Well, then!

While I spent most of tonight whupping up on various friends and corpmates in some friendly frigate fights in EVE, I -was- paying attention to the moves Howson made after the big trade earlier today.

So, it looks like Howson quite successfully replaced Zherdev's scoring...and for that matter, Fritsche's...with Kristian Huselius.

Dude looks like Beetlejuice (and in fact this is his nickname up in Calgary), but if he keeps having 70+ point seasons? I'm very down with that. He can look like Mae West if he pushes Nash to a 90 point year. :>

Sounds a lot like plan will be to try him with Nash - Hitchcock was talking about his playmaking ability.

( So, what next? )

I'm officially switching from hesitant about the last two days of moves to excited. I may be overestimating Voracek and Brassard coming into the lineup this year, but the more I hear about their summer workouts and what they've been doing, I don't think so...

Last year, the team was better than it had ever been, but couldn't quite make the last step.

This year, I really am starting to feel like, even with what Chicago and Detroit did in grabbing Hossa and Campbell, that Columbus really stands a chance to compete in our division, and among the rest of the conference.

( Bold but ultimately irrational predictions )

Man, that went on a lot longer than I really meant to....and it's 1:30 now. ACK! This was just supposed to be a quick entry about what I was thinking, not an hour and a half of essay writing!!!

...I'm starting to wonder if I should be thinking about getting a separate blog for Hockey purposes. Do people mind me carrying on like this? Hate it? Like it but would prefer it elsewhere?

Let me know!

Called it.

Dispatch reports that the Blue Jackets are in discussions with Peca about returning to the Club. Peca is reportedly interested in returning, possibly on a 2-3 year deal. Deal could go down tonight or over the holiday weekend.

Yeah, it's not someone like Vermette, but OTOH, we know what we're getting with Peca, it solidifies our bottom 6 nicely, and it gives a major vote of confidence -from a player on the inside- about how much the club has improved this offseason.

Boom goes the dynamite.