Heatley requests trade and more...

Things are certainly starting to heat up a bit out there just as the Stanely Cup is looking to wrap up (eff Detroit!).

The biggest news of the day --> according to ESPN Danny Heatley has requested a trade from the Ottawa Senators.

From what I've read Heatley is not happy with the way his coach, Cory Clouston, used him last season. Of course Ottawa also had their worst season in some 10 years finishing 11th in the Eastern Conference so I suspect there are a lot of unhappy faces to go around in that franchise.

Heatley is a big fish. He's only 28 and has scored more than 70 points in each of the past 4 seasons including two 50 goal and 100 point campaigns.

This would be the second time Heatley has requested a trade. If you recall Atlanta dealt him after he needed "change of scenery" following that car crash that involved and killed his fellow teammate Dan Snyder.

Is this a trend or just coincidence with "Heater"? It's certainly a flag to me.. just not quite sure how red it is.

He's signed for the next 5 seasons for 8, 8, 8, 6 and 5 million. He also has a no movement clause which of course if he demanded a trade he's obviously willing to waive.

With that kind of salary it will be interesting to see what he returns.

Why do I bring this up? Keep his situation in mind should the Rick Nash situation turn ugly which again, I don't anticipate.

Quite frankly I much rather keep our face of the franchise thank you very much.

It's interesting how many "big fish" seem to be in play this offseason. Add Heatley to names like Lecavalier, Briere, Phaneuf & Marleau to name just a few.

With so many names seemingly in play there could be some serious blockbusters this offseason as teams look to shake things up and find that winning formula.

The trick is keeping that cap manageable.

I'm holding out hope the Penguins can force a game 7 tonight. However I'm not expecting it.

This series has gone just like last year's with the home team winning each of the first 5 games. Detroit closed out the series in Game 6 @ Pittsburgh last year and will look to do so tonight.

You can bet if that happens my TV will suddenly lose power as I can not stomach watching that squad hoist the cup yet again, especially with that cup whore Hossa tagging along on the Wings coat tails.

This could be the final night to catch some live hockey at the R Bar for a while, so again, if you're lookin for an excuse.....

The Dispatch announced in their piece on Stephan Legein this morning that development camp is slated for June 29th through July 3rd.

It's a shame that instead of getting an update Legein's development this is the information that stood out to me the most in the entire piece.

There once was a time where I was very excited about Legein. He is really on nobody's radar but his own at this point. Maybe that's a good thing...a good motivational tool.

This is an absolute critical year for this kid. He doesn't have to tear up the NHL but he's at least got to take some serious steps at the AHL level and get his development trajectory back on track.

There is some speculation out there that the New York Islanders are looking to move up from their 2nd first round pick (the 26th overall) to try to get into the top 15 of the draft.

In addition to the 1st and 26th overall picks in the 1st round, the Islanders own the 31st, 37th, 56th picks in the 2nd round. They certainly have some ammunition to move up.

Would Howson be interested in trading down from the Jackets 16th overall pick?

Remember they do not own a 2nd round pick as they dealt it to the Senators in the Pascal Leclaire deal.

I've speculated before that this is certainly something Howson would at least consider. It's all going to depend on who is available at that 16th slot.

Here is what I've been reading lately in terms of the tiers in this draft:

* There is a clear 1 & 2 (Tavares & Hedman)
* Next is a 3 to 7 (Duchene, Kane, Schenn, Cowen, Paajarvi-Svensson)
* Then a bunch of guys til about that 15th pick
* Then a bunch of guys til about pick 60

As mentioned the Jackets hold the 16th pick. Nobody's draft boards are going to be the exact same so I fully expect somebody in most team's top 15 to be there at 16 -- the question is will it be a name that Jackets scouts feel is worthy of that draft position? Or will it be a name that they feel they can get a comparable talent if they move down in the draft?

On the flip side it takes two to two-step so a team looking to trade up would have to really like a player that is still available at 16.

There are also a handful of other teams without 2nd round picks that the Islanders could dance with. Montreal, Calgary, Minnesota, Anaheim, Boston, Buffalo and Philly are the others.

Interesting that only 1 of those teams currently drafts higher than the Jackets in the first round (Buffalo).

Watch out for the Islanders this year at the draft table. I expect the unexpected with this squad which should make for, if nothing else, an entertaining draft day.

-LTL

This and that

This was sent to me from Dave and its an article from the Toronto Sun. It takes some shots at Columbus and gives a little more detail on how the Jackets front office as reacted to the Toronto Gong Show:

First here is the shot at Columbus in their "sneak peak at hockey headlines in 2009":

July
Usual free agent lunacy as Blue Jackets, Coyotes and Kings get into multi-million dollar bidding war for Staffan Kronwall.

Now some nuggets:

With Derick Brassard out a few months with shoulder surgery, the Jackets could be looking at Doug Weight as a replacement...The Jackets burned up the phone lines to NHL HQ last week after a disallowed goal against Dallas. A Manny Malhotra overtime breakaway shot hit Marty Turco’s pad and went in off his skate as he dove to avoid a collision. It was ruled to be kicked in from the war room in Toronto, even though most replays showed it to be unintentional and some Jackets were told by officials on the scene that the goal would surely count once it was reviewed. No less than four team officials, general manager Scott Howson, coach Ken Hitchcock, president Mike Priest and majority owner John P. McConnell called the league office to voice their displeasure, amid past mutterings that the small-market Jackets never get a break. “We have very difficult calls to make, and we make them,” NHL senior vice-president Colin Campbell said. “It doesn’t matter who the player or the team is.”...

Weight makes some sense on a variety of levels. He's affordable, he's a UFA after this season, can run the point on the PP and shouldn't cost a whole lot to obtain (I'm thinking 2nd round pick). That said he is 37 and after watching him play the Rangers tonight looks very slooooow! He would be a band aid that I don't think would heal much if any of the Jackets wounds.

After reading some reports of what Scott Howson had to say in the season ticket holder meeting this past weekend I wouldn't bank on him going after Weight anyway.

First off he said he would prefer a younger player but has to work with what teams are willing to part with (which certainly won't be a whole lot of young talent).

Howson said he will not part with any of his young blue chip talent in Brassard, Voracek, Filatov or of course Mason. He said he would be willing to deal his #1 but only for a young talented player that would add to the nucleus of the team -- again teams typically hang onto those players.

So if he doesn't want older players and won't part with young assets where does that leave him? Not with a whole lot of options which is why I don't expect him to do much if anything regardless of how this team performs on this road trip. That certainly can't make a guy like Hitch happy who even with Brassard has had big holes in this lineup that aren't going to disappear.

That said keep your eye on Toronto. Their GM Brian Burke certainly isn't afraid to make a deal and he'll look to start putting his stamp on this squad sooner than later -- he's got some tasty talent likely to move in Nik Antropov who is a center and a couple of d-men in Pavel Kubina and Tomas Kaberle. The Jackets won't part with what it will take to land Kaberle but they may have enough ammo to land a Antropov or Kubina -- both of whom could help this lineup.

Here is another shot at Columbus...this time courtesy of the NYTimes as they take their turn predicting headlines in 2009...granted this article spares nobody in the NHL:

Columbus misses the playoffs again but the Nationwide Arena was filled every night after the Blue Jackets began a promotion in which 18 randomly selected fans suit up for each game.

The Syracuse Crunch finally ended their 10 game losing streak against the Hamilton Bull Dogs this past Saturday winning 5-4. Guess who was in the opposition's net? Marc Denis.

Speaking of the Crunch Maksim Mayorov ended a 15 game goal-less streak when he notched one. John Vigilante also ended a 12 game goal-less streak when he notched a couple.

It also looks like Stephan Legein will resume his hockey career when he meets with Howson and co. in Columbus on January 5th. Speculation is he'll get assigned to Sryacuse and will probably be in their lineup for their game on the 6th.

This actually works out in Legein's favor I think. Legein will be joining a struggling Crunch team are struggling and could use a spark. If he can bring a strong work ethic and attitude he should have no problem finding a spot in this lineup with ice time unlike last year where he was joining a hardened tight knit Crunch lineup that was on a tremendous roll.

Its a great opportunity for him to get his hockey career back on track. Now he needs to seize it.

If your looking for a hockey fix this week don't forget the Ohio Hockey Classic kicks off Friday Jan 2nd at the Schott. Ohio State will take on Army while Miami will take on Clarkson. The winners of those games will meet on Saturday at 8 p.m. with the losers playing for 3rd place at 5.

The full schedule can be found here.

-LTL

Don't expect Legein to be gone for long

For those who haven't heard yet, the Dispatch is reporting that 2007 2nd round pick Stefan Legein has retired.

One of the Blue Jackets' most gifted prospects apparently has decided to quit playing hockey, only three months short of his 20th birthday.

Right winger Stefan Legein, the Jackets' second-round draft pick in 2007 and a player who has represented Canada in numerous international tournaments, had his agent notify the Blue Jackets of his decision yesterday.

"Stefan has informed us that he's not coming to (training) camp," general manager Scott Howson said. "We're surprised that Stefan has decided that this is what he wants to do. We're surprised it's come to this.

"We knew there were issues with Stefan going back to last spring. We've talked through it with him and we haven't had any success."

Howson would not elaborate on those issues.

"Issues" would certainly be a way to put it.

This move tells me one thing and that is that Stefan Legein doesn't quite have it all together upstairs and that he has some serious maturing to do.

Now there could be some "at home" stuff that we aren't privy too but I think that is a extremely unlikely. Especially given the "lost the passion to play" quote. Instead I think other "issues" are at play here.

So what are they?

My guess is that Legein has sailed through his hockey career to this point and now that its gotten difficult and he has to put the work in he doesn't like it.

We've heard the stories about him asking to leave the Crunch team to work out on his own -- I call BS on that one. I think he was asked to leave due to his attitude and arrogance in that locker room -- of which guys like Zenon Konopka won't and didn't stand for especially given the roll that team was on last season.

That attitude may have carried over in prospect camp and he wasn't "the man" and given a free pass like perhaps he had gotten earlier in his career and he took offense to that. Instead of staying and putting in the extra time in Columbus like some of the other prospects he went home to Toronto. What does that say about this guy's commitment?

Heck maybe he's home sick or "in love".

Bottom line here is that whatever the reason may be Stephan Legein has a lot of growing up to do. Being a professional athlete isn't something that is just given to you -- you have to work for it. You have to be a good teammate and when the going gets tough, you suck it up -- you don't just quit.

I'm sure some of the negative CBJ voices out there will spin this as some sort of massive failure on the Jackets part to develop their prospects but honestly I don't think there is much here to pin on them in this particular case (we certainly can't say that for everyone though).

The one beef I have here with the Jackets is how the scouts didn't catch the apparent flaws in this kid's mental fortitude? To quit as a 20 years old b/c of what appears to be a "loss of passion for the game" shows that the Jackets scouts missed on where this kid was at mentally. That said, perhaps that is why he was a 2nd round pick instead of a 1st and that it was a risk they were willing to take.

One thing we can say for sure is that the Jackets luck with 2nd rounders continues to stink.

Here is the list of former 2nd round picks:

Tim Jackman, Kiel McLeod, Joakim Lindstrom, Dan Fritsche, Adam Pineault, Kyle Wharton, Adam McQuaid, Stephan Legein, Will Weber & Cody Goloubef

With Legein out (for now) only Pineault, Weber and Goloubef remain with the organization from that group.

Don't fret too much though Jacket fans. Legein will be back. You just don't quit cold turkey on something you've done your entire life especially when you can make the kind of living a pro hockey player can.

He's young and he's making an in the moment decision that young people make. Once Legein has some time to reflect on his decision and realize what his future holds in the "real world" he'll be back at it. It may not come by camp but it will come. His father even hints at that with this quote:

"When does training camp start, Sept. 19 or 20?" Chris Legein said. "Until Sept. 20, he hasn't quit anything."

At this point though really the only person Legein is hurting is himself. If there is one position the Jackets could afford this to happen to it would be wing. That road to the NHL just got longer for this kid.

From bad news to good -- the same article states that Nikita Filatov's visa has been approved and he's expected to come to North America September 7th. This news tells me that any conspiracy theories I may have concocted can certainly be put to bed.

Oh and mad props to Bethany over at Bethany's Hockey Rants for breaking this story. She's got a great CBJ blog over there is a very passionate fan.

Discuss - thoughts on Legein?

-LTL