Yahoo Sports' Pierre Lebrun 30 team report

Here is what he had to say about the Jackets:

Columbus Blue Jackets: The top addition in Columbus was in the front office, where Scott Howson took over as GM. It was a savvy hiring. Howson is the right man to turn around this ship. He inherits one of the game's great coaching minds in Ken Hitchcock. Unfortunately, neither Howson nor Hitchcock can stop pucks or play defence. Pascal Leclaire has yet to prove he's a No. 1 goalie and while Fredrik Norrena was a pleasant surprise last season, no one's confusing him with Miikka Kiprusoff. The blue-line could be the weakest in the NHL. Rick Nash, David Vyborny, Fredrik Modin, Michael Peca, Sergei Fedorov and the enigmatic Nikolai Zherdev lead a decent forward group. But keep an eye on Fedorov, an unrestricted free agent at year's end. He could be on the move if things start slowly in Columbus. This team will eventually get better with Howson at the helm but the 2007-08 season won't be too pleasurable.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/news?slug=cp-nhl_preview_primer&prov=cp&type=lgns

Jackets need to start nailing some of these quotes to the board in the locker room. Remember folks that both Carolina and Buffalo were universally panned two years ago coming out of the lockout -- Carolina won the cup that year and Buffalo emerged as a powerhouse.

-LTL