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Blue Jackets notebook: Trades force Noel to shuffle the deck
Friday, March 5, 2010 3:40 AM
The Columbus Dispatch
The grease board in the Blue Jackets locker room yesterday offered an inspirational quotation: The greatest pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do. Among the challenges immediately facing interim coach Claude Noel: simply filling out a lineup card. The Blue Jackets lost three veterans, Raffi Torres, Fredrik Modin and Milan Jurcina, at the NHL trade deadline without getting a regular contributor in return. They have recalled forward Mike Blunden from minor-league Syracuse and might need newly acquired defenseman Nathan Paetsch to play forward Saturday at San Jose. As the Jackets pick up the pieces, Noel remains optimistic even as he searches for suitable line combinations. He arrived at the airport yesterday, carrying the white Hardest Working Player of the Game hard hat awarded to a selected player after a win. "My philosophy is there's always a way to win games," Noel said. "I don't care what roster you have, don't care how little you think you have, you have to find a way. It's really about the attitude you take." Noel plans to elevate forward R.J. Umberger to the second line and move Derek Dorsett to right wing on the third line. Blunden will play on the third or fourth line. Paetsch, who played seven games this season for Buffalo at left winger, could be pressed into service as a forward right away. "We want to see him as a defenseman and keep him there if we can," Noel said. "We just want to get him going, make him feel like he's part of the group." Brassard outCenter Derick Brassard will miss his second consecutive game Saturday because of a hand injury. He did not accompany the club on its three-game trip to California. He could, however, join the club later, general manager Scott Howson said. Tough pillIt had to be difficult for Blue Jackets management to see Vancouver spend a third-round pick on Carolina defenseman Andrew Alberts on Wednesday. The Canucks were one of the teams thought to have interest in Milan Jurcina as a defenseman before learning he had a sports hernia. Jurcina, who is comparable to Alberts, might have drawn a third-rounder, as well. The Jackets managed just a conditional sixth-round pick from Washington, his former team. treed@dispatch.com
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