Here's Hockey!

Thanks to Nick for passing that one along!

The Jackets inked Derek Dorsett to a two-year extension today. According to Puck-rakers here are the details:

Dorsett has one year remaining on his current two-way deal which pays him $563,000. The new contract is a one-way deal. Dorsett will make $550,000 in the 2010-11 season and $575,000 in the 2011-12 season after which he will be a restricted free agent.

Big fan of Dorsett and the way he plays the game. He's definitely one of those "glue guys" Hitch refers to quite often. Congrats to him on a well deserved deal and I look forward to seeing what he can do in year #2 of his NHL career (just stay away from dropping the gloves with Andrew Peters!)

...and I've read some comments that some may think this is the end of Jared Boll. I don't get it and I think it would be a huge mistake to move him. The Jackets need sandpaper in their lineup and these two guys certainly bring that in spades. I look for a bit of a bounce back year from 40.

It's been a good week for the "Dereks/Dericks" on this squad!

How about the Heatley deal that went down today? From TSN:

Heatley and a fifth round draft pick have been traded to the San Jose Sharks in exchange for Milan Michalek, Jonathan Cheechoo and a second round pick.

My first thought was can the CBJ capitalize on this deal in any way? Unfortunately it doesn't look that way as the end result salary cap wise was a +/- $200k so nobody will be lookin to dump any more salary.

Should be interesting to see how this impacts San Jose. No doubt a Thornton/Heatley combo is going to be dangerous. How long until Heatley becomes unhappy in San Jose is the question?

I think Ottawa did okay in this deal under the circumstances. Let's face it in that Heatley seriously handcuffed what they could do with his NTC on top of a huge contract and his trade demand. Michalek is the key piece going back to Ottawa (he's signed for 5 more years with a cap avg of 4.33 mil per) which I was a little surprised to see San Jose give him up -- got to give to get of course. Cheechoo's production has taken a nose dive (only 29 points last year) so he could definitely use a change of scenery. With 2 years left @ 3 mil per that contract could become an anchor if he doesn't find his game.

What's up with including that 5th round pick? Deal beaker? I kid.

Usually the team that gets the best player winds up winning these things but Heatley comes with some baggage so we'll see how it plays out over the next couple of seasons.

...oh and if you're wondering when the Jackets will see Heatley you won't have to wait long. The Jackets play San Jose in their third game of the season on October 8th -- it will be San Jose's home opener.

Finally it was passed along to me that the R Bar will be opening early tomorrow to host CBJ "campers". Their doors open at 12:30.

Camp has finally arrived fans! Will see you at the haus bright and early tomorrow!

-LTL