Umberger and Raffi Torres as well as defencemen Mike Commodore Fedor Tyutin and Christian Backman
Umberger and Raffi Torres as well as defencemen Mike Commodore, Fedor Tyutin and Christian Backman.Out are forwards Gilbert Brule, Nikolai Zherdev and Dan Fritsche as well as blue-liner Ron Hainsey.I think this is a better team, just not sure if it's playoff-bound for the first time.You have to hand it to GM Scott Howson Players aren't tripping over themselves to sign in Columbus. So he had to overpay in some cases ($18.75 million over five years for Commodore), but that's life when you are a team that's never made the playoffs.Given those circumstances, I think Howson did commendable job. He also didn't duck the question this week when I asked him about having to overpay for UFAs. Some GMs would have told me to eat it."Free agency is all about paying a premium," Howson began "In our market, we haven't got a winning tradition here We haven't got a playoff tradition. It's important to players that they have an opportunity to win and win fairly immediately.And we have to prove that to the rest of the NHL community that we're a team that's going to make the playoffs and challenge for the Cup.
And we haven't done that yet."Until we do that, that's an obstacle for us in attracting players. We believe we're pointing in the right direction but we haven't come close to the playoffs yet. Eighty points is what we got last year, our best year ever, and that's not even close. We have work to do in establishing a reputation for Columbus as a good hockey team.
And that's what we're working towards doing."Amen, Scott.The Canadian Press even gets in on the action:So, are they any better?"We certainly believe we're better but it will be up to us to prove that when the season starts," Howson said in an interview with The Canadian Press.Howson isn't totally done He'd like to add a No. 3 centre."We've talked to Michael Peca (UFA) about coming back," said Howson. "We'll see if that works out."Otherwise, this is basically your 2008-09 Blue Jackets Definitely new, and they hope improved A loyal fan base is getting restless and so is ownership. Not a single playoff game played since their first season in 2000-01.This is a big year for Howson and head coach Ken Hitchcock."There's pressure to get into the playoffs," concedes Howson "Our ultimate goal is to build a championship-calibre team We believe we're making strides in doing that.