“Congratulations Mr. Kroger, you are at the head of the Delta pledge class”

Tonight’s shootout loss to the Islanders marks the half-way point of the Jackets season of discontent. Here are a few thoughts about tonight’s game, about the first half of the season and what lies ahead. I did not get to watch tonight’s game but I did listen to it on XM. I listened to the Islanders feed and it was quite interesting to get an outsider’s perspective. Billy Jaffe the Isles color analyst basically described Mason’s performance as quite adequate. However, he kept using terms like “lunging for the puck” and “not as fluid as last year”. I believe this outside observer has hit the nail on the head concerning Mason’s sophomore woes. Yes he has only given up two goals in the last two games but it’s probably only a matter of time until he gets bombed in goal and we go back to the “win and you are in” rotation. We do have Darth Vader looming on New Year’s Eve and the Predators are primed to open a Death Star size can on whoop-ass on our boys.
The Jackets finished the first half of the season with 39 out of a possible 82 points. That is a percentage of .476. I feel we need to get 93 points to squeak into the top eight. To do that we will need to get 54 out of a possible 82 points in the second half. That is a percentage of .659. Impossible no, but in order to do that we pretty much have to get two points and not give up a point to an opponent unless they are from the East or a division leader in the West. Overtime and shootout wins are nice but since the Jackets backs are to the wall anything less than a regulation win the rest of the way is a FAIL.
That sobering thought brings me to may last point. Once again our Islander friend Mr. Jaffe repeatedly chided the CBJ for a “lack of firepower”. Even though that seems ironic coming form an employee of Mr. Charles Wang once again the outsiders view comes across crystal clear. The Jackets cannot score. Nash is our leading scorer who is on pace for between 30 and 40 goals with a plus/minus that would choke a horse. His accomplishments this year bring to mind what Dean Wormer said to Pinto in Animal House; “Congratulations Mr. Kroger, you are at the head of the Delta pledge class”. Putting that dubious achievement aside what can the CBJ do about that? Off the top of my head the only thing I can think of is going out and getting an expensive rental of the ilk of Ilya Kovalchuck. Now we all know that Hitchcock + non-defensive playing Russians = Disaster and the snowball chance in hell likely hood of that happening so what can we do? Sadly I believe the answer is waiting for the day this summer when we hear this: “With the (first thru seventh) pick in the 2010 NHL Draft the Columbus Blue Jackets proudly pick…”