Affaires courantes
Light the lamp - de nouveaux amis!!!
Frédéric Lord
Friday, 7 November 2008
En marge du match de ce soir, à SFC, on a décidé de se faire de nouveaux amis. Avec notre affabilité légendaire, on a fait un brin de conversation avec un blogueur de Columbus, John du site Light the Lamp.
On en a profité pour lui poser quelques questions sur l’équipe du gros Ken.
À vous, bon match ce soir.
SFC: With all the success he had in the past few games, how come Derick Brassard doesn’t play with Rick Nash?
LTL: A couple of reasons.
1. Hitch doesn’t want to expose either Brass or Voracek to the opposition’s top shutdown pairs and checking lines. He knows if he pairs Nash with Brass the immediate gameplan would be throw everything at that line to shut them down which perhaps Brass isn’t ready for yet and you don’t want to hurt a players confidence.
2. Brassard and Voracek have had some unbelievable chemistry and success early on — why mess with a good thing?
SFC: Which Jackets player is your best kept secret?
LTL: Right now its Marc Methot. He is a rookie playing some unbelievable defensive hockey for the Jackes. He’s notched 2g, 2a in 8 games and is doing very well in the physical department and has shown suprising ability to rush and move the puck.
Honorable mention goes to Andrew Murray. Murray broke into the league last season after a rash of injuries struck the Jackets. I like to call this guy “Chevy”. He’s nothing fancy and he’s not going to be a big point producer but he’s reliable as hell, does all he dirty work and never ever takes a shift off. The Jackets liked him so much last season that they immediately signed him to a 3 year 1-way deal. He’s the kind of player that does the little things to win you games.
SFC: In Comlubus, are the Jackets popular – can you rank the most popular ones?
LTL: The Jackets had an unbelievable fan base the first 4 years of their existance. Unfortunately after 7 years of not even coming close to a playoff birth attendance has eroded. Many believe if the Jackets can actually ice a competitive team the fans will come back in droves and this city will explode in support of this franchise. For now though they are a very tough sell in this town until they show this city they are serious about a playoff birth. Should the Jackets miss the playoffs this season they will tie the Washington Capitals for the longest stretch in the history of the NHL to never make the playoffs — most fanbase’s in this league would erode in similar fashion with such a performance.
As far as popular players — Nash is the face of the franchise for now. If you were to ask a casual sports fan in this market to name a Jacket and most could tell you Nash and that’s about it.
For fans that follow the team on a regular basis Jared Boll, Pascal Leclaire & Rusty Klesla are popular. Out of the new faces they year many have warmed up to Commodore and of course the new blood in Voracek and Brassard are exciting a lot fans.
SFC: Are bloggers allowed in the press box during the game?
LTL: I’ve heard of only one occasion where a blogger was allowed into the press box and that was pre-season. I know I’ve never been invited.
SFC: If we ever get to Columbus, where’s the best place to watch hockey?
LTL: Hands down the “R Bar Arena” is the best hockey bar in town.
SFC: Finish the sentence : Maybe people ignore that, but Rick Nash is a better player than…
LTL: Nikolai Zherdev
SFC: Prediction for friday’s game vs Montréal?
LTL: Unfortunately I would have to give the edge to Montreal coming in. As you know they are 8-1-1 and even more impressive is their record on the road at 4-0. Really I don’t see a whole lot of weaknesses on this squad as they are potent offensivly and a rock defensively plus they’ll be well rested coming in as they haven’t played in nearly a week. That said I think they’ll get a really good game from the Jackets who are 2-0-2 in their last 4 and have shown a nice offensive flair and signs that their chemistry is starting to come together. The Jackets also tend to play up and down to their competition — they should be jacked to face an original 6 franchise that they don’t get to see too often.
