| Time for Blue Jackets to grow up, make hard decisions
The Blue Jackets were buzzing around the ice, spraying shots like a hyperactive kid at a carnival shooting range, and the bell rang only once.
They outshot the St. Louis Blues 36-19, outplayed them most of the game and still managed to lose the season finale 4-1 because they couldn't get the puck past goaltending magician Patrick Roy, er, Hannu Toivonen.
Toivonen was about as good as a goalie who hadn't won an NHL game since Dec. 7 can be, but frankly, if the Jackets were at that carnival shooting range, they might have KO'd three people at the next booth.
It was a fitting ending because this is who they were, and for the players and coaches who will be back, finally having that statement uttered as past tense has to feel pretty good.
Ken Hitchcock will be coming back, and it almost surely feels that way to him.
"Other than two or three players ... I told the players that you might have a contract, you might be a member of the organization, but you don't have a spot," the Blue Jackets coach said. "This is the way it's going to be. It's going to be a mandate from ownership, from the president, from the general manager that we've entered a new phase, and the phase is 'Win now.' "
That two-word statement seems simple enough, but it carries a powerful message: Competitive players will be signed and not-so-competitive players will exit, one way or another. Young guys who aren't quite ready to play in the NHL won't be playing for the Jackets unless they are helping the team win. That means if somebody needs "to take a step" as the old general manager used to say, he will either be taking it in Syracuse or he will traded for someone who doesn't need to.
"You might have 20 NHL contracts and there might be minor-league players or free agents or walk-ons who do a better job," Hitchcock said. "And when the mandate is that it is now, that's a whole different mind-set. The developing is to be done by the developers and the winning is going to be done by this group."
The last game of any season brings a certain amount of sadness because "this group" is no more; it brings wistful ends as well as bad ones. The "win now" mandate means there may be as as many seven or eight new faces in the dressing room next season, and David Vyborny, the last of the original full-season Blue Jackets, probably will be one who is missing.
Vyborny gave Columbus fans a lot of nice memories, as his status as the franchise points and games-played leader suggests, but he is also an example of what Hitchcock was talking about. His production dropped dramatically this season, and he wasn't doing enough to help the team win.
In the "win now" phase, there's not much room for sentiment, which is as it should be. After seven seasons out of the playoffs, it's time for the Jackets to start operating the way mature franchises do. New GM Scott Howson couldn't do much with the roster last summer because of some big contracts. Now he has a chance to make over the roster, and he finally will be responsible for its success or failure.
None of this is bad. The Blue Jackets didn't have the depth of veteran talent to overcome their injuries and make the playoffs this season; the franchise appears to have enough money to spend in the offseason to rectify that problem. That likely means hard decisions will have to be made regarding some veteran players and maybe even on young players, players who could be stars someday but aren't ready today.
As difficult as it might be to say goodbye to friends and teammates, it loses some of the sting when the end can be viewed as a beginning.
"It's tough," captain Rick Nash said. "It's the last time this team, these 22 guys, will ever be together. We have a good bunch here, a good group of guys. But that's the business end of the sport. It's also exciting to see who's going to be in here next year."
Excitement outweighs sentiment. It is fed by the promise of winning.
-Bob Hunter is a sports columnist for The Dispatch.  | 
04-07-2008, 08:50 AM
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