Columbus Blue Jackets and could it get any worse?

You know those movies where everything seems to go wrong for the main characters until the very end, and then everyone is all happy and kissy;  the Columbus Blue Jackets are living the entire everything going wrong, and hopefully for their hardcore fans we just have not reached the kissy, kissy we just won the cup.  In one of the Blue Jackets worst seasons since entering the NHL, to say thing were going bad was an understatement. Suspensions, injuries, and players flat out not wanting to play really doomed Columbus from the start of what was a season to forget.

Let's start at the beginning because usually when you are writing, that's a great place to start.  The Blue Jackets traded for James Wisniewski, a high class defensemen.  This was an up-grade because the Jacket's really do not have any solid defensemen, people were pretty happy.  Things started to tumble when Wisniewski hit Cal Clutterbuck (Minnesota Wild) in the head and was suspended for the remainder of the preseason and 8 games of the regular season.  Things got even worse when he came back finally, and got injured.  By the time he was fully healthy things were already out of control and the basement of the Central Division was full of the Blue Jackets.

Another trade that turned into an epic failure was the trade for Jeff Carter.  First off, the guy did not want to come here.  Second off, he got injured right away and was out of the line-up.  Rumors circulated High Street and the surrounding areas to whether or not, or how bad his injury actually was; it was bad enough apparently to keep him off the ice.  Third off, the Jackets traded the Flyers Jacob Voracek for Jeff Carter, he scored in his first game, in the first period as a Flyer.  He had a career year this season.  Please tell us the story gets better!

The story does not get any better, or at least it got better for Jeff Carter.  He was traded to the LA Kings, for Jack Johnson (a michigan player).  LA made the playoffs, the Blue Jackets well they are playing golf, and watching the playoffs from home.  Jack Johnson is a decent player, but again, he was added to the roster too late in the season to do any real damage.

Another players that showed some promise that was acquired through another trade, this time with the Pittsburgh Pen-goons (I told you we were going to call them that); Mark Letestu was added to the Jacket's roster in November.  By January, Letestu was put on injured reverse because of a hand injury.  He was expected to be out for 6 weeks at the point.  He would come back in mid February but at that point the season was already a wash and he might as well just stayed on the injured reverse.

If the injuries to almost everyone they traded for or signed was not enough, Scott Howson threw Rick Nash, the face of the franchise under a bus, more like under a train, no more like under an F5 tornado when he went public with the fact that Rick Nash asked to be traded.  It is my opinion, that Rick Nash only asked for a trade because he wanted to better the franchise that he has been single handily carrying on his back for quite some time.  Rumors and questions about the entire situation have swirled but Rick is still with the team today.

That was not the only disastrous decision Howson made this year for the Blue Jackets, another one came when he just did not want to fire Scott Arniel.  Howson let Arniel bury this team in one of the worst starts in franchise or league history.  Other teams, including the Washington Capitals had poor starts and fired their coach.  Where are the Capitals now?  They are in the playoffs.  In St.Louis, the Blues fired their coach and hired former Blue Jackets coach Ken Hitchcock.  Where are the Blues?  They are in the playoffs too.

Up to this point, suspensions, injuries, bad coaching, a disastrous start had all played into the Jacket's woes of 2011 and 2012.  Most fans of the Jackets were happy the season ended, that meant the bleeding at stopped.  Well that all took yet another nose dive during the NHL Draft Lottery.  With a 48.whatever percent chance of getting the #1 pick and the pick was likely to be prospect Nail Yakupov, the Blue Jackets lost the #1 pick to the Oilers.  The Oilers had only an 18% chance of getting the first pick.

At this point, Jackets fans had to be frustrated, cashed out, any term you can think of.  This will be the Oilers' third #1 pick in a row.  Columbus has to be coming up with conspiracy theories now.  I think this video pretty much sums up the failure at the lottery:

At about 25 seconds into the clip all hope is crushed like it had been so many times before this season, when they turn over the Oilers' card.  The beginning of the clip was so full of optimism, like the Blue Jackets at the start of the season.  Like the rest of the season, that very quickly, turned to No's and Boo's.

One almost has to feel bad for the Blue Jackets fans worse than anything.  All this money spent on a franchise that is ran by idiots (i know name calling is for 5th graders but it's the truth).  They still do not have any clue how to run the team or whether or not to trade Rick Nash.  I have said it before that I am very worried about the future of the Blue Jackets in Columbus.

All this just begs to ask the question, the cliche, can it get any worse at this point?