NHL notebook: Jackets misfired on deal for Carter
Center has talent, but not personality to fire up a team
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One Signed, Two Set Free
The Blue Jackets have agreed to terms with defenseman Austin Madaisky on a three-year, entry-level contract, and the official deal should be announced shortly. Madaisky was a fifth-round pick (No. 124 overall) in the 2010 NHL entry draft.
Two other picks - right winger Petr Straka (2nd round, No. 55) and defenseman Brandon Archibald (4th round, No. 94) - have been informed by the Blue Jackets that they won't be signed, sending them back in the pool of draftable players for next month's draft in Pittsburgh.
Of those two, Straka is the mild surprise.
He had 28-36-64 in 62 games with Rimouski (QMJHL) during his draft year, but tailed off badly the last two seasons. In 2010-11, he had 10-15-25 in 41 games. This season, he had 18-19-37 in 54 games. That's fewer points the last two seasons -- 62 in 95 games -- than he scored as a 17-year-old.
However, Straka made a pretty good last-best argument for a deal with his performance in the QMJHL playoffs. He had 10-12-22 in 21 games, becoming a point-a-game player once again. The bet here is that he gets drafted his June, but certainly on Saturday (2nd through 7th rounds) and probably later in the day.
The Blue Jackets acquired the pick used on Straka with the 2010 trade deadline deal that sent winger Raffi Torres to Buffalo.
Madaisky, meanwhile, blossomed this season in his fourth year of juniors, the last three spent with Kamloops (WHL). He had 13 goals, 37 assists, 50 points and a plus-20 rating, all career highs. He also had 87 penalty minutes. He could play a fifth year of junior next season, or begin his pro career, likely with AHL Springfield.
Blue Jackets GM Scott Howson and the hockey operations department face one last difficult decision as it pertains to the 2010 draft class. Goaltender Mathieu Corbeil remains unsigned, and the Jackets still aren't sure if they want to keep him in the fold.
"We'll evaluate him in the Memorial Cup and make a decision," Howson said. "Not sure right now."
Corbeil is 50-11-2 in the last two seasons with Saint John of the QMJHL, which won the Memorial Cup last season and is a favorite to repeat. Corbeil, named the QMJHL's goalie of the year, is 16-0-1 in this year's playoffs, with a 2.18 goals-against average and .917 save percentage.
Those numbers will cause many readers to scratch their temples and wonder: "How could they possibly not want this guy?" What the Blue Jackets are trying to determine is if Corbeil is a product of a powerhouse hockey club or a goaltender with legitimiate NHL potential. These are the questions that keep scouts up late at night.
Two weeks ago, the Blue Jackets seemed to be leaning away from signing Corbeil. These days it seems to be leaning back the other direction, though no decision has been made.
-- Aaron Portzline
twitter: @aportzline
An NHL agent said of the Blue Jackets this week: “So, you’ve got the 30th-place team in the league extending the contract of a 37-year-old player (Vinny Prospal), giving him a no-trade clause, and at the same time scratching a 19-year-old rookie (Ryan Johansen) who was just at the All-Star Game.”
The suggestion was that no one can quite get a read on the Blue Jackets.
The Blue Jackets have two weeks until the NHL trade deadline arrives on Feb. 27 to show their hand, to reveal to the rest of the league if they are making two or three big moves to fix their roster, or if they are going to start a two- or three-year rebuilding project.
One of the Blue Jackets’ desires is known: they are attempting to trade center Jeff Carter, who arrived less than eight months ago as the savior after the franchise went a decade without a No. 1 center.
How did it get to this point? Why are the Blue Jackets dead set on dealing Carter, a 40-goal scorer with one of the best wrist shots in the NHL?
General manager Scott Howson, who was in New York to watch the Rangers and Flyers play yesterday, will not speak publicly about Carter or any other deals he’s hoping to make.
Carter’s agent, Rick Curran, won’t speak publicly either, except to confirm that Carter has not requested a trade.
The Blue Jackets did not properly vet Carter beyond his 40-goal potential.
For all his hockey talent, he’s not a rah-rah guy in the dressing room. He’s laid back, to the point where many wonder how much he cares.
In Philadelphia, he could exist on the second tier behind players such as Chris Pronger, Mike Richards, Danny Briere and even Scott Hartnell.
In Columbus, he was needed to do the heavy lifting, to help turn the Blue Jackets into a contender.
That’s not him. Carter should be seen as the icing, not the cake.
When Carter has been healthy this season — he twice has missed 10 games because of injuries to his right foot and right shoulder — his play often has lacked passion.
Tell that to people who watched him in Philadelphia and during his junior days and you will get a “Well, yeah.”
Carter is an offensive opportunist. He happens upon the goals that he scores (rebounds, bad bounces, etc.), or he scores off the rush. His wrist shot rivals that of Tampa Bay’s Steven Stamkos as the most lethal in the NHL, but that’s where the comparison between the two ends.
Carter had 12 goals, seven assists and 109 shots in 33 games heading into last night against the Minnesota Wild.
Over the course of an 82-game season, that works out to 30 goals, 47 points and 271 shots, or a pretty sharp drop from Carter’s average over the final three years in Philadelphia: 38 goals, 70 points and 332 shots.
Then again, he hasn’t been surrounded by talent with the Blue Jackets as he was with the Flyers. Clearly, he and Jackets captain Rick Nash are not a mix on the ice.
Carter was devastated by his trade from the Flyers last summer. On one hand, he should have been over it long before now. On the other, his worst fears have been realized.
He was traded from a perennial playoff contender to an organization that has never won a playoff game. This season has done nothing to instill confidence that the Blue Jackets are headed on the right path.
So the marriage is soon to end if the Blue Jackets can trade him. Oddly, though, it’s the Blue Jackets who seem most intent on the separation.
There probably are five or six teams that will be in the market for Carter, including Los Angeles and Calgary, and possibly Toronto.
If it’s Los Angeles, you would have to believe Kings goaltender Jonathan Bernier would be in the mix.
If it’s Calgary, perhaps it’s defenseman Jay Bouwmeester who will be coming to Columbus.
Slap shots
Here’s a hair-brained idea: would the Blue Jackets trade Carter (10 years, $5.27 million salary-cap hit) to Vancouver for goaltender Roberto Luongo (10 years, $5.33 million). Luongo turns 33 in April. … The Canucks split up the Sedin twins, Henrik and Daniel, last week in a game against Nashville, the first time they have skated on different lines since March 2008. … Those wondering why the Blue Jackets have not sought to sign Curtis Sanford to an extension as the club’s back-up goalie next season: Teams might come knocking for Sanford at the trade deadline, and he’s easier to move if there’s not an obligation to next season. If he’s not moved before the deadline, look for the Jackets to try and re-up.
Slap shots II
There are 26 players in the NHL older than Prospal; according to capgeek.com, but only four have contracts beyond this season — forward Daniel Alfredsson (Ottawa) and defensemen Chris Pronger (Philadelphia), Sergei Gonchar (Ottawa) and Roman Hamrlik (Washington). … Red Wings Hall of Famer Steve Yzerman, now the general manager in Tampa Bay, said he’s not playing in the Alumni Classic before next year’s Winter Classic in Ann Arbor, Mich., because “I’m retired, and I have a job.” Might also be his surgically repaired knees.
aportzline@dispatch.com
