Thursday round up

There are a couple of really good reads over on NHL.com about the Jackets.

The first one talks alot about Jackets prospects and has some excellent quotes from Scott Howson - some samples:

Howson on Brassard:

"He got his feet wet, but he wasn't strong enough," Howson said. "The injury set him back so we decided to put him back in Syracuse for the rest of the year and he was really good in Syracuse in February, March and April. He had a good playoffs."

"He's another young player that sees the ice real well and he plays a position we're really weak at," Howson said. "He's going make a push to play for us this year."

On Mason:

"I can see him getting NHL games next year, but we want him to play a lot," Howson said. "Whether it's in Columbus or Syracuse, he's going to play a lot. Goalies traditionally take longer so it wouldn't hurt him if he played in Syracuse, but some people are special athletes and I'm not going to say no to anything at this point."

He also talks abot Voracek, Filatov, Legein, Sestito and Dorsett. Very good read that you can find here.

A second article focuses in on Voracek. Again some more juicy quotes from Jackets development coach Tyler Wright:

"He had a good camp last year, but he weighed 181 pounds and was a little bit high in body fat," Tyler Wright, the Blue Jackets' development coach, told NHL.com. "He comes in here this year and he's 202 pounds and he's dropped some body fat. To put on 21 pounds and drop body fat in a year shows he made that commitment."

"I'm really intrigued with this kid," Wright said. "I think he can be a really special player in the League for a long, long time."

Much more from Wright and Voracek here.

Not sure whom else caught this but the Oilers made a big announcement today:

Kevin Lowe, who had served as the club's general manager for eight seasons, was named president of hockey operations, a newly created position within the organization. Lowe then named Steve Tambellini the team's new GM, while Kevin Prendergast, who served as the Oilers' vice president of hockey operations the last nine seasons, was appointed assistant GM.

Normally I wouldn't bat much of an eye at such an announcement but a friend of mine had a good point - one year removed from taking the Jackets GM job out of Edmonton I wonder how Scott Howson feels about this?

Great question.

Perhaps a question the boys at the Dispatch can get answered.

Spector over at Fox Sports takes a look at potential free agents next summer - here are his thoughts on the Jackets:

C Michael Peca, LW Mike York

The stock of these two veterans has been in steady decline since the lockout and barring a significant improvement, both could not only find themselves out of a job with the Blue Jackets next summer, but also out of the NHL.

The Jackets do have some other names including Fredrik Norrena, Manny Malhotra and Christian Backman who will also be UFAs next year.

Puck daddy over at yahoo.com gives his thoughts on the Leclaire signing and gives LighttheLamp a nice plug! From one plug to another follow this link.

Finally as was mentioned in the comments of another post the Antoinne Vermette has been re-signed to a 2 year 5.525 million dollar deal.

As I stated there that is a great deal for Ottawa although I'm very surprised Vermette settled for a 2 year term at that kind of money.

Scratch another name off the wishlist. Now who do we speculate on?

-LTL