Blue Jackets notebook: Brassard gains confidence
Young center is mixing it up with points, fights
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NEAL C. LAURON | DISPATCH
Right wing Derek Dorsett, right, gets poked by a teammate’s stick as the Blue Jackets
celebrate a first-period goal by defenseman Fedor Tyutin.
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Puck Rakers
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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
The recent point-per-game pace of Blue Jackets center Derick Brassard ended last night in a 5-3 loss to the Anaheim Ducks at Nationwide Arena.
Brassard, with five points in his previous five games, didn’t put up any points against the Ducks.
Instead, he put up his dukes and battered Ducks defenseman Lubomir Visnovsky with a flurry of right hands during a fight early in the second period.
“He has so much confidence right now,” Blue Jackets left wing R.J. Umberger said of Brassard. “I love it.”
It was the fourth fight of Brassard’s 249-game career, but the second in the past seven games.
Brassard was pummeled by a bigger, stronger Dan Boyle at San Jose on Jan. 31, but Blue Jackets interim coach Todd Richards said he has no problem with the former first-round pick flashing his fists.
Brassard suffered a season-ending shoulder injury in his first fight, a 2008 clash with James Neal of the Dallas Stars.
“Am I OK with him fighting? Absolutely I’m OK with him fighting,” Richards said.
Brassard and Visnovsky tangled after a scrum in the Ducks’ crease. Visnovsky’s jersey was pulled over his head, and the inexperienced fighter mounted little resistance as Brassard landed several rights before they tumbled to the ice.
Visnovsky was given a roughing minor and a game misconduct. Brassard appeared to have suffered an injury to his left hand and skated to the dressing room to get treatment. Richards, though, said that probably was the result of a slash in the first period.
“That wasn’t from the fight, unless something else happened,” Richards said.
Brassard, the Blue Jackets’ top scorer since mid-December, returned later in the period.
Brassard’s production — nine goals, 13 assists in 48 games — hasn’t matched that of last season, when he had 17 goals and 30 assists (both career highs) in 74 games. He was a healthy scratch eight times in November and December before former coach Scott Arniel was fired.
But Brassard has seven goals and 10 assists in the past 24 games and has returned to the top line with Umberger and Rick Nash.
“He’s playing like the guy I think a lot of people in this locker room expected him to be,” Umberger said. “He wants the puck. When he knows he doesn’t do something right, he can correct it. He’s not letting it get him down. He’s going out hard on the next shift.
“I think he’s really learning the game right now. He’s taking a big step in his development.”
Sanford sitting
Goaltender Curtis Sanford missed a second straight game because of a back injury and is out indefinitely.
Richards said Sanford was given an epidural injection. Sanford had not missed consecutive games since Steve Mason started four straight as Sanford recovered from back spasms in late December.
“He has been shut down a couple of days,” Richards said. “We’ll have to wait and see.”
Slap shots
Nash, the Blue Jackets’ captain, had an assist and extended his season-high points streak to five games. … The Ducks played the second game of an eight-game, 15-day trip. It is the longest uninterrupted trip in team history. … Ducks enforcer George Parros played in his 400th career game.
smitchell@dispatch.com
