Deadline has Jackets on the edge
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Puck Rakers
A blog about the Blue Jackets and the NHL
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
Early yesterday, before the Blue Jackets practiced, general manager Scott Howson walked briskly into the inner sanctum of the dressing room, where several players were seated at a table eating breakfast. He was looking for rookie defenseman John Moore.
On a normal day, this would merely raise eyebrows. But so close to the NHL trade deadline, it halted conversations, drew all eyes and sent peanut butter-covered bagels fumbling toward plates.
“(Howson) came rifling in and, in front of all the guys, says, ‘Hey, John, do you have a second?’ ” Moore said. “Everybody around me kind of gave me that look, and my heart started racing.”
Howson, at the center of a firestorm as the NHL’s trade deadline nears, was — believe it or not — making sure Moore had scheduled his upcoming session with Al Iafrate, who has been working with players on skills and shooting.
Whew.
“(Center Jeff) Carter was like, ‘Man, he’s gotta chill out with that, two weeks from the deadline,’ ” Moore said.
The scene provided some much-needed levity, because the Blue Jackets’ dressing room is rife with angst and dread these days.
Earlier this week, it became known that Howson has told NHL teams that he’s willing to listen to trade offers for captain Rick Nash, who has been the franchise’s Mr. Everything since he was drafted in 2002.
“It’s extremely tough,” winger R.J. Umberger said. “Some of the guys they’re talking about … a guy like Nash being all over the news — whether it’s true, if it happens or doesn’t happen — it affects our team because he is this organization.
“When you think Columbus Blue Jackets, you think Rick Nash. It’s tough.”
There are no guarantees that the Blue Jackets will trade Nash, a five-time All-Star. He has given them a short list of clubs to which he’s willing to be dealt, but it’s entirely possible no team will step forward with the right mix of players, prospects and/or draft picks to entice the Blue Jackets.
But there’s a good chance that the Jackets will look different after the trade deadline passes at 3 p.m. on Feb. 27.
They have been shopping Carter for at least a month, and Umberger, Derick Brassard, Sammy Pahlsson and others could be on the move.
For rookies such as Moore, this is an eye-opening experience, an up-close look at the uncertainty of life as a professional athlete.
For veterans, especially those who have signed long-term contracts with the Blue Jackets, it could be jarring that the club they signed up with is now heading in a different direction.
Defenseman James Wisniewski signed a six-year, $33 million contract last summer. Defenseman Fedor Tyutin (six years, $27 million) and Umberger (five years, $23 million) signed extensions that begin next season.
“My main goal is to help this organization,” Wisniewski said. “That’s what I signed up for and that’s my only goal. I signed up long-term and that’s a commitment. We were terrible in Chicago when I played there, and then four years later they won the Stanley Cup. It’s all about getting the right draft picks and making the right signings that fit your team.”
Umberger echoed that sentiment.
“I’m as committed as ever to winning in this city,” he said. “I believe in it. I want to win here. I love this city. A summer ago, I believed the guys in this locker room were going to be the guys who were going to do it.
“Now, obviously, there are going to be changes, and nobody can say what all is going to happen. I just hope that whatever happens, we can compete right away. I want to get back to the playoffs. It’s eating me alive not being in that atmosphere.”
aportzline@dispatch.com
