FSN Ohio hosts their annual Blue Jackets season preview starting tomorrow at 12:30 p.m. Oddly enough that is right smack dab in the middle of an Ohio State football game. That time slot should really generate an audience (not really) and shows how much FSN really cares about this preview.
They do however have repeat showings:
Sunday, September 7 - 12:30 p.m.
Wednesday, September 10 - 12:30 p.m. and 7 p.m.
Friday, September 12 - 6:30 p.m.
Saturday, September 13 - 5 p.m.
Tuesday, September 16 - 2 p.m. and 6 p.m.
Thursday, September 18 - 6 p.m.
So if you miss Saturday's special there are plenty of opportunities to catch it. Of course there is always DVR as well and generally speaking this show is one big infomercial to sell tickets but there should be some new interviews and looks at the new faces.
Attention gamers! So I finally got around to playing both demos last night for the two new hockey games coming out - NHL2K9 and NHL 09. I used to always be a NHL2K guy until last year when EA really upped their "game" with NHL 08 and blew the 2K series out of the water --- I have played it ever since.
While 2K Sports has improved this year's game in my opinion it still hasn't closed the gap enough with EA. In fact EA's new "Be A Pro" feature is really slick but the game play is very similar to last year with the players being a little smoother and there are some new animations -- and that's a good thing as the gameplay last year was the best I've ever played for a hockey title. Why fix what's not broken?
Where 2K has a leg up (well besides the fact that our boy is on the cover) is that it will be the only NHL game available on the Wii and I'm very interested to see how the game interacts with the Wii-motes.
I own both an Xbox and Wii so I'll pick up both titles but if I had to choose just one EA retains the title for 2009. Sorry Nasher.
Looks like this week's poll is a landslide with currently 59% of you choosing "Failure to land a #1 center" as your biggest disappointment this offseason.
As much as the organization and media talked about this need heading into this offseason this one is certainly no surprise. I am a bit surprised more did not choose "not spending to the cap" as an option as it only captured 5 votes.
Spector over on FoxSports.com takes a look at players most likely to get dealt this season. Here were his thoughts on the Jackets:
Columbus Blue Jackets: Fredrik Norrena. He's been a capable backup to Pascal Leclaire, but he could find himself challenged by young netminder Steve Mason. If Mason proves ready to slide into the backup role Norrena, who's also a UFA next summer, could be shopped.
Really its hard to argue with that selection. The other higher profile UFAs to be are Malhotra, Peca & Backman any of which, depending on how the season goes, I could see being dealt. I really do think we'll be buyers this year at the deadline though.
Wes Goldstein of CBSSports.com take a really good look at the remaining veterans still on the market and what their status is. Here are a couple he notes:
1. Teemu Selanne: Selanne wants to come back to Anaheim and the Ducks want him back, they just don't have the cap space right now to sign him. Anaheim is more than $3 million over the limit, a problem they could solve by moving defenseman Mathieu Schneider and his $5 million salary. Problem is trading a 38-year-old with that kind of contract isn't easy these days. Anaheim has until opening night to get to the limit -- whether it involves Schneider or other players -- so they'll have to make some kind of move. In the meantime, Selanne is back in town after spending the summer at home in Finland, and waiting.
2. Brendan Shanahan: The future Hall of Famer is coming off a respectable season with the Rangers that earned him $5 million, but he's 39 and no longer an impact player. Shanahan wants to return to New York, even if it means taking a substantial pay cut, but the Rangers have had other priorities over the summer. The veteran has had other suitors, notably the St. Louis Blues who would pay him more than New York would, but so far Shanahan seems to be clinging to the hope he can still work out something with the Rangers.
Some of the other names like Lapointe, Hedican, Cullimore and Carney I didn't realize were still hanging out there. Should some teams suffer some injuries in the presason look for some of these guys to find homes quickly albeit at drastrically reduced rates from what they were previously making.
-LTL
Friday, September 5, 2008
TV alert and more
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
5 comments:
DVR solves all problems with CBJ/OSU programming running over each other.
As far as Mason being back up before the end of the season, that just sounds crazy to me. Sounds very unlikely and a very un-Howson type of move.
It wouldn't surprise me if Leclaire is the one traded down the road. As it is now, we have two cheap goalies (Mason and Noreena). If Mason is the guy that everyone thinks he is going to be it wouldn't be feasible, down the road, to keep both goalies (post Mason's entry level deal).
You can't have two goalies, who are both capable of being starters, making 3+ million dollars. Therefore, one of them will likely be gone. Howson has stated that he likes big goalies and that is Mason and not Pazzy.
The backup would/could be whomever we have up and coming or some other guy that we pick up ie: Noreena or whomever. Backups aren't too tough to find.
What about this little piece of info from the Dispatch blog: "Other word from the grapevine is that Mike York is in phenomenal shape, working out in East Lansing, Mich., where he attended Michigan State. If this guy can get back to where he was in 2005-06, he's going to make the Blue Jackets."
That seems to indicate he's taking it serious this year... he could be a good 3th line player... let's see.. (more and more competition for the roster slots... this is going to be a though trainingcamp)
Yeah, that is bush league how FSN acts like ppl are really going to watch the CBJ preview in the midst of an OSU game, and other football games. Luckily though they have repeat viewings and I'll probably watch it tomorrow, so I may have to wait before I am on here again so that I do not get any spoilers :).
erik: Yes, Mike York is a guy that I think is going to really be a diamond in the rough for the jackets. He has had some personal issues over the last few years and after last year he committed himself to get his career back. He has been working hard and is very grateful to Howson to have been given then opportunity to get back on track.
To me, the prospect of him being able to slide into Brassard's spot when it gets really revved up is exciting.
He is one of the new jackets that I am really looking forward to seeing how they pan out.
Post a Comment