All-Time Teams: Blue Jackets

Fire the cannon! It's time to take a look at one of the newest franchises in the NHL. Here's the All-Time team for the Columbus Blue Jackets:

The Blue Jackets won a playoff series for the first time in 2018-19, sweeping the heavily-favored Tampa Bay Lightning. Boston won the second-round match-up in six games.

 

1st Line

Left Wing - Rick Nash First overall pick in the 2002 Draft is first in Blue Jackets history with 289 goals, 258 assists, and 547 points in 674 games. Leads the Jackets in even-strength goals, power play goals, short-handed goals, and game-winning goals. His 41 markers in 2003-04 set a franchise single-season record (since tied) and earned him a share of the NHL lead. Served as Columbus's captain for five seasons.

Center - R.J. Umberger Ohio State alum ranks fourth in Blue Jackets' annals with 120 career goals and 250 total points, leading all Columbus centers in both categories. Posted three seasons of 50+ points from 2008-2011. Only two players in Blue Jackets history have potted more power play goals.

Right Wing - Cam Atkinson Connecticut native is second in Columbus history with 198 goals, 368 points, and 571 games played. Tied Rick Nash's single-season franchise mark of 41 goals in 2018-19. His six career hat tricks are a team record and he trails only Nash for the Blue Jackets' career lead in goals per game average.

2nd Line

Left Wing - Nick Foligno The Blue Jackets' captain since 2015, Foligno ranks third in Blue Jackets history in several categories including games played, goals, assists, and points. Won the King Clancy award for Leadership and Community involvement and the Mark Messier award for Leadership in 2017. Nick's father Mike Foligno was named to the Sabres All-Time Team.

Center - Brandon Dubinsky Originally a Ranger, Brandon Dubinsky was a key piece of the blockbuster trade that sent Rick Nash to New York in 2012. In seven seasons with the Blue Jackets "Dubi" totaled 153 assists and 225 points, the sixth-highest totals in team history. A chronic wrist injury has sidelined him since May 2019, likely ending his career.

Right Wing - David Vyborny Czech winger played seven seasons in the NHL, all with Columbus. Ranks second in Blue Jackets' annals with 204 assists and his 317 points for the team are one fewer than Foligno's current total.

3rd Line

Left Wing - Alexander Wennberg Ranks fifth in Blue Jackets history with 161 assists and eighth with 201 points, boosted by a career year in 2016-17 (46 assists, 59 points). Currently a Florida Panther, Wennberg will move from his natural center position on this All-Time team.

Center - Boone Jenner Tied with Vyborny for fifth in franchise history with 113 goals, Jenner can climb to fourth place with eight more markers in 2021. His 20 game-winning goals are one fewer than Foligno for fourth-best among Blue Jackets and his 89 even-strength tallies are also fourth on the team's all-time list. Jenner set a career high with 30 goals in 2015-16.

Right Wing - Nikolai Zherdev Selected fourth overall by the Blue Jackets in 2003, Nikolai Zherdev spent the minimum four seasons in Columbus before a 2008 trade to the New York Rangers. In 283 games with the Jackets, the Russian winger scored 76 goals - the ninth-highest total in team history. 25 of those tallies came on the power play, good enough for seventh on the team's all-time list. 

4th Line

Left Wing - Matt Calvert The only other natural left wing worth considering for this roster, Matt Calvert spent eight seasons in Columbus from 2010-2018. Scored 11 goals in his first 25 NHL games, but hasn't netted more than 13 in an entire season. His 8.0 offensive point shares (or OPS?) aren't enough to earn a third-line role but his versatility is valued on his current team, the Colorado Avalanche. 

Center - Derick Brassard The sixth overall pick in the 2006 Draft, Brassard was shipped to the Rangers in a 2013 trade after playing parts of six seasons with the Blue Jackets. His four year stint on Broadway was more productive as he tallied five fewer points (169 total) in 55 more games (309 total) yet he ranks fifth among Jackets' centers in assists and points. Fellow lottery pick Ryan Johansen had better numbers in 'lumbus, but he's needed on his current team's All-Time roster.

Right Wing - Oliver Bjorkstrand Danish forward has played just 246 games for the Blue Jackets across five seasons. However his 65 goals are tied for 12th in team history with Josh Anderson, who was traded to Montreal in October and Pierre-Luc Dubois, a center who isn't yet eligible for this All-Time roster. Bjorkstrand ranks ahead of Anderson for fourth in team history with a plus/minus rating of +30.

 

Spares - Manny Malhotra, Jared Boll

Yet another ex-Ranger, Malhotra didn't live up to his seventh-overall status in New York but eventually matured into a valuable defensive center for several teams. Boll is the Blue Jackets' all-time leading enforcer, serving 1,195 penalty minutes over 518 games. Neither he nor Jody Shelley scored much - and Shelley averaged more PIMs per game - but I'm going with Boll for his longevity and positive point shares rating (0.6) over Shelley's -0.3 total.

Defense Pair 1

 

Seth Jones - David Savard

In just five seasons with the Blue Jackets Jones has tallied 150 assists, the seventh-highest total in team history. He ranks ninth in team annals with 195 total points and only two Jackets have a higher assists per game average for the franchise. Savard is the Blue Jackets' career leader in plus/minus with a +43 total and ranks first in Defensive Point Shares with 27.6. He's tied with Nick Foligno for third on Columbus's all-time list for games played.

Defense Pair 2

 

Zach Werenski - Fedor Tyutin

Werenski was the Blue Jackets' first round pick in 2015 and finished third in Calder trophy voting two years later. His rookie season totals of 36 assists, 47 points, and a +17 rating remain career highs. The 23 year-old Michigan alum is the second-youngest member of any All-Time team. Tyutin trails Savard by just four games for fifth in Blue Jackets history and only Savard has posted a higher DPS for Columbus. Yet another ex-Ranger on this roster, Tyutin was acquired in the 2008 trade that send Nikolai Zherdev to New York.

Defense Pair 3

 

Jack Johnson - Rostislav Klesla

How's this for a change - Jack Johnson is a current member of the Rangers. The third overall pick in 2005, Johnson signed with the Blueshirts in October after two seasons playing for Pittsburgh. Only Savard, Tyutin, and Rostislav Klesla played more games and posted more defensive value for the Blue Jackets than Johnson. Klesla, the Blue Jackets' first-ever draft pick in 2000, was named to the NHL's All-Rookie team in 2002. He leads all Columbus defensemen with 508 penalty minutes.

Spare - Ryan Murray

The second overall pick in the disappointing 2012 draft, Ryan Murray spent seven injury-filled seasons in Ohio's capital. He set career highs with 28 assists and a +20 rating in 2018-19 despite playing just 56 games. In 2015-16 Murray suited up for all 82 games and blocked a career-high 171 shots, good for 14th in the NHL. He was traded to New Jersey in October.

Goalies

 

Starter - Sergei Bobrovsky

Backup - Steve Mason

Bobrovsky leads all Blue Jackets players in Point Shares with 75.3, led the NHL in goals saved above average twice, and won two Vezina trophies. The Jackets' career leader in every goaltending category, Bob signed with the Florida Panthers in July 2019. Mason and Marc Denis have fairly pedestrian numbers for Columbus. Denis posted a slightly better save percentage and more point shares. Mason set the bar high in his rookie season, winning the Calder trophy and finishing second in Vezina voting. He finished his Columbus career ahead of Denis in wins, shutouts, and goals against average.

Head Coach: John Tortorella  Captain: Nick Foligno

The winningest coach in Blue Jackets history, John Tortorella is the fourth-longest tenured head coach in the NHL. He guided the Tampa Bay Lightning to their first championship in 2004 and helmed the Blue Jackets for their first playoff victory in 2019. In between he coached the - you guessed it - New York Rangers.

I hope you'll join us tomorrow for our next All-Time Team, the Dallas Stars.

Thanks for reading!

 

 

 

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My Name Is Joonas

For the second time in less than a week I found myself shouting at the TV in support of the Columbus Blue Jackets. 

The Stanley Cup Playoffs began yesterday with an instant classic between the Tampa Bay Lightning and my new favorite team from 'lumbus. Sometime after 7 P.M. I noticed that Game 1 between these age-old rivals had completed three overtimes without a winner.

I also noticed that the start of Game 1 between the Hurricanes and Bruins had been delayed. Oh no. I thought to myself. Is someone sick? Did the ice melt? (It is August after all. Strange things happen to NHL ice in the summertime.)

It took me a minute to realize that the Jackets and Bolts were to blame. They flat-out refused to get off the ice. This guy was the main culprit:

This is Blue Jackets goalie Joonas Korpisalo. 24 hours ago most casual hockey fans (and most readers of this blog) would not have been able to identify him. Last night he made history in a 5-overtime thriller.


... and lost.

Tampa has an incredible offense. And the Jackets' defense kept them scoreless for over four hours. Seth Jones (son of Popeye) broke an NHL record by logging over 65 minutes of ice time. That's the equivalent of playing an entire contest plus a five-minute overtime without a single line change.

Jones and the 'lumbus boys did all they could to get my man Joonas a win - except score a friggin' goal. The Jackets were skating better than they had been at the end of that Game 4 against Toronto, but it was all in their own end. Tampa's netminder barely had to break a sweat - at least in the 4th OT.

  
As Korpisalo racked up save after save after save I got more and more nervous. A goaltending performance like that deserves a 'W' (or two) and I had a bad feeling he wouldn't get one. Columbus never comes through when I'm cheering for them. I was reminded of poor Ron Tugnutt, who made 70 saves in a 5OT playoff game 20 years ago. And lost. 

That wasn't even the only 70-save performance of Tugger's career. (He didn't win this one, either.) I really didn't want that same fate to befall my new favorite player. For a second it looked like Connecticut's Cam Atkinson would save the day - er, night - but he ended up in the net himself after a questionable no-call. 

Tampa scored shortly thereafter.

Joonas Korpisalo made 85 saves in over six hours, in the first game of the series. I hope the Jackets make life easier for him going forward. I doubt they will.

I actually have Korpi's Upper Deck rookie card. Doesn't seem like a big deal, except that this particular card was part of an Upper Deck Update series that was inserted into packs of the higher-end SP Authentic brand. I picked up this single on COMC for $1.75 four years ago and I'm very happy I did. It's the only non-Devils update RC in my collection. 

I had another topic planned for today, so I'll wrap this up with one more thought. In my last post I mentioned this headline in a Toronto newspaper that made me angry (and made me a Blue Jackets fan.) Cathal Kelly wanted the Leafs to "do the league a solid by eliminating boring Blue Jackets"  

Well I've got four words for that hack journalist...

I hope to see you back here in about twelve hours. 


Thanks for reading!



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Sports Card Tour 2018 - Cincinnati

O-hi..there! The Collector's Sports Card Tour 2018 has arrived in the Buckeye state. Today's stop is the queen city of Cincinnati.

Cincinnati has two pro sports teams: the Reds and the Bengals. The Reds have won five World Series titles, the last coming in 1990.

The Bengals' last playoff win was also that season; they are 0-7 in the postseason under current head coach Marvin Lewis. Boomer Esiason was Cincy's signal caller in Super Bowl XXIII, when the Bengals were three minutes away from the title.

My father-in-law and I used to listen to Boomer and Carton in the mornings; I never liked Craig Carton (even before he got busted for running a ticket scam) but I liked Boomer enough to grab a few of his cards on COMC, including this Panini Playbook relic:

Limited Edition is actually correct in this case, these are #d to 49. I think I paid $3.25, though I can't recall if that was a sale price or not.

One of the last football boxes I got as a gift was a mini-box of 2003 Finest my mom bought me for Christmas. Somehow I pulled a Carson Palmer autographed RC..but I sold it shortly after, because the Beckett value was $150 at the time. That wasn't the only time I got lucky pulling a Palmer..

My LCS ran a "player of the day" promo and I won a free pack of cards when the pack I purchased yielded the SP Authentic Palmer at the top right. 

I don't have any Andy Dalton cards (except for one in my 2016 Panini Contenders set) but I do have ...an Akili Smith insert!

Guys (and gal) I don't even want to tell you how much cash I sunk into that QB class of 1999. I spent well over $200 on Topps Chrome boxes alone. And I was 19 at the time.

Now that I have more wisdom (and less cash to blow) I focus on vintage.

At the height of the hysteria over Communism, the Reds changed their name to 'Redlegs.'

By 1959, they were back to being Reds. I didn't like the '59 set for the longest time, but it's grown on me over the past few years.

Like most of my vintage cards, the oldest Hall of Famer in my collection came courtesy of COMC. "Sunny" Jim Bottomley played 1st base for the Cardinals from 1922-32, but joined the Reds in '33 when this card was released:

When this card popped up I think it had a 'poor to fair' condition note - but I could not see any paper loss, pin holes, or other obvious flaws. For about $19 I took a gamble, and I'm glad I did. The 'Good 2' grade is due to creases that only show through on the back.

This is probably going to bother some bloggers, but I have very few cards from the 1970s. I started collecting in the '80s, and when I hunt for vintage gems I often focus on cards from the 1950s and select sets from the '60s. As a result, '70s sets often fall through the cracks.

Contest time! The first person to correctly identify which Reds legend is missing from my card collection wins a PWE prize (Hint: it's not Barry Larkin.)

Ken Griffey, Jr. sacrificed a lot to play for his dad's former team. It's a shame that Cincy didn't have enough talent around him to chase a championship. The 2003 Finest card on the right is a refractor. I had a Griffey Reds relic but it was immediately sent to Corky (Pack War) as payment for a custom card set he made.

I'm not sure if Canadian slugger Joey Votto is a drinker, but his surname reminds me of this scene from The Simpsons. The Bowman's Best orange refractor was an impulse buy on COMC. Just like the Boomer relic, the Votto set me back $3.25. 

Adam Sanders, author of the blog Cardboard Clubhouse recently wrote a post about the demise of Cincinnati Gardens, home to the NBA's Royals from 1957 to 1972. Both my Oscar Robertson cards picture him with Milwaukee, not Cincinnati, so I'm adding this card to my want list:

I wanted to mention pro hockey in Cincinnati, but I seem to have misplaced my Robbie Ftorek O-Pee-Chee card from the WHA's Cincinnati Stingers (and it doesn't picture him in the right uniform anyhow.) 

This Mark Messier custom card was borrowed from a Maple Leafs-centric blog; the author (I can't find his name anywhere) has a ton of great customs available for sale.

There is an NHL team in Ohio, but it's not in the 'nati. The NHL's Blue Jackets are up the road in Columbus - closer to Cincy than Cleveland. Since they're probably not interesting enough for their own post I'll squeeze them in here. 

The Blue Jackets have yet to win a playoff series in their 18 year-history, but they're currently leading the Devils and Panthers in the wild-card race. Two-time Vezina trophy winner Sergei Bobrovsky is having yet another stellar season between the pipes.

Former #1 overall pick Rick Nash is still the franchise leader in almost every offensive category. I have a lot of trouble with Nash's base cards - he's no longer a star but I can't demote him to the commons binders until I make more room. (Once this tour ends I'll have a lot of reorganizing to do.)

The two Jackets autos in my collection have ties to my favorite teams: John Moore is now a Devils defenseman, and Geoff Sanderson was one of my favorite Whalers as a kid.

The rest of my Blue Jackets hits, including a Ron Tugnutt Titanium parallel #d/31. Connecticut native Cam Atkinson played against my nephew in high school.

Reds card I'd like to own: A Bowman Chrome Autographed RC of New Jersey native (and Little League hero) Todd Frazier

Bengals card I'd like to own: A Devon Still card, or maybe an Anthony Munoz RC

Blue Jackets card I'd like to own: A Cam Atkinson SP Authentic Autographed Future Watch RC


Favorite Reds player: Joey Votto

Favorite Bengals player: A. J. Green

Favorite Blue Jackets player: Bobrovsky, Atkinson, and Zach Werenski


Next tour stop: Cleveland


In my previous SCT post I used St. Patrick's Day as an excuse to post a pic of a flame-haired actress, and today I'll do the same because Cincinnati...Reds...red-heads?  I dunno.

Here's Katherine McNamara, the lovely young star of the Freeform YA series Shadowhunters (season 3 starts tonight, y'all).

I promise this won't be part of every tour stop...unless there is a legitimate excuse ;-)

Thanks for reading!

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