1. Taylor Hall - Hasn't lost any ground since being selected first overall in the NHL entry draft. All-world skill plus heart equates to a superstar.
2. Jeff Skinner - Leapfrogged Seguin due to stellar play in NHL up to this date. Smooth skater with nifty touch around the cage.
3. Tyler Seguin - Places third because of lack of playing time to show skills.
4. Cam Fowler - Absolutely stellar defender much more deserving of this ranking than 12th overall (In NHL entry)
5. Jordan Eberle - Captain clutch has magic hands and should be a consistent AHL producer.
6. Derek Stepan - Captain of gold medal winning U.S. junior team having a solid rookie season in NHL.
7. Magnus Paajarvi - (Can you tell there is an Oiler bias??) MPS has yet to break out in the NHL but has all of the raw skills to become a force on LW in the AHL.
8. Alexander Burmistrov - Not your typical Russian, totally committed to playing in NA, having stellar rookie season after proving he could make the adjustment in Barrie.
9. Oliver Ekman-Larsson - Has been up and down between the minors, pedigree is there.
10. P.K. Subban - Brash young defender has legitimate NHL skill, can he put it all together?
1/13/2011
Team Report
(Columbus, Ohio)
Well, things sure haven't changed much for the Blue Jackets lately, as they still sit in last place in the AHL with a 3-19-1 record overall. This puts them one point away from the team ahead of them in 29th. Two of their last three wins have come in the last ten games though, so that may be something to look forward to.
One of the main reasons for the horrible record of Columbus is the fact that they are last in the league in scoring, averaging only 1.57 goals per game, ouch! Believe it or not, the Jackets also rank dead last in goals allowed per game, sitting at 3.65. They rank third last in the league with a measley 8.6% powerplay conversion rate. They fare a little better on the penalty kill, ranking 20th with a 83.1% kill rate. The Blue Jackets also rank (proudly) dead last in penalty minutes per game, averaging 28:13.
Individually, there are few Blue Jackets players that are impressing anyone this year. Captain Mikko Koivu has been a surprisingly large disappointment, even though he's centreing the same line that he did last year. Koivu has registered only 15 points in 23 games and is a minus 10, while expectations at the start of the year were certainly higher with Koivu coming off of an impressive 91 point season. Maybe even a larger disappointment so far has been the play of David Backes, who has registered one goal all year! Larger things will most definitely be expected of Backes next year assuming he stays a Jacket. We can only speculate but the buzz around Columbus is that Backes may be held on to until the draft to try to acquire another top 10 draft pick.
One of the bright spots so far has been newcomer Jason Demers, who since being traded to Columbus has put up 5 points in 15 games and has the only positive plus/minus rating on the team. Obviously there are a few other players Columbus is happy with, but for different reasons. Dorsett, Boll, Konopka, Shelley, Stuart, and J.F. Jacques have combined for 28 fighting majors so far this season, and Columbus has 36 fighting majors in total. If you're not going to be good, you may as well be exciting!
An A+ also goes out to Marc-Andre Fleury so far on the season.
Well, things sure haven't changed much for the Blue Jackets lately, as they still sit in last place in the AHL with a 3-19-1 record overall. This puts them one point away from the team ahead of them in 29th. Two of their last three wins have come in the last ten games though, so that may be something to look forward to.
One of the main reasons for the horrible record of Columbus is the fact that they are last in the league in scoring, averaging only 1.57 goals per game, ouch! Believe it or not, the Jackets also rank dead last in goals allowed per game, sitting at 3.65. They rank third last in the league with a measley 8.6% powerplay conversion rate. They fare a little better on the penalty kill, ranking 20th with a 83.1% kill rate. The Blue Jackets also rank (proudly) dead last in penalty minutes per game, averaging 28:13.
Individually, there are few Blue Jackets players that are impressing anyone this year. Captain Mikko Koivu has been a surprisingly large disappointment, even though he's centreing the same line that he did last year. Koivu has registered only 15 points in 23 games and is a minus 10, while expectations at the start of the year were certainly higher with Koivu coming off of an impressive 91 point season. Maybe even a larger disappointment so far has been the play of David Backes, who has registered one goal all year! Larger things will most definitely be expected of Backes next year assuming he stays a Jacket. We can only speculate but the buzz around Columbus is that Backes may be held on to until the draft to try to acquire another top 10 draft pick.
One of the bright spots so far has been newcomer Jason Demers, who since being traded to Columbus has put up 5 points in 15 games and has the only positive plus/minus rating on the team. Obviously there are a few other players Columbus is happy with, but for different reasons. Dorsett, Boll, Konopka, Shelley, Stuart, and J.F. Jacques have combined for 28 fighting majors so far this season, and Columbus has 36 fighting majors in total. If you're not going to be good, you may as well be exciting!
An A+ also goes out to Marc-Andre Fleury so far on the season.
1/02/2011
Rumour Mill
(Columbus, Ohio)
A source close to the Blue Jackets General Manager Brett S. says that for the past couple of days the team has been discussing trades with multiple GM's league wide. The discussions have been centred around Columbus forwards David Backes and Radim Vrbata, with other unmentioned names being involved. The source was also fairly confident in stating that Columbus is trying hard not to budge on trading away either of these two in a package deal without receiving a first round pick.
One of the strongest rumours out there is that there may be a possible deal going on with GM Nick Houda of Boston, including Backes and/or Vrbata. This deal may have hit a snag when one of the GM's supposedly asked for an untouchable from the other team. It sounds like this rumour is gaining some ground, so don't be surprised to see a deal hammered out between these teams in the next few days. We can only speculate as to some of the players Columbus might be interested in from Boston, most likely youngsters Logan Couture, John Carlson, and Jakub Voracek.
A source close to the Blue Jackets General Manager Brett S. says that for the past couple of days the team has been discussing trades with multiple GM's league wide. The discussions have been centred around Columbus forwards David Backes and Radim Vrbata, with other unmentioned names being involved. The source was also fairly confident in stating that Columbus is trying hard not to budge on trading away either of these two in a package deal without receiving a first round pick.
One of the strongest rumours out there is that there may be a possible deal going on with GM Nick Houda of Boston, including Backes and/or Vrbata. This deal may have hit a snag when one of the GM's supposedly asked for an untouchable from the other team. It sounds like this rumour is gaining some ground, so don't be surprised to see a deal hammered out between these teams in the next few days. We can only speculate as to some of the players Columbus might be interested in from Boston, most likely youngsters Logan Couture, John Carlson, and Jakub Voracek.
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