A Closer Look at the Central Division: Part 1

By: Bethany Bethany's Hockey Rants I have decided to pick apart all of the teams in the/nhl, before theseason starts. Give you my take on what they did, who they lost, whythey are better or worse. This will take some time, and you will haveto bear with me, all of them will be completed before the seasonstarts. And, I will try my best to not be bias towards one team oranother. Also, I want to make it clear, this is the team that finishedout the season…not before the trade deadline. First team up:Columbus Blue JacketsLOST:Ron Hainsey *UFA* Dick Tarnstrom *UFA* David Vyborny *UFA* Zenon Konopka *Trade* Nikolai Zherdev *Trade* Dan Fritsche *Trade* Joakim Lindstrom *Trade* Gilbert Brule *Trade*GAINED:Kristian Huselius *Signed UFA* Mike Commodore *Signed UFA* Fedor Tyutin *Trade* Christian Backman *Trade* Raffi Torres *Trade* RJ Umberger *Trade @ Draft* Mike York *UFA*Did the Blue Jackets improve? Most definitely. Are we going to winthe Stanley Cup this coming season? Probably not. The Jackets arestill lacking their number one center, but so are a lot of otherteams. The Blue Jackets top line, which will more likely looksomething like this:Nash-Umberger-HuseliusThat is a good line. That’s a scoring line. Nash hasimproved since Hitch has been in the organization, Umberger is probablythe most capable center we have, and Huselius is a proven goal scorer. What will it take for the Blue Jackets to becompetitive this season? Goaltending. Pazzy has to be perfect, and Idon’t think that will be a problem. He is a great goaltender, and ifhe can be the Pazzy from the beginning of the season, there shouldn’tbe a problem. Norrena had a tough season last year, and in my mind Ithink it had a lot to do with Pazzy getting the number one job. Norrena came in, and played in his first/nhl season, and came out withbeing the first goaltender in Blue Jackets history to have a betterthan .500 record, and I am sure it stung when Pazzy took over. Heshould be over that now, and be able to be a solid backup for Mr.Shutout himself. The goaltenders should also be improved with our newbulked up blue line.The forwards have improved also. Losing Zherdevsucked, and I am going to miss him, but Huselius has scored more pointsthan Z in the last two season. We have also added Raffi Torres, and RJUmberger, both are proven scorers.With a little chemistry, a little lack, and hopefullynot quite so many injuries, the Blue Jackets have a chance to maketheir first playoff appearance. Let’s hope it doesn’t go as bad as Atlanta’s did. Source