Chicago comes into Columbus after a big day for the Hawks with the Bulin Wall being sent through waivers today. Columbus will be wheeling a lineup loaded with players that will be on the open day roster.
Questions for tonight:
1. Can Voracek continue his torrid pace in the preseason? He is opening a lot of eyes to the point he will get a lot of attention this year for the Calder.
2. How will Raffi Torres look in his first action coming off his knee injury? He was a key addition in the off season and an important piece to Hitchcock's plans.
3. How will Brassard look again set in the middle of Nash and Huselius? He is the biggest question mark of the preseason and the most important for the success of the Jackets. Hitchcock looks sold, I am still kicking the tires.
4. Excited to see the "Crash and Burn" line of Chimera, Peca and Torres. Will they measure up to my (I am sure to some unrealistic) expectation? Love this line on paper, now let's see if I love it as much on ice. ***Change in the line, Murray will be taking Chimera's spot on the line. Murray has had a very solid camp and you know that Hitch loves this guy and trust him. Obviously this line won't have the same speed on it with Murray but they won't lose anything defensively.
5. Leclaire is getting the full game tonight. Didn't look dominate against the Preds on Friday night but there were some defensive break downs also. Can he put the clamps down on an under manned team from Chicago?
These are my questions that I am looking to get answered, what are yours. Fire off a post and let me know what you want to find out this preseason.
Starting Lineup for the Jackets:
Voracek, Umberger, Modin (A), Tyutin, Klesla, Leclaire
For Chicago:
Doug Janik, Aaron Johnson (yes that Aaron Johnson, former Jacket), Craig Adams (A), Adam Burish (A), Ben Eager, Chistobal Huet
Until 7pm:
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They have dropped the puck!
2:20 in and it is a little ragged out there. Passes are missing and just not very good play by either side.
Hitchcock is really short shifting the lines right now. Might be part of why they are struggling to get some flow going.
Torres just had a very good shift along with Murray and Peca who pinned the Hawks down in their zone
5 minutes into the game and only one shot on goal and that is by the Hawks.
Alexandre Picard and Kevyn Adams just dropped the gloves but it was mostly a wrestling match. Picard nailed Adams with a couple of good shots at the end
10 minutes in and still there is no flow and its not from penalties this time, just bad play. Huselius looks as if he is trying to do too much. Trying to make plays that aren't there.
10:47 in Ben Eager gets whistled. Jackets on the powerplay for 2 minutes. Hopefully this unit can click better than what they have been with the 5 on 5. Nash, Umberger, Huselius, Backman and Russell opened it up on the PP.
13:45 in and Jackets finally got their first shot on goal from Torres.
14:14 in and Boll had a blow up check and then Colin Fraser didn't take kindly and drop the gloves. No punches thrown as I am sure Boll told him he could fight and just hung on.
14:52 Klesla just got whistled for elbowing. 1st chance for the PK and they just got our 2nd shot on goal.
16:11 Tyutin just got whistled for hooking and the Jackets are down 2 men for 41 seconds.
17:59 in and with only 13 seconds left in the Tyutin penalty, Commodore gets hit for slashing. All of a sudden the defense can't stay out of the penalty box and the PK is getting overworked. Tyutin had a semi-breakaway on the kill. Went low glove side but was stuffed. Umberger just got in deep and almost buried a wrap around but the Chicago defense got there just in time to stop it. He had Huet beat.
End of the 1st and this tells you all you need to know, shots on goal Hawks 4 and Jackets 3. Poorly played game so far except for the Jackets PK. Lets hope for the fans in attendance that additional flow gets going or this is going to get tough to watch.
All the media is shaking there head on that period. That was very bad hockey and when your best scoring opportunities were on the PK, let's just say some improvement is needed.
More after the break. Also, send me your posts with any questions that you have.
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2nd period is underway and let's hope for the love of god that we get a lot better hockey this period.
0:49 into the 2nd and the Jackets are on the PP. Eager gets hit again with elbowing.
Zero shots on goal on the PP.
Torres just got another shot on goal. He is the most active player for the Jackets on the ice.
Backman just showed why he will give you headaches as he turned over in our own end yet he did block the shot so none got on net.
5:30 in and Evan Brophey gets hit with holding the Jackets are back on the powerplay.
6:30 in and the Jackets are going to get 1 minute of 5 on 3. Let's see if they can get any shots on goal. This is how bad it is, Hitchcock just took a timeout.
GOOOOAAAALLLLLL - 7:28 in and Backman fires one past Huet from the top left circle. Jackets are up 1-0. Huselius and Voracek get the assists.
GOOOOOAAAALLLL - 8:22 in and Nash weaves in and whistles one in top shelf. Jackets up 2-0. Klesla gets the assist. This was a powerplay goal.
GOOOOAAAALLLL - 8:45 in and Torres tickles the twine. Peca gets the assist as it came right off the draw.
9:54 - Picard drops them again and it is against Kris Versteeg. Picard got the best of him on this one and you can tell the Hawks are frustrated.
GOOOOOAAAAALL- 10:47 in and Huselius jams one in after Backman put on a puck handling clinic and took it right to the net. Now that is what the Jackets are hoping for. Backman and Russell get the assists.
That was one hell of a time-out! Whatever he said should be published tomorrow as it would be on the New York Times best seller list.
10:56 - Russell gets hit with an interference call. No damage done. PK is looking good.
Umberger just caught Matt Walker from behind. Showed RJU has got some decent wheels.
14:29 - Torres and Eager dropped the gloves and well......Torres got beat like a drum. Torres just left the box and went into the locker room. Let's hope nothing happened with that knee. I even was thinking why would Torres want to take a chance with that knee getting into a fight. Let's hope some poor judgement didn't cost him and the team.
17:46 - Voracek gets hit with a very poor call of goaltender interference. He was going hard to the net and hit the right post charging in, not the tender. Based off what I am seeing the league is really clampping down on goaltender interference. Some of these calls would have never been made in years past.
End of the 2nd period and the Jackets notch 4 goals that period on 9 shots. That period was more like what people thought this team should do to the glorified AHL squad that the Hawks put out on the ice.
Thank you Lord for that period as I couldn't have handled 2 more periods like the 1st.
More at the beginning of the 3rd.
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Beginning the 3rd. Hitch has Hejda playing heavy minutes tonight. 16:04 after 2 periods. Nash has put in 15:33, so no light night for him either.
Jackets still all over the Hawks right from the start.
2:55 in and Leclaire just stole one with a quick glove.
GOOOOOAAAAALLL - 3:26 in Nash scores after a fortunate bounce off in front. Right place, right time. Tyutin and Huselius with the assists.
3:56 in Brophey gets sent to the sin bin for interference. Jackets on the PP. No dice on the powerplay.
GOOOOOAAAAAALL - 8:11 in Fedor Tyutin smokes one past Huet upper left corner from the left point. Klesla and Modin get the assists. Huet doesn't look very good. I will say he isn't hetting much help.
9:28 in Commodore gets hit with delay of game.
10:03 of the 3rd and the Hawks light the lamp on the powerplay. Goal was scored by Kontiola and assists from Eager and Versteeg. Also, for a cherry on top add a penalty to RJ Umberger for slashing.
13:30 in and believe it or not the Hawks are out shooting the Jackets 21-17
15:32 - Craig Adams levels Leclaire behind the net and gets put in the box for 2 minutes for goaltender interference. No worries Jackets fans, Leclaire bounced right up.
GOOOOAAAAALLL - 16:28 in the Jackets get a powerplay goal by Klesla. Tyutin and Nash get the assists.
18:16 - Backman gets hit with an interference penalty.
Jackets win big. More later tonight after interviews.
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Jackets laid the wood to the Huet and the Hawks tonight but lose big with Raffi Torres seperating his shoulder. He will be sidelined for 6 weeks.
In the post game interview with Ken Hitchcock, you could see that he was physically and mentally shaken by this injury. I talked about the importance of Torres to Hitchcock's plans before this game and for this to happen in a fight in a pre-season game, it didn't sit well with Hitch. "It was a very costly win. It is disappointing. It works everytime when you play against a lineup that like they brought in today something bad happens all the time....Other people have to step up for the next 6 weeks or so."
This obviously opens the door for players like Alexandre Picard. He has had a good camp and this injury to Torres gives Picard a better chance to make the team. Hitch said that he will slide Murray into Torres's slot on the 3rd line for now. The 4th line would be Malhotra, Boll and Picard with Novotny as an option also.
What this also means for you Fantasy Hockey guys out there is that you can put Jakub Voracek on the 2nd line in pen. He probably already had the position nailed down but this puts it in cement. V-cek now has 5 points in 4 preseason games.
Back to Torres, what really hurts is that until the injury, he was the most active player on the ice. He scored the 3rd goal when the Jackets put on a 3 goal on slaught in a 1:17 span. "He is a very very effective player. Him and Michael (Peca) have great chemistry together. The goal he scored is typical of people that have chemistry together and they really play off each other well." stated Hitchcock.
I have never seen a team and coaching staff more down after a total beat down of an opponent. Hitch knows that the Jackets have to get out to a fast start and Torres was needed for this to happen. Without Torres there for the start, the comments by all in the organization is that this squad is the deepest it has ever been, we will now see.
Some Stats from Tonight:
Rick Nash - 2 goals, 1 assist, +2 and the games 1st Star
Kristian Huselius - 1 goal, 2 assists, +3 and the games 2nd Star - He was on the ice for 6 of the goals the Jackets scored
Fedor Tyutin - 1 goal, 2 assists, +2 and the games 3rd Star - had 4 shots on goal and 4 blocked shots
Rusty Klesla - 1 goal, 2 assists, +2
Christian Backman - 1 goal, 1assist, +1
Jan Hejda - 0 points but +1 and logged the most minutes for the Jackets with 23:59
Jakub Voracek - 0 goals, 1 assist - keeps his scoring streak alive at 4 games
Alexandre Picard - 0 points but 4 hits to lead the team
Next game is Thursday against Buffalo.
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The Jackets are inching toward the open night roster as they have cut 3 players loose.
The two players assigned to Syracuse were: defenseman Andrey Plekhanov and goaltender Dan LaCosta. In addition, the club released goaltender Sebastian Dahm from his tryout contract.
More are sure to follow by the end of the week.
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After following up from the report by Andy Strickland, I have confirmed with my sources that Mike York has been put on waivers. I am sure, especially after the camp he has had, he will clear and then the Jackets will decide whether they will send him to Syracuse or cut him loose.
York has been a major disappointment in camp. He was to have worked out all summer at Michigan State and rededicated himself to the sport. It may be a situation of too little too late for him. It would have been nice to have him as a solid call up but that doesn't look like it is in the cards.
It's been a wild 24 hours. Stay tuned as there might be more to come.
Fire The Cannon!
Eric Smith
[email protected] 
Columbus Blue Jackets Blogger • 
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