The Hard Luck Franchise

[E.L.]

Don isn't messing around: HC Pascal Vincent fired. Was thrust into action after the Babcock debacle and he wasn't ready for the gig.

Also, Laine and Don have agreed it's time to part ways. He'll be moved shortly.

[Pokecheque]

Don isn't messing around: HC Pascal Vincent fired. Was thrust into action after the Babcock debacle and he wasn't ready for the gig.

Also, Laine and Don have agreed it's time to part ways. He'll be moved shortly.

Wholly deserved IMO, regardless of the shitty circumstances. Even when the season was completely done and there was nothing left but to look forward to the future, he was busy shortening the bench and sending youngsters to the press box. I don't recall a worse first-year coaching job in the time I've watched hockey.

[Fogghorn]

Laine has asked for a trade. Rumours swirling around on Vancouver's interest and possibility of a Mikheyev for Laine swap.

[E.L.]

Dean Evason is the newest head coach in CBus. Had a 147-77-27 record in 251 games in Minny. In all coached about 11 years with Milwaukee and Minnesota and never made it past the first round.

[Pokecheque]

Dean Evason is the newest head coach in CBus. Had a 147-77-27 record in 251 games in Minny. In all coached about 11 years with Milwaukee and Minnesota and never made it past the first round.

I like Evason quite a bit. Excellent coach who got the very most out of a piecemeal Minnesota team. Not his fault his tenure there came to an end because of shitty goaltending, but I’m glad, as an Avs fan, he’s out of the division (and conference) and hopefully gets a chance to finally bring some real success to Lumbus.

[E.L.]

Waddell got to work this week: signed Johnson, Marchenko to bridge deals. Laine off player assistance and now he’ll get moved.

I think the thing Kek didn’t do that Don can institute right away is a clear top 6/bottom 6. Columbus has a lot of samey forwards, and it doesn’t do them any favours.

Go with a top 6 initially of:

Johnny-Monahan-Marchenko
Chinakhov-Fantilli-Johnson

With Jenner firmly as the 3C. Let the team find some chemistry.

[E.L.]

Waddell said it again: Laine has long wanted out of Columbus, even before Don’s arrival.

[Pokecheque]

Aaron Portzline went on record recently to say that Jarmo met with several of the veterans a few years back and they told him he needed to get Elvis and Laine out of the room by any means necessary. I haven't listened so I don't know if he links that to the mass exodus of talent that followed.

Elvis should've been moved out a while ago. That guy is in desperate need of a fresh start.

[E.L.]

Rick Nash named director of hockey ops. Team needed some good news.

[Pokecheque]

Pretty crazy that in a year where absolutely no one would have blamed the Blue Jackets for another lost season, they've been storming their way up the standings, mostly thanks to a Norris-caliber year from Zach Werenski.

Even considering they've had both Ken Hitchcock and John Tortorella behind their bench, it's possible Dean Evason will end up being the best coach this franchise has ever had. Which is a relief since his predecessor was most definitely the worst.

[E.L.]

The craziest contract of the pre-free agency period might be Provorov at 8.5M for seven years. He’ll eat minutes but isn’t a high end guy.

[Pokecheque]

Bad offseason already for the Jackets. They overpay for Provorov by a huge margin and take on a lot of salary in Wood and Coyle. They’re a deeper team, probably a little better defensively (unless Wood is on the ice) but not demonstrably better.

They apparently scored more goals than any other team in the NHL so I can see why they’d want to focus on shoring up the defensive side of things. But this doesn’t seem like the way to do it.

[E.L.]

They were the runner-up on Dobson and I think went crawling back to Provorov as a result. That’s what happens when you’re a middle range team, though: you gotta overpay for UFAs and guys don’t want to come.

I think Waddell is wise to hold on to his young forwards like Sillinger and Voronkov. Could’ve been easy to move them for defensive help but that doesn’t always work.

[Pokecheque]

Chinakhov puts in a trade request. No big loss there near as I can tell, he hasn't quite been the impact talent they were hoping for.

Voronkov is the Russian winger they can't afford to lose.

[E.L.]

I read somewhere, probably Portzline, that Waddell specifically does not like injury-prone players. I’d never heard of a GM who explicitly moves that way.

Anyways, Chinakhov is a high end talent who can’t stay healthy, so I think the feeling mutual with wanting him out.

[Pokecheque]

With Leo Carlsson and Macklin Celebrini currently tearing up the league (Connor Bedard too), some people are noting that Adam Fantilli is off to a slow start.

https://unionandblue.com/should-blue-ja ... production

The underlying metrics look really good so it's probably just a matter of time before he takes off, but I'm sure Lumbus fans are more than a little frustrated.

[Pokecheque]

I read somewhere, probably Portzline, that Waddell specifically does not like injury-prone players. I’d never heard of a GM who explicitly moves that way.

Anyways, Chinakhov is a high end talent who can’t stay healthy, so I think the feeling mutual with wanting him out.

I mean...it's frustrating as hell to have a guy who can't stay healthy but how the hell do you load up on durable players? Literally every GM wants those, but you can't really tell who will and who won't stay healthy. I remember when the Caps threw a ton of money at Brooks Laich in part because he remained in the lineup. He essentially fell apart like a pile of children's blocks not long after he signed that deal.

If anything, a guy with an injury history can be a worthy gamble since it lowers their price. That's more or less what the Avs did with Jo Drouin (and unfortunately, it burned them badly).

If the Panthers had given up on Sasha Barkov early in his career (and of course now he's going to miss at least a major chunk of the season of not the entirety) they certainly would not have come even close to a Cup, let alone two in a row.

[Pokecheque]

Apparently Jet Greaves is off to a phenomenal start this season. Might finally be ready to be The Guy.

So that means they'll finally, mercifully, move on from Elvis. They should've done so at least a year ago, if not sooner. That poor guy desperately needs a fresh start somewhere. Hopefully not in Edmonton.

Kinda funny they're going from an Elvis to a Jet. I also wondered how a goalie gets the nickname "Jet" but it turns out, it's actually his middle name (legal first name is Calvin)!

[Pokecheque]

Meanwhile, Kent Johnson, after putting up a 50-point season, is currently mired with 5 points in 25 games and spent some time in the Oubliette that is Dean Evason's doghouse.

[Pokecheque]

Blue Jackets send disgruntled former first rounder Yegor Chinakhov to Pittsburgh in exchange for Danton Heinen (who was recently waived), and a couple picks.





Chinakhov is an intriguing talent, but I'm not sure there's a legit NHLer there. But Pittsburgh isn't risking a ton on this one so...whatever.

Heinen at one point was a very good defensive forward, and doesn't score much, but the running joke is that when he does, it's in bunches. Hat trick one night followed by a month without a point. Since he was waived it's clear the NHL window is starting to close for him.