Derek MacKenzie signed...still no official announcement on MacDonald

Lindsay Kramer over on the Syracuse Crunch blog site reported that center Derek MacKenzie has been re-signed by Columbus to a 2-year 2-way deal.

If you recall MacKenzie saw 17 games with the big club last season as injuried took their toll. He notched 2 goals in that span. In 65 games with the Crunch 25g for 49 points.

Sportsnet's take on him:

Assets
Has good face-off ability and two-way skills. Is an industrious center with a history of scoring ability in the junior ranks.

Flaws
Lacks ideal NHL size for the center position. Is limited in terms of offensive ability at the big-league level.

Career potential
Reserve center.

We all got a pretty good look at MacKenzie last year. Sportsnet pretty much nails his game. He brings good depth and didn't look out of place during his call ups last season and plays a solid north/south dependable game.

I like this signing for those reasons.

We know the Jackets will go through their rash of injuries and it never hurts to have some capable band aides in the minors who can fill a hole or two while the wounded heal. He also gives Syracuse some very much needed scoring in their top 6.

Now onto the other Mac. The Craig MacDonald signing has yet to become official but Kramer hints that its just a matter of time and that NHL.com jumped the gun by putting his name on the Columbus roster. I would think we'd learn about the terms sometime this week.

With both "Macs" in the fold Syracuse has some veteran depth down the middle but Kramer thinks they could use one more veteran scorer - especially since Lindstrom is going back to Europe. His reasoning is that with both "Macs" in the lineup Syracuse should be okay but chances are with injuries the way they are in Columbus that won't be the norm.

This is how Syracuse is shaping up:

Goal - Mason, LaCosta
Defense - Clitsome, Wilson, Plehkanov with Methot, Sigalet and Holden likely
Forwards - MacDonald, MacKenzie, Vigilante, Legein, Pineault, Frischmon, Dorsett, Mirasty, Sestito, Starkov with possibly Filatov and Mayorov

I also wouldn't rule out a guy like Dan Smith getting re-singed to anchor that defense with a veteran guy.

For those of you like me who dig this sort of thing - according to Bluejackets.nhl.com the following new players will wear the following nubmers:

5 - Christian Backman

14 - Raffi Torres

18 - RJ Umberger

20 - Kristan Huselius

22 - Mike Commodore

51 - Fedor Tyutin

Both Jackub Voracek and Derick Brassard have been added to the roster - can you say locks? Brassard is listed at 16 while Voracek does not have a number as of yet.

It looks like Andrew Murray lost out on the 51 to Tyutin and still needs to pick a new number. Also Umberger gave up the 20 to Huselius.

So unless your a Murray or Voracek fan you can now purchase your jerseys with confidence!

It will be interesting to see if the Pascal Leclaire talks get somewhere this week. Last we heard was that Howson made a counter offer and the Leclaire camp was considering it and they'd talk early this week. I'd like to see this one get wrapped.

My guess is that the term has been settled which we've heard the 3 year mark tossed around. The question now is cash. I'm guessing Howson wants 3 years at 9 and the Leclaire camp wants 3 years at 12. We'll probably see something in that 3.75 average range and it won't suprise me if its an escalating agreement (1st - 3 mil, 2nd - 4, 3rd - 4.25).

In other news today it looks like Ted Nolan and the New York Islanders are parting ways after just two years.

I'll have to ask my resident Islanders expert on how he feels about this but from an outsider view its seems to be Wang's way or the highway. I've read some articles where Nolan was kept out of the drafting process and did not know whom they were going to draft.

Obviously things have soured in that relationship.

I don't think it will take Nolan long to find a job. Afterall he led the Islanders to a playoff birth two seasons ago with a skeleton roster.

Its always silly season in the NHL coaching ranks and all it takes is for one team to get off to a bad start before Nolan could find himself in a new gig.

Update: Per usual just as I finish a post both on the subject the Jackets announce that both MacKenzie and MacDonald have been signed.

Update: The day could not be complete without a bit of Filatov news. Puck-rakers is reporting the following:

The NHL today rejected the contract signed by Nikita Filatov with the Blue Jackets late last week. But ...

It has nothing to do with Russian claims that Filatov is still property of his Russian club, CSKA Moscow, or that the Blue Jackets owe CSKA Moscow compensation. It has nothing to do with the Continental Hockey League.

It was rejected because of some wording in the "schedule A" bonuses section of Filatov's contract, wording the NHL found insufficient or not quite in line with the CBA. The wording was ammended, Filatov signed the ammendment and the contract was refiled with the NHL this afternoon.

The good news is that it appears to be a technicality and Howson and the brass have already resubmitted the paper work.

What I hope this is not is a stall tactic by the NHL to buy some time.

Filatov-gate goes on.

-LTL