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.