I saw a part of his post-deadline presser on NBCSN. He was practically crying/pleading that this whole thing wasn't his fault. It was sad, actually.

Mike Keenan confidently said that Nash will be traded in June. And Howson would be fired before that trade is done. Or maybe it was Keith Jones? I'm tired and can't remember clearly but it was one of 'em!

Does no one remember that Tortorella wanted Kreider on the Rangers this season? And you guys sit here wondering if he'd even make it to the team this year.

The moment his college season ends, he is getting signed and is playing in New York.

Man, I bet they are freaking ecstatic they don't have to go to Columbus.

Srsly! I've been saying this for months!

I don't see any problem with standing pat though.

When Gaustad is going for a freaking first rounder, getting a top six forward would have required an epic overpayment.

I think Howson and Patrick just made this team a lot worst. Good luck rebounding next season. Good luck finding any UFA player to sign with you. Good luck finding any player that would actually be excited to play for your team. Two junior players were just thankful that they were not traded to Columbus. That's sad.

Columbus Blue Jackets are the biggest joke in the league. I think Howson should have kept shut and not say about Nash wanting to be dealt. "Hey, not only did we make it impossible for you to be traded, but we want you to be the asshole on the ice from now till the end of this season so fans can look at you in disappointment".

What a class act.

Still, i think Craig Patrick was mostly behind all of this. He did the same thing to Slats regarding Jagr, and he probably hated...HATED trading Kovalev back to the Rangers for a bunch of scrappy players like Rico Fata because he had to take the $4M cash offer in the deal.

Yet, i think the key blame is on the ownership of this team. They should have fired Howson a while ago and they must be clueless if they thought that Patrick would have provided good insight in trading a top notch player. I think his record would have convinced me not to even ask for his opinion. Bad ownership leads to a bad GM, which leads to the end of the team (i.e. Atlanta). Waddell was there for how long? He botched almost every decision he made. Same applies to Howson.

The only problem is the failure to address any weaknesses, which i would take over the failure of a trade and losing an asset, or more, because of it.

We'll see how this team does in the playoffs. If it gets a first round knock out then a couple of players can be spared for sure to make improvements (not directly talking about Nash, but in general).

We should take a bet on what comes first. The Jackets make the playoffs. Or they move. This whole debacle honestly makes me think it could be the end of the franchise. I really don't know what the financial situation is, but I don't see why any UFA will ever want to go there unless it's a pure cash grab.

They just showed their captain and only franchise player the team has ever had complete and utter disrespect. What's Jack Johnson got to think now?

It may not be so seamless as Atlanta going to Winnipeg, but this charade is the kind of thing that puts teams in the dumps for 10 years until you're drawing 6,000 fans per game and you end up re-locating.

Watching the Howson presser on NHL Tonite. Fuckin guy literally looks like he's about to cry. It looks like he's reading a eulogy.

Then they cut to Sather.. sitting in a pressbox, fat as hell, chewing on a stogie, and texting with one finger like my dad does. So funny.

I don't think it's reasonable to expect him to come in and light it up in any meaningful way. But what I think would be more valuable is to add that third element of speed on another line to constantly back off the D. Think about how much Hagelin has done on shifts with just the threat of getting by players. I think that's pretty valuable for a guy on maybe the 3rd or 4th line.

I just watched a BC game. Its the men's league equivalent of an early 20's A/B player skating around in an over-35 D game. Literally.

Besides Patrick, who's available as a GM to to step in. Pierre? Neil Smith? Lawton? Is there anyone else?

I'm sure you could promote from within to be an interim GM for the next 2-3 months as a symbolic move considering there really are no meaningful roster decisions left except an AHL call up or two.

At that point you go for a young assistant GM itching for a chance or see if there are any vets around.

I'm sure Howson had to check with ownership first to approve any deal. They'll be alright. Like I said earlier, teams will come knocking for Nash. Only one team wins the cup, so others will be looking to improve. He'll be dealt this summer and unless the Rangers win the cup, they'll be interested

With the exception being that Parise will be on the market, and I think every team would rather have him than Nash. It's kind of hard to get a kings ransom when your top guy becomes a consolation prize. This is why I said all the pressure was on CBJ to move him now, on top of the fact that he won't change his list, and teams are less desperate at the start of a season then they are when trying to make a playoff run happen.

There's no way the offers are any better in the summer than now. He completely blew it.

Honestly? I would consider two people to step in as GM.

1) Rick Dudley
---His main flaw is putting too much emphasis on scouting his own draft and a deep love for skill in European players. The guy hates flying, and when he decides to scout in North America, as a GM, he drives by car. This is one thing that Former Panthers ownership did not like about him. He wasted time and his draft picks were mediocre. However, he still managed to build the foundation that was the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2004. He likes to build a strong nucleus, likes young players, and makes good trades.

2) Neil Smith
---I think the guy learned his lesson and seeing how teams succeed by having good drafts, keeping a nucleus, and not solely building through the UFA probably made him smarter. I'd give this guy a second chance.

I'm sure there are other candidates to consider, but these two guys have something in common on their resumes to bring to Columbus. Stanley Cup.

If the ownership in Columbus had any knowledge of hockey, it would know that you cannot spend $60M on a team that carries a primary problem from last year to this year. Goaltending. This Columbus team would have been at least...at least, nearing .500 hockey if it actually had a good goalie. Talk about lack of research to be sure that Jeff Carter wants to play for Columbus if the franchise willing to give up top draft picks and youth. Columbus acquired a player that did not want to be there. I can understand a support offensive player, or a 3rd liner, or maybe even a #4 d-man. But the guy who has a mammoth contract, is a star, and will play on the first line? Flyers GM Holmgren must have laughed his ass off that Carter lasted what...50 games as a Blue Jacket?

There are two kinds of bad management. Bad management on big market teams, and bad management on small market teams. The big market teams are not as serious because they have the resources to bounce back. The small market teams suffer the most, and let me tell you, what Mike Keenan and Jacques Martin did in Florida was destructive. The fact that you have a smart GM in Tallon that has completely turned this hockey club around in a year and compare that to the previous two managers that could not figure out how to improve the team in nearly a decade, tells you how destructive it can be. Attendance loss is huge. Reputation is abysmal. The organization looks weak. It cannot grow and develop players. It has to rely on soon-to-retire players.

Columbus is following Atlanta's steps here. If ownership cannot figure that out then they don't deserve a hockey team. And it is a big shame because i always liked Columbus as an expansion team along with Minnesota.

These people do not get challenged enough. The hockey media only has a bunch of journalists writing from their desks sounding like a bunch of cry baby whiners thinking that they know better. No. Enough. Get into their (management and ownership) faces and expose their failures. I remember...who was it? Mike and the Mad Dog? When Milbury came on their radio show the first thing that was asked was "Why are you still the GM?" It was harsh, borderline unprofessional, but enough is enough.

Big market teams can rebound. Sather proved it. Holmgren proved it. Burke did it in Vancouver. I think he will do it in Toronto. Tallon did it in Chicago. They can rebound. The money is there. Small market teams? Very little room for errors. Howson should have been fired a while ago. Why is he not fired? What is ownership doing? Why even let him and Patrick handle the face of the franchise after their failures? What is failure to these guys? A good trait? Apparently Columbus ownership thinks so. What an embarrassment.

The playoff grind will give opportunity.

Erixon is going to be given another look before the playoffs likely for a few games to see if he is ready or if he could step in if called upon. Or if he could step in now and go the rest of the way. That would be awesome since he is a big part of the defense.

Kreider will likely be with the team and there is no reason with his experience, skill, and maturity he won't be able to do spot duty on the 4th line. Hopefully more as the grind goes on.

I think there is no reason to inject rookies unless needed.

Kreider did play the last 2 years at the World Hockey Championships which is against a bit better talent than there is in college. Not too many college kids get to play on the team with all the pros.

Totally. No need to play Erixon over Stu Bickel on the 3rd pair to see if his game is good enough if needed in the playoffs. Or Kreider over John Mitchell/Ruslan Fedotenko to see how he handles the pro game and if he can give you something on the lower lines in the playoffs.

Right, you do this before the playoffs and you're correct, but I think 101 meant throwing them into the lineup during the playoffs and I assume he meant doing it cold without testing them before hand. So basically you're both right.

NO dammit. There must be only ONE!

Shouldn't you be posting stories of your open ice sessions and the beerfests in the locker room afterwards?

An odd thing I just realized after reading one of the beat reporters' articles, Stepan, McDonagh and Hagelin all become RFA's after next season. The odd thing though is that while Step and McD both would've played out three years, Hagelin would've only have completed two years. Anybody know why it was that his ELC was only a two year contract? Aren't they usually always three? I can't remember another situation where a player only had a two year ELC.

Another point to keep in mind, and which I believe has been discussed the last cpl days here, is whether it would be worth it to burn a year of his ELC to have him play up here for a few games this year. Instead they could sign him to an ATO and have him play in the AHL and have him start his first year on his ELC next season.

Age maybe? Hagelin is a little older than Stepan and McD.

Maybe. Blake Parlett and Lee Baldwin had 2 yr deals as well and both are a bit older than Step and McD as well.

I don't think Kreider's clock is an issue for the club if they feel he's the real deal. If he's that good and they're that in love with him, they'll find a way to keep him later on down the road. I'm okay with bringing him in this season and getting him started right away if he's as good as they say he is.

Again, I think you have to take the "we're not changing our list" thing with a grain of salt. It was a ploy to put pressure to get dealt now. Nash wants to go to a contender or a team that's close. You don't think that if there's a team that pushed through to the conference finals that wasn't on his list he wouldn't entertain the thought of maybe going there?

Re: the optimal return, I think you're also discounting the fact that there are a number of teams that may be interested after the play-offs either as a result of (i) poor play-off showings, (ii) having just missed the play-offs and needing help, or (iii) having done well but still needing more offense to get over the hump (aka where the Rangers may be in three months).

Tellingly, here's what Bob Murray had to say about this very point just last night:

I agree, but I think they should probably give him the ATO, have him start a cpl games in the AHL and see how he does, and if he's a standout and they want to bring him up, sign him to his ELC then.

There's no point in burning a year for a few games just to see whether or not he can hack it. Those entry level years are critical in a cap system, especially when you feel the player is the real deal. You think the Oilers aren't ecstatic that they have the Nuge locked up for another 2 years as chump change while his actual value is much higher?

Except that Parise won't be the only FA on the market. Nash will still come with a hefty cap hit and even though his list of teams might expand, I don't believe it will be expanding THAT much. If Columbus doesn't come off their demands then other teams will still back off and go after free agents first. Then that list get smaller and Columbus loses their position of strength again.

With all due respect to what Leedsy said a few days ago, this has absolutely turned into a circus with the GM basically taking Nash to task in the media with that presser yesterday. I think it'll keep for the rest of the season but I don't see the situation getting any better if Nash is on the team next season and unhappy. So I think Columbus is now sitting on a potentially bad situation and have kind of backed themselves into a corner. Guess we'll see come the offseason.

Agreed, on all fronts. I don't necessarily see the market for Nash expanding too much, but I wouldn't be surprised if it did open up a little. Especially if Howson & Co. drop the ridiculous asking price. They could've gotten a Player, a top Prospect and a top Pick now, and they'll probably be able to get at least as much at the draft.

Conversely, what they asked for now they probably wouldn't be able to get at any point in time.

He may not want an ATO. I wouldn't blame him if he didn't. Regardless though, I fell it comes down to whether you think there's value in putting him in the playoff grind the rest of this season and possibly the playoffs. The experience he could pick up in the last few months of the season & playoffs would be equal to what Nuge has gotten all season on the Oil if he's capable of handling it. I wouldn't be surprised if the club already has a good feel for whether he'd be able to hack it or not. But even so, just being with the club now will give him a valuable and important head start for next year.

Yeah I can see that. Especially since, like it's been mentioned, he's played (and I think done relatively well) at the World Championships.

Like I said, I think he could be valuable on the 3rd/4th line, if for nothing other than his speed element and backing the opposition off, and I want to see him up here. But I'm sure that the contract wrinkle is something that is or has been probably discussed by management re: whether the potential value in burning a year this season is justified in the long run. I'm sure that in addition to them feeling that he's the real deal, the fact that they're so close and in such good position probably is a huge factor as well.

Admittedly I don't follow the Columbus Blue Jackets, but I don't get the criticism regarding Howson. The Blue Jackets are the worst team in the NHL. Their captain, franchise player and highest salary is having a terrible season in the process. Of the two other notable acquisitions from the offseason, one behaved unprofessionally and the other has been hurt. Howson's job is to improve the situation of his franchise while answering to ownership. He explored his options by making every one of his players available in a trade. And just because he didn't take an offer that centered around prospects not only makes him an incompetent general manager but, to quote 101, an asshole as well?

What exactly should he hae done? He doesn't play the games. He made trades and signings for players, expecting them to be healthy and professional. He based his team around expectations from the previous season. He counted on the captain of the team to provide leadership, experience and production. Fine, things happen. But should he have not held players accountable? Is his real fault more that he didn't handle his media properly?

People keep saying that the offers he'll get in the summer are going to get worse. I don't see how, or at least how that's guaranteed. The player is under contract, so Columbus holds all the strings to his career. And they don't care about losing, given the fact that they've done it for most of the franchise's history. In fan court, they aren't going to side with a star player who wants off of a team, demands which team's he will or won't play for, and expects the team to give in to whatever offer is proposed. I mean, find me a single Columbus fan that was fine with the Rangers offer for Rick Nash. I imagine the fans' ideal situation would be to fire Howson and replace him with someone that will resolve this situation to keep Nash -- but how many GMs and coaches need to be fired before they realize that it's the player himself? Jaromir Jagr has been brought up a few times in this thread, particularly in criticism of Craig Patrick and the way he handled trade negotiations. Yet both teams that traded him, and he clearly was one of the best players ever to play hockey, immediately and vastly improved in his absence, simply by being able to totally rebuild from his ashes. Maybe separation is the best for everyone ultimately, and not rushing the situation when you aren't comfortable with the end result, is not as horrible as people are making it seem.

The criticism is he threw his franchise player under the bus. not only is that cowardly, it's horrible business. ESPN is running a story where Nash is talking about the uncertainty regarding the reaction he'll get. This whole sequence now has made their captain possibly a hated player amongst the fans.

Maybe Nash did make the first move to ask to be traded. But there was no reason to out him on that.

"Oh by the way, this whole trade talk? It was HIS idea!"

This is where executives fall on swords to help protect their investments. This guy saw the rock coming down, ran and shoved Nash right in it's trajectory.

Are you implying that Pittsburgh and Washington rebuilt from the packages that they received when trading Jagr away? Or by bottoming out? If the former, I think you'll find that the packages received back did not in any way help or foster a rebuild.

I'd wager offers will be better over the summer.

Right now no one wants to mess with chemistry. No one wants to move 3 starters for 1 guy. They're chugging along, they're in the race, and they don't want to screw things up at this point. I mean, hell, if a team moves for Nash and he sucks fans can say "you broke up the team for that one guy!" but if they don't move for Nash no one will be saying "we would have won with that one more piece!"

Over the summer people will be more willing to move pieces around. Trades happen around draft day now, not the deadline. GMs are far more interested in big moves when the roster is fluid and when training camp is still coming up where they'll be able to solve problems and see where pieces fit.

Shouldn't the argument begin and end here? I know you've spend a decade defending Sather despite his awful record, but how does Howson get ANY credit here? The team has gotten worse under his watch (this is his fifth season).

He did a terrible job by not recognizing he was between a rock and a hard place, and the package the Rangers offered (and presumably Toronto and San Jose as well) was pretty damn good for a player who wants out ASAP, is having a down year, has a very prohibitive contract, and the situation is getting more tense with each day he's still around.

He's not worth a king's ransom and he won't get that in the summer, either. That's why he fucked up. I don't care if he thinks he's doing right by the franchise by pretending Rick Nash is Wayne Gretzky, it's not the case and it won't be the case in June or July either.

What he asked for Nash was downright fucking insulting, too. I don't even think Ovechkin would fetch that much.

Obviously. Or else i would not have wanted Hagelin called up, or any rookies called up. But....yeah.

The bolded part above is really key. It seemed that Howson & Co. approached this as a trade rooted purely in talent. But that's simply not the case anymore in a cap world. If you're weighing the pros and cons and the arguments that each side can posit towards assessing the value of the player, the cap hit is huge chip for any team acquiring the player as it's excessive in relation to Nash's value. That contract was a Columbus Franchise Player Contract and corresponding cap hit. Not a "this-is-your-league-value" contact and cap hit. As such, it should reduce the quality/quantity of assets going back the other way.

Similarly to how a player with a cap-friendly contract becomes more valuable because it, players with unfriendly cap hits should become equally less valuable.

Howson assessed the trade value of Nash from the wrong era of hockey.

Howsen had to understand this type of trades with cap business model and compensation to player still remaining never brings back equal return. Did Craig Patrick get equal value when he traded Jagr to Washington? Did Glen Sather get equal value when he traded TGO to LA? You analyze trades in the NHL and other major sports and one thing you always come away with is the team in situation like Columbus was is lucky to get maybe $.60-.75 on the dollar. Furthermore, Howsen is dilusional to think Nash is a franchise type of player/top-5 NHL worthy of a bounty being asked from the Rangers. Howsen plan B relies now on a team flaming out in the playoff and desperate in off-season to trade half of its roster. By disclosing to reporters Nash requested a trade, he basically threw the player under the bus. This whole episode was handled badly by everyone involved with Columbus, including Nash himself. If he was going to be unhappy in Columbus, then why sign the big contract?

Mike Arace at the Columbus Dispatch, pre-deadline:



Bob Hunter, last week:



Aaron Portzline reported that Nash first requested a trade in January, that the request surprised Howson, and that he only made this request known to the public after the deadline ... a decision he informed Nash about before he did it. On not moving Nash at the deadline -- "The price was high for (Nash), and I don’t apologize for that. It had to be high." Further, "I’ve had many teams express that they would have a ton more interest in the offseason." (You know, considering that teams have more cap flexibility at the end of a season.)

"We don’t have to trade Rick Nash,� Howson said. “We’re not compelled to trade Rick Nash. We’re going to do what’s best for our team. If we can do what’s best for our team and accommodate Rick’s wishes, that’s what we’re going to do."

He's the guy that runs the team currently in first place in the Eastern Conference, right? Just checking.




Not true. In fact, they have peaked as a franchise during his tenure. In fact, even though this season figures to be the worst for the franchise, all of his other seasons outperformed the franchise's first six. I'm certainly not saying that he's done a good job, and no playoff wins in five years speaks for itself. I defend GM's for rational moves and don't criticize for things beyond their control. For example, Sather gets blasted for drafting Jessiman, even though the draft offers no guarantees and he selected a player within his expected range. Anyway, Howson this season made moves to improve his team, not expecting the injuries, a selfish and unprofessional star who decided to phone in a season, and his best player and goalie sinking into the toilet. I ask if his moves made sense to improve the team, and when the unexpected happened, did he handle it correctly. I still think he handled the Nash situation well, because he didn't cave into pressure to accept an unimpressive deal that he didn't have to make. His decisions this summer should determine his fate, and not the fact that he gave away his best player for fifty cents on the dollar, just because a crazy New York fanbase is convinced that their prospect potpourri is more valuable than the hundreds of other prospects out there. I mean, Glen Sather selected most of these players, right? So how good could they really be?

All I remember hearing was that Jessiman was a reach and a half and Scott Howson is a fool if he was surprised by Steve Mason being lousy as he has gotten progressively worse in each of his four seasons in the NHL. Maybe he shouldn't have expected him to be this bad but there was plenty of evidence that the Calder season was a fluke.

How are you giving him credit for his summer moves? Literally anybody could have told you that a shoot first center wasn't the right fit for Nash. Anybody could have told you that this same center who had just signed a lifetime contract would be stunned to be traded. Include the fact that he was traded to arguably the worst destination in the NHL, and said player is known for not being particularly mature, and it is no surprise at all the way Carter acted. If Howson could not have expected Carter unperforming he is an absolute idiot.

He also 100% percent could have seen Mason's decline.

Steve Mason's numbers:

08-09 61GP 33 wins 27 losses Including OT losses 2.29 GAA and .916 Sv%
09-10 58 GP 20 wins 35 losses 3.05 GAA and .901 Sv%
10-11 54 GP 24 wins 28 losses 3.03 GAA and .901 Sv%

He couldn't tell that this guy wasn't a franchise goalie? He had one good season under the tutelage of Ken Hitchcock. Expecting Steve Mason to carry a team is foolish.

Minor note. Gordie Clarke took over as head of scouting in 05. Since then Sather has had very little say in who we draft. Since 05 our drafting has also been pretty damn good.

McKeen's projected him between 10 and 20, and SI's mock draft had him going at #17.

Howson's first season he had Pascal Leclaire, a former first round pick. Leclaire posted a .919 save percentage in 2007-2008. Since that season he's won a total of 20 NHL games and currently plays in the minor leagues. The question is, at what point do you, as a general manager, start your backup plan. The next season his goalie is the rookie of the year. Mason struggles the next season but still posts a .901 save percentage. So the first possible season where the general manager had reasonable cause for concern is the start of the 2010 season. Goaltenders available through free agency that summer?

Evgeni Nabokov -- signed in Russia
Marty Turco, Jose Theodore, Chris Mason -- bums
Martin Biron, Johan Hedberg -- backups
Pekka Rinne, Jonas Hiller -- resigned with same team

So with these options, it makes sense why he would take a chance that his recent rookie of the year goalie is just sophomore slumping. But just in case, they burned a fourth round pick on a goalie. They also had Mathieu Garon under contract, who was only a few seasons removed from good stars with the Oilers. The next season, Mason did not get progressively worse but put up almost identical stats from the season before. Next season, crap through free agency, the goaltending situation got so suddenly bad that the draft wouldn't help -- though the goalie he did draft (Mathieu Corbeil) is currently the wins leader (and second in save percentage) in the QMJHL -- so again his best option was probably to hope Mason would turn it around. He didn't ... and guess what? He won't be the starting goalie next season.

So tell me from a reasonable perspective, putting everything into context, how Howson failed in terms of his goaltending situation.