Well it's official, the Jackets suck. After 3 straight playoff appearances, the BJ's are off to their worst start in franchise history. At 1-5-0 and a -6 goal differential, the Jackets clearly aren't performing to their usual level of expectations. After a disappointing loss to the lowly Kings, GM Steph Villeneuve and head coach Bruce Boudreau had a 3 hour meeting, where shouting could be heard and chairs were thrown. As of now, no changes on the bench have been made, but Boudreau's seat has never been hotter. The shit show on the ice hasn't been any more impressive. Mitch Marner was demoted after his piss poor start (2A, -4) and Jason Pominville was exiled to the 3rd line in favour of Martin Hanzal. In net, Cory Schneider has sucked the big eggplant. With a GAA over 3 and a SV% under .900, he hasn't lived up to his Season 3 stats. WIth Chris Driedger looking very impressive in his 1st outing of the season, expect the BJs to rotate goalies a little more frequently going forward.
The Blue Jackets have made it known they're shopping Minesota's 1st round pick, with the goal of either getting a top pairing dman or packaging the pick with Schneider for an upgrade in net. Also on the block are veterans Matt Greene and Josh Manson.
Other surprises from the first week of games:
-The Leafs, Lightning and Rangers are all off to terrible starts. The Rangers aren't really a HUGE surprise, but both the Leafs and Bolts were playoff teams. Hicks made a move to improve (??) the Leafs by dealing John Gibson, PLD and Dillon Dube for Matt Murray and Logan Couture.
-THE ST LOUIS BLUES!!!!!!! HOLY FUCK!!! 5-0-1 START!!!!!!! NICK SCHMALTZ HAS 8 POINTS ALREADY!!!!!! TREVOR VAN RIEMSDYK HAS EXCEEED HIS CAREER HIGH IN GOALS (3)!!!! DO YOU BELIEVE IN MIRACLES!!!!! CINDERELLA AIN'T GOT NOTHING ON THIS TEAM!!!
-Other teams not named the Blues who are off to surprising starts: The Nords, Flyers, Ducks and Devils. Will it be sustainable? That remains to be seen.
-The Caps, Canes, Preds (who are now without a GM, RIP Sweet Prince), and Kraken are right where we expected them to be.
-On the player front, I don't expect Connor Sheary (PIT) to lead the league in goals, but so far, he is..... Blake Wheeler (SJ) and Big Buff (SEA) lead the league in points so far with 10.
-Martin Jones (SEA) (another Wharton favourite) is a brick wall (.951 SV% and 1.20 GAA).
-Calder race is essentially a 3 man race between Cliff Pu (PIT), Julius Honka (BOS) and Kailer Yamamoto (DAL). My pick? Yamamoto and his increased ice time take it.
-Biggest slumps to start? How about Huberdeau (NSH), Kyle Connor (DAL), Seth Jones (TOR), with 1 point and JVR (OTT), PLD (TOR, since sent to farm after being dealt to CHI), and Elias Pettersson with 0 points combined. Yikes
-The Avs currently have 2 of the top 3 in MPG with Jeff Petry and Matt Niskanen both over 25 per game. That's bound to end well........
Thanks for tuning in, I hope your teams all lose and all your stars get season ending injuries!