Promising Start Turns Sour: The Story of the 2010-2011 Columbus Blue Jackets

I got a text at 3:30 from some college buddies saying they wanted to go to the game that night. I told them I’d meet them downtown so we could get in together. It wasn’t until 6:45 when I was told they hadn’t left Athens until 5:45. Athens is an hour and a half from Columbus. The puck drop was scheduled for 7:06 pm. They didn’t make it.

I found myself alone, downtown, wearing the new Columbus Blue Jackets third jersey. I must’ve looked lonely because a scalper zoned in on me like I was a prize buck.

“Single?!?!”

“Yeah, where’s the seat?”

“Four rows behind Steve Mason”

“how much?”

“uhh, $40?”

(inner monologue: Sean, you’re not in college anymore. You have a job. YES! Say yes) “uhhhh, yeeeee...sold”

Not bad for $40 scalp, eh?

By the time I walked into Nationwide Arena the game was already five minutes old and the Blue Jackets trailed the Phoenix Coyotes 2-0. I took my lonely ticket and sat with families and friends that I didn’t know. “Great, I’m the biggest loser in the arena and the Jackets are going to get blown out.” Fast forward to the third period and the Blue Jackets hold five unanswered goals, rookie Matt Calvert beams with only the second rookie hat trick in CBJ history, I charmed the guys around me, and the crowd is raucous. Raucous like the crowds of seasons 1, 2, and 3 before Columbus became jaded and tired of watching a lousy team.

The crowd was thirsty. Thirsty for more games like this one, thirsty for action in the Stanley Cup playoffs that seemingly every other fanbase gets to experience. It was a playoff atmosphere and the ‘W’ moved the Blue Jackets to within two points of only their second playoff berth. It was the best game I’d been to all season, and I went alone on a day when I had no intentions of watching NHL hockey. The best experiences are always the ones you don’t plan.

After the game the Jackets embarked on a road trip that we all knew would go a long way to determine their playoff fortunes. They went 0-3-2, and the negative momentum dropped them out of the hunt. They missed the playoffs for the ninth time in ten years.

The team jumped out to their best start ever. A 14-6 mark that sportscubstats.com gave a 96% chance of making the playoffs. Through all past NHL situations, and 1000 simulations, 96% of the teams who started 14-6 made the playoffs. We were the 4%. On the last day of November the Jackets played a home game against the Detroit Red Wings for first place in the Western Conference. We lost. A promising start turns sour can basically sum up the story of the 10 year history of the Columbus Blue Jackets. 

Highs

- November 17-20, 2010 California Sweep. Early in the season the Blue Jackets went out west and swept California for the first time. They took 3 games from the Kings, Ducks, and Sharks in a 4 day span. Rick Nash potted a hat-trick in the final game in San Jose. All three California teams qualified for the post-season, which incidentally is more playoffs teams than Canada had. 

- November 10, 2010 “Soccer-gate”. A lot of NHL teams warm up before the games by kicking a soccer ball in the tunnel under the stands. Blue Jackets alternate captain, RJ Umberger, started an altercation with the St. Louis Blues who he felt were too close to the Jackets’ locker-room. It almost came to blows before security broke it up. Umberger showed pride for the franchise that so many fans yearn for and the team backed him up by thumping the Blues 8-1.

- February 25, 2011 Aforementioned game against Phoenix. Matt Calvert scored a natural hat trick and the Blue Jackets came up big against a playoff team in a game they needed to win. It marked the 8^th win in the last ten games and those two points put the CBJ back into the playoff mix.

- February 8, 2011 4-1 win in Pittsburgh. Small revenge for the December game in Columbus.

Lows

- December 4, 2010. "The Penguins Game". An estimated 10,000 Penguins showed up to watch their team play at Nationwide Arena. Unfortunately for Blue Jackets fans, Nationwide Arena is in Columbus. It was bad enough that the Penguins fans took over the arena, but the Blue Jackets didn't show up either, losing 7-2. It was made even worse by the Penguins fans behavior who were the most obnoxious, boorish, drunk idiot visiting fans I've ever had to deal with. It's easily the worst game I can remember in ten years of going to Blue Jackets games.

- February 27 - March 7, 2011 "The Road Trip". The Jackets left for the last big road trip of the season with an 8-1-1 record in their last ten and two points out of a playoff spot. They returned with an 0-3-2 record on the trip recording two out of a possible ten points. It started with a third period collapse against Nashville (where they've lost 17 straight games), a shootout loss in Vancouver, a 4-2 loss in Edmonton (the worst team in the NHL), a 4-3 loss in Calgary, and a shootout loss in St. Louis. The 5 game roadie killed any momentum they had and delivered the blow that pretty much ended any chance of a playoff visit. 

MVP

Rick Nash 

This basically by default, but Nash is one of the best players in the world. He scored 32 goals, 34 assists for 66 points on the season and was a +2, a rarity in Columbus. All of that done with little to no help. This sounds like a broken record, but if the organization can find Nash a number one center, he'll reach his potential. Let's hope that happens before Nash runs out of prime years. He's 26 right now, but if he hangs on a little while longer, first round pick Ryan Johannsen should be in the NHL next few seasons and he has the skill to deliver the puck to Rick. 

Honorable Mention

RJ Umberger

Bright Spots

Matt Calvert 

Calvert showed signs of promise in his half season with the big club. He scored 11 goals with 9 assists. Calvert has the potential to develop into a top 6 forward. At the very least, he'll be a capable third liner in the NHL. 

Grant Clitsome

That's his real name. Clitsome came up mid season from Springfield of the AHL and instantly provided help on the blue line and showed signs of being that puck moving defenseman that every team is looking for. Clitsome had 19 points in 31 games, and was +2. All solid numbers for a defenseman, plus his name is Clitsome. His work on the power play is encouraging for a power play unit that ranked 29th in the league. Try to guess his nickname in the locker-room.

Scott Arniel

Arniel inherited a team with a lot of problems in his first season as a head coach in the NHL. The players seem to like him enough and his system is the kind that wins games in today's NHL. The problem is the Blue Jackets don't yet have the personnel to play the system, but Arniel has shown that he's willing to play to the style of what he has rather than trying to cram players into a system they aren't built for, which was the problem with old coach, Ken Hitchcock. 

Problems

Steve Mason

Nikita Filatov

Jake Voracek

The Blue Jackets aren't as far away from being a contender as some are choosing to believe, but it won't be easy. Conventional hockey wisdom says that you build from the net out. I disagree. I say you build from the blue line back and then work on your forwards. If you have a solid defensive corps then you can win a lot of games with an average goaltender. It's how the Red Wings were able to win all those years with Chris Osgood as their goalie. 

Steve Mason hasn't played well since winning rookie of the year, but part of the problem is a weak  Blue Jackets defense in front of him. Shoring up the D might take awhile because big time free agents seem allergic to Columbus, but there's pieces in the system that aren't too far from being competent NHL players, and Marc Methot and Grant Clitsome made big strides last year.