re: Columbus Blue Jackets 3 - Detroit Red Wings 2 - Final (shootout)

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Howson has tried to build this team from the draft up, and it hasn't worked.

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Our scouting has always sucked, for some reason. We've had one great first round draft pick (even though we've drafted in the top 10 every year but one), and it was when it was the #1 overall pick (Nash). The rest have either been average players (Klesla, Leclaire), complete busts (Picard, Brule), talented Russians with horrible attitudes, leading to failure (Zherdev, Filatov), good players the jury's still not quite in on (Brassard, Voracek), or too early to judge (Moore, Johansen). But of 9 top ten picks we can judge, we've only hit big on one? That's a joke.

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We need at least ONE proven guy that can be our leader and take the pressure off of Nash. We also need a big time center that we have NEVER had.

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Agree. Like I mentioned in the post above, I really like Vermette and Umberger. I think they're great leaders and are very underrated, and given that you probably won't get much (for their worth, IMO) in return for a trade, you have to keep them. But they're still not stars. We have never had ANY stars (other than Nash) in their prime here. Foote and Fedorov were the closest things, but they were washed up when they were here.

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We just need to give up some of these young guys that can be good, for players that ARE good.

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Agree. That's why I said Voracek and Brassard need to be looked at being traded. I like both of them (just got a Voracek third jersey, in fact), but the fact is, I don't know if they'll ever be elite. However, there are probably at least a few teams out there that would be willing to take a chance on them, as they are both younger than 24 years old, and were top 10 picks. A team might be willing to give up a proven guy that's really good (probably not great, though) in his prime for one of Voracek or Brassard, in the hope they eventually live up to their billing.

One other thing was I hated the Johansen pick in this year's draft (I think you and I actually had a discussion about it at the time). I get he may finally be the #1 center you're looking for, but you have to win now. You're not in a position like a Detroit, where you're currently winning. Heck, you're not even an Edmonton, who, while completely sucking right now, had recent playoff success, and also a fanbase that will always be there, so you can go slow. The Jackets are in a situation where the fanbase is slowly dying. You have to win NOW. A guy like Cam Fowler would have been able to come in right away and play defense for us and contribute, like he is in Anaheim (ironically he had three assists against us a few weeks ago). Even if Johansen does become a legit #1 center (which is a huge assumption, since he's a big project, who needs a lot of refining), it won't be for a good four or five years. You don't have that long.

Sorry for the REALLY long post, just wanted to vent.

ETA: Page 2.