Juicy little nugget

From Puck-rakers:

Howson confirmed Thursday morning he will be talking to Rick Curran either today or Friday about whether the Blue Jackets can afford to re-sign the team captain. Foote, 36, is an unrestricted free agent and is believed to be seeking a two- or three-year deal.

The general manager said he won’t need to talk to Foote again before discussing money with his agent. The Jackets have seven unrestricted free agents and Foote is the only one management is negotiating with, Howson said.

They key here is are those last few words that I bolded.

Its obvious the organization would like Foote back for his leadership and competitiveness and its key for them to see if the dollars and terms make sense because if not, he would be a valuable asset to trade by the deadline.

Now granted perhaps the organization has no intention of trading a guy like Hejda and has every intention of locking him up long term and feels confident they can do so which is why negotiations aren't happening yet. Still though, Hejda came out publicly and made it known that he would like to sign a long term deal here and from at least what has been printed, management has yet to make contact. I'm not sold they are sold on this guy.

They just traded for Tarnstrom so he won't get dealt. He could have a future here depending on how he performs down the stretch.

As far Fedorov, Peca, Hainsey and Vyborny - their CBJ days are quickly coming to a close.

Quite frainkly, I wouldn't be surprised if any of Fedorov, Peca, Vyborny, Hainsey, Tarnstrom or Hejda were resinged for next year.

The teams needs changes in its roster. They need veterans but they need competitive ones which is pretty obvious judging by last nights performance.

With so many impending UFAs its Howson's time to really move away from the MacLean era and build the team he and Hitch's way which I firmly believe will be the right way.

-LTL