carried over when the team moved to the desert.

Mike Smith, goaltender for Phoenix, could mean the difference.  He’s had an up and down season but has been as good as ever down the stretch.  He boasted 3 consecutive shutouts, including a 57 save performance against Columbus.  Playoffs are about goaltenders and if he can play up to that level, the Coyotes can go far.

Unfortunately, the Chicago offense may be too much to handle over a 7 game series.  The Hawks are the better team who played in a much better division, and that will show as the series unfolds.   Chicago in 6.

NHL Playoff Time

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Well after being completely shattered and disappointed by the results of the NHL draft lottery, we proceed to the Stanley Cup Playoffs which begin tonight.  Remember that for the first time in what seems like forever, all playoff games will be broadcast to a national audience on NBC, NBC Sports Network, CNBC, and NHL Network.

I’ll give my predictions on the first three series to get underway tonight.

#5 Philadelphia vs. #4 Pittsburgh

Has there been more anticipation for a series than this?  Here is a quick look at the brawl from the regular season.

Not only have these games been hard hitting and intense, but they’ve been up tempo and high scoring as well.   This series has the makings of a classic.  The Flyers also have a ridiculously good record AT Consol Energy Center.  Philly also won 4 of the 6 contests this year.  Jaromir Jagr will be hungry in his first playoffs in 5 years…especially against a team where he shined for a majority of his career.

On the flip side, there is a healthy 50 goal scorer in Evgeni Malkin for Pittsburgh.  Of course a healthy Sidney Crosby adds a deadly combination to the offense.

Will offensive threats Daniel Briere and James van Riemsdyk be able to play?  This could swing the series.

I expect an all out effort from both clubs in a series that hopefully will live up to the hype.  Philadelphia in 7.

#5 Detroit vs. #4 Nashville

The matchup of these two Central division opponents was inevitable weeks ago.  The question was who would get home ice advantage.  17 regulation losses combined for these teams at home is how good these teams are in front of their own fans.  Detroit broke the NHL record for consecutive home wins while the Predators were fantastic with the combination of Rinne and Music City fans.

The season series is identical, each team 3-3.  They are 2-1 on home ice.

All eyes in this series should be on Wings goaltender Jimmy Howard.  While I think he is completely overrated and nearly any goalie could have been in his skates this year and be successful, the playoffs are a different animal.  Howard has never been successful in the playoffs as a professional, even in Grand Rapids.

Obviously the premiere goaltender in this series is Nashville’s Pekka Rinne.  Rinne won a league high 43 games and could very well be a Vezina trophy finalist this year.  The team is built around defensive hockey and if they jump on the board early, they could give the Wings fits.

Detroit has defeated Nashville in the playoffs in both of their previous meetings.  This is a vastly improved Predator club and they won’t go down without a fight.  Nashville in 6.

#8 Los Angeles vs. #1 Vancouver

Vancouver has been on a tear lately, going 8-1-1 down the stretch to obtain the best regular season record by a game.  Home ice throughout the playoffs is always something to be excited about.

The regular season saw only 15 goals scored (excluding shootout winners) and the Canucks winning by a narrow 2-1-1 margin.  The playoffs generally translate into lower scoring games so I’d expect to see at least one 1-0 game between the teams.

Roberto Luongo was one win away last year.

Los Angeles has thrived this year thanks to a defensive game and goaltender Jonathan Quick.  Leading the NHL in shutouts (10), Quick will be a favorite to take home the Vezina.

Vancouver meanwhile has Roberto Luongo who has a stigma of less than stellar play in the playoffs.  This despite the fact that the Canucks took the champion Boston Bruins to game 7 in the finals last year.  With Cory Schneider sitting on the bench, Luongo will have to be no less than awesome to avoid having the best backup in the league take his place.

The Canucks have too much fire power and so much playoff experience on the team and Daniel Sedin is expected to return for game 1.  The Kings were 29th in the league in goal scoring.  Unless Quick plays even better than he did in the regular season, they’ll be exiting very quickly soon.  Vancouver in 4.

 

 

NHL 12′s Shortcomings

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The annual releasing of sports games has been going on for over 20 years now.  It can be argued that no game really benefits from this type of release.  Just look at Madden and NCAA Football as prime examples of games who have been negatively impacted by annual releases.  The money is made by game publishers for annual releases and that is the bottom line.  Unfortunately for EA’s NHL series, this is also the case.

As I’ve mentioned before, NHL is a game I get every year without hesitation because I know I’ll play it more than any other.  The series has been high quality since NHL 07′s complete overhaul on Xbox 360.  They’ve even made significant strides since then.

NHL 12 introduced goaltenders who can be hit, net battles, and um…goalie fighting.  A pretty substandard year as far as new gameplay features are concerned.

NHL 12 dedicated resources to adding females into the game. *sigh*

So as we are now halfway through the game’s life cycle and I really question how good NHL 12 actually is.  I’ll start with the meat of the game, online team play.

I’m more and more convinced that the guys at EA Vancouver have either never seen a hockey game, or are dead set on making it impossible for the defense to be effective.  I should preface this by saying I play this game to simulate a real hockey game.  I want to cycle the puck, make smart hockey plays and simply play it the right way.  I have 800 games played and I have a vast knowledge of the sport.

First off, the glitches.  My goodness these have become bad.  I’ll start with the worst offender…the goaltender simply doesn’t hold the post on the short side.  It’s incredibly frustrating to see this exploited on a regular basis.  Despite playing optimal defense and keeping the shooter to the outside, they manage to score a ridiculously high percentage of the time.

How about the pull back wrister that has more or less been in the game for 4 years now?  How is this still in the game???  First off, no one pulls the puck back like that in real life.  Secondly, why does the goaltender wave and miss and this shot so often?  I get the fact that being in the slot should create greater shooting percentages but going 4 for 4 isn’t right.

Many will say “play better defense.” Yeah?  I think my defense is just fine.  I rarely go for a hit, I play positional and yet the stupidest shots still go in.  I shouldn’t have to get to a certain spot on the ice and prevent an easy shot from being taken.  I want to play hockey, not “stop the cheater.”

Defense is so non-existant in this game as well.  The game is so offensively slanted it is insulting.  Poke checking, even with a stat category of 99 is incredibly difficult.  Stick lifting, which was admittedly overpowering in NHL 11, is simply useless in this game.  Even positional defense doesn’t work because highly rated skaters can just do figure-eights all day long and wait to make their move, all while staying on their skates and never losing an edge.

The offense was helped out even more by the fact that passes are no longer bobbled like they were in NHL 11.  In fact, last year’s passing was the best the series ever saw.  If you powered up a pass for too long, the recipient would likely have issues corralling it depending on their hand-eye stat.  This year, you can charge a pass as long as you want and they will receive it with no problem.  Simply put, this was a terrible decision.

Speaking of creating your online player…Remember the first couple weeks of the release? The game played great and at a realistic speed.  This is because most of the XP wasn’t earned yet.  Now it is an end to end circus with players who have perfect balance and puck control.  One of the best things they can do is significantly reduce the amount of XP earned.  You shouldn’t be able to max 6 or 7 categories in your stats.  This is a major offender when it comes to game play.

There are so many things that bug me in this game but I thought I’d mention the significant ones.  However, I’d be doing a disservice if I failed to mention the A.I. in online team play.  Is it really hard to make them actually play defense when they are assigned that spot?  They are rarely in position, and they get beat so badly at the blue line.  On offense, they shoot the puck every time they touch the puck and make no effort to do anything else.  It really is atrocious that we’ve gotten to this point.

After seeing this, you’re probably wondering why I play such a shoddy product.  The truth is that the game can be fun.  When you aren’t playing against a team of exploiters and cheaters, it really is an enjoyable game.

Now I’ve given up on playing the other portions of the game.  For some reason they dedicate so much time to adding legend mode and the money grabbing Hockey Ultimate Team.  Franchise mode is pretty decent with the right sliders but after 29 games, I couldn’t advance the schedule due to a freeze.

If this series would not be forced to meet a September release deadline, perhaps they could fix these issues that have been plaguing the series for years now.  I can’t for the life of me believe these games are being tested.  If EA really believe this is how hockey is when it comes to the glitches I’ve mentioned above, we have some bigger problems.  Of course a lack of competition in the video hockey market is an obvious factor.

Random Thoughts: 3-29-12

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Excuse me for my absence from JK Gaming and Sports this week.  Wife is out of town, I’m shuttling kids to school and my Little League team began practicing this week.

-  In the minimal free time I’ve had recently, I sat down to try out the Tiger Woods ’13 demo.  In short, I mostly enjoyed it.  The difficulty has been improved tremendously and it feels like you actually earn every shot you succeed at, something that wasn’t true of any previous iteration.

-  I’ll no longer be PS3-less next week.

-  I can’t possibly be the only one who didn’t know that MLB played regular season games in Tokyo right?  I’m super thrilled for all the great opening games next week, but it seems like no one told me that Seattle and Oakland were playing a pair.  Then again, it is Seattle and Oakland….so….

-  The NHL playoffs are less than 2 weeks away and I cannot wait to break down all of the match ups, stay tuned.

-  The NFL made minor rule changes but the most significant is that regular season overtimes will now use the 2 year old playoff overtime rule.  No longer can you kick a field goal on the first possession of OT and win.  Now if we can just eliminate ties in the NFL.  It’s funny that the NHL, a league that was notorious for having ties, eliminated them but the NFL still has them on occasion.

-  Finally, it is Final Four weekend.  Enough said.

Jackets Hang Onto Nash…For Now

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UPDATED:  4:50 PM:

97.1 FM out of Columbus is reporting that Rick Nash asked that management be changed.  When he was told no, he asked for a trade.  Majority owner J.P. McConnell, clearly isn’t a hockey savvy guy given the fact that management really hasn’t changed recently.  However, given Scott Howson’s recent comments (see below), I have to imagine something will be changing sooner rather than later.

There is more to this team than having a terrible General Manager.  The President, Mike Priest, seems to have little to no hockey knowledge either.  It’s up to Priest and McConnell to get a competent GM in place for a team.  How do these guys expect to make any money in the future with the way today’s events have transpired?

More updates as they come in, but it is starting to get ridiculous.

================================

 

UPDATED:  4:35 PM:  

According to General Manager Scott Howson, Rick Nash asked for a trade in early January.  This means there are conflicting statements from Nash and Howson.  Nash previously stated he never asked for a trade but would waive his no trade clause if he was sent to certain teams.  In one way, this makes Howson look like he’s throwing Nash under the bus.  In another way, Nash is made out to be a complete liar.

Any chance of Nash remaining with Columbus next season has probably just be decimated.  There is no way any kind of positive relationship can exist between Nash and management after this fiasco.

==========================

As I predicted a few days ago, Rick Nash remains a Columbus Blue Jacket.  I’ll admit, I was extremely nervous with TSN’s TradeCentre on the TV and Twitter constantly updating on my computer with the CBJ hashtag running.

Because of the high demands of Nash, many felt the trade deadline was made rather boring.  It was indeed a minor deadline compared to the 30+ deals that occurred just 2 years ago.

So where does that leave the Blue Jackets?  They lose Jeff Carter, Sami Pahlsson, and Antoine Vermette in the past week.  They are already in last place and show no signs of improvement outside of the absurd amount of draft picks they’ll be using in June.  With these picks however, the Jackets are almost assured of picking #1 or #2 after the draft lottery.

Don't get too excited, Nash will be moved before next year.

The obvious top choice is Nail Yakupov who has the makings of a franchise guy like Sydney Crosby or Alex Ovechkin.   Columbus fans better be praying that they win the lottery because losing out on Yakupov would be nearly as detrimental as Nash being traded away for next to nothing.

CBJ fans were rejoicing on twitter that their current franchise player remains with the club. The fact of the matter is that he will most certainly be dealt in the off-season, close to or at the draft.  This gives the Jackets the best chance at acquiring what they desperately need, starting goaltending.  The Rick Nash watch has basically been suspended until after the Stanley Cup has been hoisted.

As for teams complaining about General Manager Scott Howson demanding too much for Nash….really?  He’s under no obligation to move him.  He may not be worth what was being demanded from the Sharks or Rangers, but as I just mentioned, he can simply deal Nash in the offseason for a bigger return.   Howson is simply dangling him to the buyers in the hopes of someone overpaying for him.  If you really thought the Jackets would settle and give in to these teams, you are crazy.

Nash now has 20 games to prove his worth.  The farewell tour begins tomorrow against the Detroit Red Wings.

Rick Nash Staying Put

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I’m not one to bust out massive predictions on anything.  I usually sit by and watch events unfold.  I will say this however:  Rick Nash will be a Columbus Blue Jacket after the trade deadline has passed.

The more and more time that passes, I find it more difficult to wrap my head around the possibility that the Jackets would be willing to unload their franchise player.  Nash has a huge fan base.  He puts butts in the seats at Nationwide Arena and he is the most recognizable professional athlete in the city.  Anyone who thinks of the Blue Jackets immediately think Rick Nash (or losers but that’s for another time).

I’ve also been outspoken in trading him.  He’s been with the club for 8 seasons now. Unfortunately, he has little to show for it.  One playoff appearance in his time with the Jackets is hardly anything to get excited about.  In fact, it was a 4 game sweep at the hands of the Detroit Red Wings.  He’s given his all for this club…..

…except something changed last season.   Suddenly after a long skid after Thanksgiving, and after the team was near the top of the Western Conference, Nash stopped playing.  He got lazy and he seemed to be coasting.  He was regularly the last one into the defensive zone.  He began trying to pass much more frequently when everyone in the building knew he was the best scorer on the ice.  It looked like someone had crushed his spirits.  Granted there are games where his greatness pops out, but it is becoming more and more rare.

What team will Nash be a part of next week?

This is where I am torn.  I’ve been attending Blue Jackets games since season one.  I’ve followed the team closely. I buy the NHL Center Ice package every year to be able to see them.  I was in attendance for Nash’s first career game where I saw him score the game winning goal in a 2-1 win over the Chicago Blackhawks (I also have an autographed picture showing his first goal).   We have 2 Nash jerseys, both autographed.

Losing Nash would be like losing a family member.  I would have no clue how to react.  I honestly can’t envision him in another jersey.  I hated rooting against Canada in the Olympics in 2010.  I can’t imagine the difficult decision General Manager Scott Howson has to make.  It seems like a lose-lose situation.

The fans as a whole seem to want to keep this team as together as possible.  There was a massive outcry after it was announced that Antoine Vermette was traded to Phoenix for two draft picks.  I normally hate certain teams because their fans are less than intelligent (I’m looking at you Toronto).  However, the outrage from Jackets fans over the Vermette trade was mind-boggling.  It seems like no one wants any changes to occur.  Need I remind fans that the Jackets are currently in dead last place in the conference by 9 points?

I don’t understand the rationale of fans sometimes.  It’s no question that the team needs a goalie.  There’s also no doubt change in the roster is a necessity.  So when a change occurs, the first thing fans on facebook and the rest of the internet do is complain.   They also fail to offer up any reasonable solution of their own.  They just keep saying “We need a goalie”.  Serious question idiots fans…Do you honestly think a legitimate starting goalie will just show up at the door asking to play for free?  My goodness, be realistic about what you are demanding.

But, can you imagine the outrage from fans if Nash were to be moved?  The fan base could be destroyed beyond repair.  Nationwide Arena in the early years was a booming atmosphere compared to the  3/5 filled building it is now.  If Nash gets moved, the organization will be thrilled with attendance hovering around 12,000 per game…forget ever seeing a sellout again.

It seems very unlikely that whoever is in goal for Columbus next season will be someone like Cory Schneider, Tuuka Rask, or Jonathan Bernier…that is, without trading Rick Nash.

Howson has made some big mistakes in his tenure with the organization, and there is no disputing that.  Going all in on Steve Mason has been nothing short of brutal on his part.   There have also been some less than desirable contracts (Nash’s massive cap hit, Mason’s $2.9m, Vermette’s $4m, R.J. Umberger’s $4m, James Wizniewski’s huge overpayment).

So over the next 5 days, you’ll see this team slowly transform into something you won’t recognize.  As a fan, you probably won’t like it.  It’s something that needs to be done though.

As for Nash, you’ll probably continue to see him with the Jackets for the rest of the year.  The only way Nash is dealt is if the return is almost too good to be true.  That means a #1 goalie coming to Columbus at the minimum.  Anything less would be completely foolish on Howson’s part.

Stay tuned, the drama is only going to be increased as we approach next week’s deadline.