hockeyisgd

"Mike's Random Musings about hockey"

West Lafayette, IN • United States • 21 Years Old • Male

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The Blue Jackets could use a goal scorer

Hello World, and welcome to my first blog entry.

This is my first post, so I thought I'd introduce myself, before I start with my first post. My name is Mike, and I am a Columbus Blue Jackets fan from Cincinnati, OH. I have been a hockey fan for most of my life. I grew up watching the Red Wings, but once the Blue Jackets showed up, I started watching them, because I lived in Ohio. I go to school at Purdue, where hockey is almost non-existent. I run a hockey show there on student-run WILY Radio (www.wilyradio.com) called the "High Sticking Show with Mike and James". I have also contributed to fantasyhockey.com during the 2005-06 season.

With that being said, I have my first opinion.

As a fan of the Columbus Blue Jackets, I am used to over-promise that we are sometimes given before a season even begins. Personally, I don't mind seeing the team hyped, because they are a talented bunch. However talented they might be there is something the team is missing; a goal scorer. The Jackets could really use a goal scorer. Sure, they already have Rick Nash and David Vyborny, but if we have learned something from the new NHL it is that scoring about 4 or 5 goals a game can win the game about 90% of the time. With that being said, the average game for the Jackets was about a 4-3 loss (I rounded up because a partial goal is argumentably another goal). I guess that would mean they're competitive, but at the end of the day, aren't scoring enough goals.

As much as defense would look nice for this team, I really think they need another 30-40 goal scorer. Rick Nash is one if he's healthy, so is David Vyborny, and Nikolai Zherdev could be if he's motivated. Adding another one would help strengthen the lineup for forwards. Also 30-40 more goals puts the Jackets up there with teams making the playoffs. The average goals scored for the season amongst all 16 teams in the playoffs was 254 goals. Add 30-40 more goals, and the Jackets were contenders. Now of course this is a step in the right direction, but isn't the absolute answer, because we will need defense later, but why not start by shooting the lights out?

Signing for the future is a great idea for a rebuilding team, but not for a team that is ready to take a stab at the NHL playoffs. The difference between the playoffs and the Jackets is merely just a few more goals and a few more points.

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