Rewind

Last night I was re-watching the Columbus-Atlanta game from December 26th 2007 (yeah I'm a dork -- well that and I needed a hockey fix) and as I heard the names rattled off during that game one thing kept occurring -- my gawd are we going to be a different squad this season.

Check out the list of names that were in that game:

Foote, Fedorov, Vyborny, Hainsey, Zherdev, Fritsche, Shelley, Brule, Glencross, Beech & Westcott

That is a total of 11 guys. When you think you can only dress 18 skaters and 2 goalies we are talking about 7 skaters out of that lineup who will be Jackets next season.

To be fair though three regulars in Nash, Modin & Peca were out of the lineup with injuries.

I know we've talked about the make over alot this summer but re-watching that game really drove it home that much more and got me even more pumped for next season.

We won that game 2-0 by the way. Fritsche and Boll with the goals and Leclaire with the shutout.

Z was clearly the best player on the ice and its game like that where you could only imagine the kind of player this kid could be if he committed himself -- unfortunately those games were to few and far between in a Jackets sweater.

That was also when Novotny was playing decent hockey. Fedorov was invisible.

A friend made a good point to me yesterday -- when is Howson going to have all these press conferences for the new players that he promised? If you recall Howson had said a few times leading into the draft and free agency that we should plan on having a lot of press conferences this summer.

He definitely acquired the players but thinking back there were no pressers. Perhaps he is planning on having one big one this summer with all the new faces to kick off camp? That would certainly be a fun and unique way to kick off the season.

Now to his defense he did have his own press conferences a few days there during free agency which were cool.

Crunch blogger Lindsay Kramer had some quotes from Crunch owner Howard Dolgon. He seems pleased with the Jackets veteran acquisitions for his squad this offseason:

"We had a much better-than-average offseason player-wise," he said. "Columbus did an outstanding job. They were very aggressive."

In another blog post Kramer also mentions the possibility of former enforcer Brandon "Sugar" Sugden returning to the Crunch:

Sugden left Syracuse during the season two years ago to play in the fight-filled Quebec League. Now, he wants to come back and play in the NHL or AHL again.

He can't announce the team yet because of a technicality. Because he said he retired, then played pro hockey again within a year, every other NHL team must give a thumbs up to him returning. The deadline for any objections was Monday, and so far Sugden has heard no objections.

If the NHL tryout doesn't work out, Sugden and Crunch owner Howard Dolgon have chatted about maybe bringing him back to Syracuse.

"If I had to choose where to play in the American League, I'd play in Syracuse,'' he said. "He (Dolgon) wants to get me back there. I don't know if it's wishful thinking on his part.''

Quite frankly I can't see the Jackets signing Sugden in addition to Mirasty. Having two enforcers doesn't make a whole lot of sense especially when you got guys like Sestito and Dorsett who aren't afraid of the rough stuff either.

Looks like Adam Foote is the clear winner in the "which player will you miss the least" poll currently occupying 47% of the votes. No surprise there. More of a surprise to me anyways is that Gilbert Brule took 2nd with 13% of the votes.

Darryl Dobbs on THN answers this question - Tanguay or Huselius?

I don’t think you can go wrong with Tanguay in Montreal. But I think both players are better off on their new teams. I know I’m in the minority when it comes to Huselius, but I think he’ll pop. That said, take the safer route with Tanguay on the Habs.

Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning Star ranked the Jackets 11th out of the West in his blog post:

11. Columbus Blue Jackets _ Commodore signing a head-scratcher, but they should be better.

-LTL