Kegerator Nation

A potential 40-goal scorer being added to the Blue Jackets via trade late in the season???  Really???  Columbus made a statement that they are serious about winning and winning now and in the future with the addition of Marian Gaborik from the NY Rangers.

New Blue Jackets GM Kekolanan pulls off a bevy of deals to bolster Columbus’s drive to the play-offs, by bolstering offense with Gaborik trade…

Jackets are buyers at the deadline and the new GM and President have in one day done more than the awful Scott Howson did in years in Columbus…

The trade did send tough grinding Derek Dorsett out of town as did another trade dealing the once promising goalie Steve Mason.

by Mike Zimmer, CBJ Fan

A year ago, the Scott Howson era hit rock bottom.  The team didn’t move Steve Nash in a trade deadline deal but instead, they gave him away over the summer and gutted what little luster they had in named star power and offense.  That deal still smarts as the team has suffered from a serious lack of offense.  All the while, Howson is gone a new regime is in and they’ve seemingly blossomed and been inspired by his dismissal.

The Columbus Blue Jackets were buyers at the trade deadline today.  No, really.

Currently sitting on the cusp of the play-offs with 12-crucial games left to play in this shortened season, the Blue Jackets and their new Finnish GM Jaro Kekolanan made a splash at the trade deadline, getting former 40-goal scorer and offensive threat Marian Gaborik from the NY Rangers.  The trade sent oft-disappointing and former #1 pick Derek Brassard east along with grinder and alternate captain fan fav Derek Dorset.  Draft picks were also included, none of which was one of the 3-first rounders this club has going into the summer.

But the Blue Jackets weren’t done: they dealt struggling goalie Steve Mason to Philadelphia and also got a bargain in dealing draft picks to Calgary for Blake Comeau who once upon a time was a talented, tough goal scoring prospect with the Islanders who has floundered in the dismal Calgary franchise’s mess.  All tolled, the CBJ had a haul that instantly upgrades their team.

Gaborik is instant offense.  The team has lacked offensive fire power all season and now has a guy that had put 40-biscuits in the basket a couple different times.  The Czech is moody though, but waived his no-trade to get the hell out of New York and their coach John Torterella.  It was rumored the two did not like one another.

With the move, the Blue Jackets also take on a big salary too.  But, with it, potentially they have star power, offense and something special that might get them to the play-offs for just the second time in franchise history.  Again, more happened today for the positive than did in the entire long lost period the club suffered under the incompetent Scott Howson.

The CBJ were buyers today.  That’s a good sign C-bus.  The Jackets might have just turned a corner (http://bluejacketsxtra.dispatch.com/content/stories/2013/04/03/0403-jackets-trade-mason-to-flyers.html).