The format for this final grading period will be slightly different from the other recaps, but I'm sure you won't mind. This last 12 games all fell in the final month of the season. The 48-game sprint ended, and not at all like it started. As we entered April we found our heroes sniffing around at the bottom end of the playoff seeds, but with their competition all having games in hand, and with a 6- game road run immediately before the final game of the season. But first...
The Trade Deadline (insert ominous music)
April 3, 2013, this season's trade deadline, is a day that may very well go down in the annals of Blue Jackets history as being just as significant to the team's future success as July 23, 2012 Rick Nash trade, the October 24, 2012 hiring of John Davidson as President of Hockey Operations and the February 12-13, 2013 firing of Scott Howson and hiring of Jarmo Kekalainen in the general manager's position. The Blue Jackets made three trades on the day.
The Bombshell landed first; late on a deadline day that had been very quiet until the announcement came down around 12:30pm. The Blue Jackets found a trade partner once again in Glen Sather as they sent the Rangers forwards Derick Brassard and Derek Dorsett and defenseman John Moore along with a 6th round pick in 2014 for All-Star forward (including All-Star MVP in the 2012 game) Marian Gaborik and two prospects; one of whom was defenseman Steven Delisle, who went to the Rangers in the Nash trade. So this essentially makes the sum of the trades Nash, Brassard, Dorsett, Moore and the 6th round pick in 2014 for Gaborik, Anisimov, Dubinsky, Erixon, the Rangers' first round pick in 2013 and a prospect.
After this big domino fell, the trades came fast and furious, and the Blue Jackets had two more swaps to pull. The next one was the much anticipated moving of former Calder Trophy winner Steve Mason, who was sent to Philadelphia for their back-up, Michael Leighton, and a 3rd round pick in 2015. Many felt that in getting a pick and a player in return for Mason by himself that the Jackets had easily won the trade. However, in the remainder of the season Leighton never played, while Mason posted a 4-2-0 record, with a .944 Saves Percentage and a 1.90 GAA in the City of Brotherly Love, appearing to have usurped Ilya Bryzgalov as their starter in the process.
The final trade made by the Jackets on Deadline Day was a depth move. They sent a 2013 5th round draft pick to Calgary for winger Blake Comeau. Comeau would fill in as a good support guy in the bottom 6 for the remainder of the season, but the trade was, by far, the least significant of the day.
The Home (Road) Stretch:
Eight of the final 12 games for the Blue Jackets would be on the road, including the aforementioned 6-game stretch that featured all three California teams. But it started with a pair on the road against divisional rivals Nashville and St. Louis on back-to-back nights. The opener saw the Jackets take a regulation win in Music City; a once rare feat for the club. James Wisniewski opened the scoring for the Jackets about halfway through the second period, and the Predators tied it up almost four minutes later. Four minutes into the third period the Jackets went up to stay on a goal by Gaborik in his first game with the Blue Jackets. Matt Calvert's insurance goal closed the night out at 3-1 for the Jackets.
The next night in St. Louis saw the same score, but the opposite result. This game was scoreless through nearly the first 36 minutes when Chris Stewart put the Blues on the board first. Artem Anisimov equalized the game almost 3 minutes later, but David Backes put the Blues up for good less than 10 seconds later. The Blues also added an empty net goal for the final tally. After this game the Jackets returned home for three games before the dreaded run.
The first of the games at home was a shutout by the Wild, about which the less that is said, the better. This game would be one that, at season's end, the Jackets would really wish they could have had back as even a loss in a shootout or overtime would have made all of the difference in the world. Two nights later they came back to post an impressive victory over the San Jose Sharks, 4-0. Antti Niemi was chased at 7:16 in the third after surrendering the 4th goal to Marian Gaborik. Other goals were scored by Matt Calvert, James Wisniewski and Ryan Johansen. Sergei Bobrovsky stopped all 30 Sharks' shots in the shutout.
The last game before the Jackets headed out on the road would be against St. Louis, and the Jackets would emerge victorious, 4-1. Kevin Shattenkirk put the Blues up 86 seconds into the game, but then Bobrovsky went into lockdown mode and the offense responded with goals from Atkinson, Anisimov, Johansen and Gaborik. The team looked road-ready knowing that there was little margin for error on the trip. As they headed out on the trip they were tied with Dallas and Phoenix on 43 points, just on the outside of the playoffs.
What may have been the most crucial road trip in team history started the next night in Minnesota. The Jackets were outmatched in the game, but they managed to finish regulation tied at 2, and after overtime could not decide it, the Jackets scored 3 times in the skills competition to the Wild's 2, and the Jackets walked away with the win, though they gave the Wild a crucial participation point. The Jackets suffered a difficult loss in this game as Anisimov was injured by the Wild; a big blow to the team's top 6. Vinny Prospal and Fedor Tyutin were the goal scorers for the Jackets. As the Jackets prepared for the next game two nights later they were tied with Dallas on 45 points.
The next game, in Denver against the Avalanche, took place on a night when many minds were not on hockey, but instead were with the people of Boston on the night of the Marathon bombings. But the game did go off, and the Jackets won the game on an overtime goal by Nick Foligno, 4-3. Regulation goals came from Mark Letestu, Comeau and R. J. Umberger. Going into their next game, in Anaheim, they were tied with 8th place Detroit on 47 points, though the Wings had a game in hand.
The Jackets started the California leg of the roadstand at the Honda Center with another overtime win, this time by a 3-2 final. The game winner came from Fedor Tyutin after regulation goals by Comeau, and the game-tying tally by Calvert. The Jackets would then play again the next night in LA against the defending champs in what would prove to be their last loss of the season, 2-1. The Jackets lone goal was the first goal of Dalton Prout's NHL career. The loss snapped a 5-game winning streak. The Jackets would go into their final California game, against San Jose, alone in 8th place with 49 points; one better than Detroit, who had a game in hand.
The game in San Jose was a late-afternoon, Pacific Time, start. This allowed bars all over Columbus to be packed with fans as the bandwagon began to fill. And for such circumstances this was a nearly-perfect game to showcase the sport. The Blue Jackets' victory, on a late goal by Johansen, had all of the thrills you could ask for. The Jackets go out to a 2-0 on goals by Letestu and Prospal before the Sharks got one back from Martin Havlat. Letestu added a second goal before the second period ended and the game looked to be in hand. However the Sharks clawed back to tie it at 3 with goals from Andrew Desjardins and Joe Pavelski. Pavelski's goal came with 5:03 remaining, and it seemed another game was headed to overtime. But with about 1:40 left Johansen picked up a turnover near the blue line, took three strides into the high slot and unleashed a wicked wrister that went in for the game winner. This was a desperately needed win as the Jackets would sit out the next three nights, allowing the games in hand to be made up. Going into the last road matchup of the season against Dallas. Going into that game the Jackets had slipped behind Detroit and back into 9th as the Wings had made up their game in hand and were on 52 points to the Jackets' 51.
Cam Atkinson scored 19 seconds into the game in Dallas to put the Jackets' up 1-0. And the Jackets dominated much of the first 30 minutes of the game, but the Stars tied it at one on Jamie Benn's power-play goal at 8:43 of the second period. The Jackets came out of the locker room after the second intermission perhaps knowing that Detroit had beaten Nashville and that they would need to win this game to keep pace. Whatever they did or did not know, they did come out and take it to the home team in the third and won the game on Mark Letestu's go-ahead goal and Atkinson's second goal of the night provided insurance as the Jackets won 3-1. It would all come down to the final night of the season, with the Jackets needing to win, and needing help from Colorado and/or Dallas to get into the playoffs.
The season finale saw the Jackets return home, hoping to treat the faithful to a post-game playoffs celebration, and the fans packed the house. Nationwide was probably as loud as I've ever experienced it, and the fans were making noise from the first faceoff without any prompting. The atmosphere was electric. The first period was scoreless, though the Jackets dominated play and held a 14-9 shots-on-goal advantage at the break. The second period belonged to the Predators. They had the better run of play for most of the period and 8:29 Shea Weber put them up 1-0, a lead they would carry into the second intermission. The Jackets played with all of the urgency you would have expected in the third period, but it wasn't until just over 10 minutes into the period that the Jackets tied it up on Brandon Dubinsky's power-play goal. Jack Johnson scored the game winner at 15:12, and a mighty roar filled Nationwide. Hardly a fan sat through the last 4 and a half minutes, and those who did were on their feet when Nashville pulled goalie Chris Mason. They were rewarded by Cam Atkinson's empty-net tally with 30 seconds left. After the game was the tradition fan-appreciation night "jerseys off their backs" ceremony, where the players present their game-worn sweaters to lucky fans. This is done in numerical order, and the last to present his jersey was Sergei Bobrovsky, who did so to chants of "MVP" from the faithful. Once the ceremony was over it was announced that Detroit had beaten Dallas and the final 10 minutes of the Minnesota-Colorado game was played on the scoreboard, with the Wild winning by a 2-1 margin. But the last stretch of the game was a snoozer as the Avs seemed to be halfway to Vegas, and after adding an empty-net goal the hearts of those who stayed, hoping for further celebration, were crushed. The Blue Jackets ended the season 24-17-7 for 55 points, tied with the Wild on points, but losing the tiebreaker and finishing 9th.
Assessments:
Forwards:
After starting the season out slow, the top 6 came alive just as the season was being pronounced dead. There was ample secondary scoring, and Mark Letestu ended up being the surprise of the season. The changes made at the trade deadline seem to have been a slight upgrade over what was in place for the first three-quarters of the season. The offense answered the call when they had to at the end of the year this was a huge improvement over seasons past. Grade for the term B+, average for the season B-.
Defense:
The defense was vastly improved over the past two seasons. There is no way to emphasize that enough. They weren't by any means perfect, and had nights at the very beginning of the season when they seemed to be falling into old patterns, most notably in Phoenix and Colorado on the first road trip. But they did a much better job of keeping sticks down, closing off passing lanes and blocking shots this season. These were the improvements in fundamentals that I was hoping for at the season's start. The callup of Dalton Prout proved to be one of the major turning points within the season, and Prout put up the best defensive season since Jan Hejda in the playoff season in 2008-09, if not the best in team history. Grade for the term A, average for the season A-.
Goal:
This is a one-word assessment: BOBROVSKY! Grade for the term A+, average for the season A-.
Season Leaders:
Leading Scorers: Vinny Prospal (12 goals, 18 assists, 30 points, 48 games), Mark Letestu (13 goals, 14 assists, 27 points, 46 games), Fedor Tyutin (4 goals, 18 assists, 22 points, 48 games), Brandon Dubinsky (2 goals, 18 assists, 20 points, 29 games).
Goalies:
Sergei Bobrovsky: 21-11-6, 2.00 GAA, .932 Svs%, 38 GP
Steve Mason: 3-6-1, 2.95 GAA, .899 Svs%, 13 GP
END OF YEAR AWARDS:
Team Awards:
Outstanding Goalie - Bobrovsky!
Outstanding Defenseman - Dalton Prout
Outstanding Forward - Mark Letestu
Rookie of the Year - Dalton Prout
Heart of the Team Award - Vinny Prospal
Most Valuable Player - Bobrovsky!
League Awards:
(note: these are the guys I would vote for if I had a vote for the award, not based on finalists)
Hart - Bobrovsky
Norris - I want to give it to Lidstrom because his absence proved his value, but Zdeno Chara
Selke - Pavel Datsyuk
Vezina - Bobrovsky
Byng - Pavel Datsyuk
Adams - Todd Richards
Calder - Dalton Prout
Yes, I realize that the league awards are CBJ-heavy, but we all know that Bobrovsky is getting the Vezina, and he really was more valuable to his team than any other player in the league, so that's the Hart. Prout was probably the most impactful rookie in the league, but being a defensive defenseman he didn't get attention that the finalists did. Richards over MacLean because the Sens weren't picked to be possibly the worst team in the league by many of the pundits. Sure, I picked the Jackets for 9th in the West, but I was the only person I know of that had them anywhere close to that high, and that was because I was counting on his defensive-guru reputation to come through and make significant improvement in that phase of the game, which it did. He did more on the ice with less (on paper) than just about any other coach in the league. It's easy to win the President's Trophy when you have Kane, Toews, Sharp, Keith and Crawford. To me the best coaching job was the one that was done in Columbus, especially when it came down to making sure the team didn't phone it in over the last two months.
Well, that does it for the 2013 season. I'll post against with a draft wrap-up, if not before. Have a great summer, and here's hoping that when October comes it will be a crazy-awesome fall and winter (and spring) in 2013-14.
