It’s an interesting day in the coaching circle, as both the Tampa Bay Lightning and Columbus Blue Jackets are set to introduce new head coaches.

Tampa will announce Guy Boucher, the guy who turned down the coaching job in Columbus earlier in the day, as their head coach. Columbus will announce former NHL player Scott Arniel as their new head coach.

Boucher coached the Hamilton Bulldogs this season and will be the youngest coach in the NHL at age 38. It’s the first major decision to be made by Tampa GM Steve Yzerman and the deal is said to be for four years. Wednesday marks the date scheduled for Tampa’s formal announcement of the coaching hire.

Arniel’s hiring will be announced by the Blue Jackets on Tuesday, sources say. Arniel spent the last four seasons coaching the Manitoba Moose and spent 11 years in the National Hockey League as a player for the Winnipeg Jets, Buffalo Sabres, and Boston Bruins.

According to the Columbus Dispatch, Kevin Dineen and Claude Noel were also considered for the coaching post.

Posted by Jordan Richardson.

The Columbus Blue Jackets have traded forward Raffi Torres to the Buffalo Sabres. In Torres, the Sabres get a gritty personality forward who’ll help boost their momentum.

Elliote Friedman is reporting that Nathan Paetsch and a second round pick went over to Columbus in exchange for Torres, so the deal does indeed look to benefit the Sabres more.

Considering Torres’ contributions in the past with the Oilers and on Columbus, he gives the Sabres a nice physical angle that they can use to hammer out space for their forwards.

It’s not a blockbuster deal by any extent, but it doesn’t look like many big names will be moving on this particular trade deadline day.

Posted by Jordan Richardson.

In a series where the outcome wasn’t in any doubt, the Detroit Red Wings have swept the Columbus Blue Jackets.

The fourth game wasn’t as easy as the first three for the veteran Wings, however, and the Jackets gave them a run for their money in a dazzling high-scoring affair that finally saw Detroit come out on top by a score of 6-5 on Thursday night.

There was a hotly disputed call, some controversy, plenty of goals and opportunities, and great energy in the game, comprising all of the elements of a rockin’ playoff game. Now the Wings will advance and the Blue Jackets will reflect on their first appearance in the post-season in franchise history.

The Jackets have a lot to take out of the experience. They’ll probably be disappointed with the penalty trouble they found themselves in, for one, and will doubtlessly work a little bit on team discipline and coming through in a pinch. The special teams could use a bit of work, too, and some of their better players need to work on being more present on the ice.

As a whole, though, the Jackets can take a lot away from the series. They got passed a crappy hand initially, getting the Red Wings in the post-season.

For the Red Wings, they have proved what most already know. As one of the toughest teams to play against in the post-season, they looked skilled and dominant when it mattered. Their best players performed to a high level, as per usual, and they got the most out of their special teams. They’ll be a threat in the post-season until the very end.

Posted by Jordan Richardson.

When the Blue Jackets woke up Monday morning in Columbus, they faced a very interesting reality that many might have thought was the stuff of dreams the night before. They were sitting in sixth place in the Western Conference with 86 points.

Some of the Jackets probably pinched themselves.

“The one thing you find out at this time of the year is that the rest of the world stops,” Blue Jackets coach Ken Hitchcock said Monday. “All of the things that people do in everyday life, for us, stops. You spend little or no time with it. You exist. It’s like you sleep, you come to the rink, you work at preparing your team, you go home and you rest.”

The race is tight, as per usual in the West: Nashville is seventh with 84 points. St. Louis holds the eighth and final playoff spot with 83 points, with Anaheim (82), Edmonton (81) and Minnesota (80) right behind.

And imagine this scenario: if the current top eight teams hold their positions, we will be witnesses to the first time in 28 years that every team from one division sees all of its members in the playoffs.

Columbus plays its last game of the regular season on April 11 against the Minnesota Wild. At that time, we will probably know whether the Blue Jackets will still be sitting in the hunt for the Stanley Cup or if they’ll be packing their golf gear. They have a few hot teams to contend with, like St. Louis, as they continue to race towards the finish line.

Posted by Jordan Richardson.

We all know (or are) passionate hockey fans that take things too far. Yelling at the screen, yelling at friends, yelling in general - we’ve all been around people who invest their lives and emotions in the game of hockey.

But Peter Stenzel, a 52-year-old from Columbus, has been arrested and charged for “inducing panic” after allegedly making physical threats against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Stenzel apparently called the arena during Columbus’ 5-0 win over the Calgary Flames on Thursday night and directed threats towards Blue Jackets goalie Steve Mason.

“They got his number from caller ID, and it was given to special duty officers,” Weiner told the Columbus Dispatch newspaper. “When they got to his residence, he was upset. He’s a passionate hockey fan.”

I’ll say.

Stenzel apparently said he was going to “shoot” and “bomb” Mason during the hockey game. After being traced to his home via call display - smart guy, eh? - Stenzel was discovered watching the game in his living room wearing a Calgary Flames shirt.

Stenzel was being held at the Franklin County Jail pending a Saturday court hearing.

You can come up with your own jokes for this one.

Posted by Jordan Richardson.

2007-2008 Regular Season Record: 34-36-12, good for fourth in the Central Division and 13th in the Western Conference.

Leading Scorer: The Blue Jackets had a rare bright spot in the 2007-2008 regular season with Rick Nash, the team’s leading scorer. With 69 points in 80 games, Nash scored a team-high 38 goals and was often a skating human highlight reel. His tenacity for the net and for the big moves made him exciting to watch. Nikolai Zherdev finished in second with 61 points in 82 games.

Goaltending: Pascal Leclaire finished the regular season with a respectable GAA of 2.25 and a save percentage of .919. He appeared in 54 regular season games. Leclaire was backed up by Fredrik Norrena, who played in 37 regular season contests and finished the year with a 2.72 GAA.

Regular Season Summary: It was another disappointing year for the Blue Jackets as they remain the only current team in the NHL to not have made the playoffs. Prior to the 2007 NHL Entry Draft, the Jackets thought a shake-up at the top level would serve them well. They replaced GM Doug MacLean with Scott Howson and began attempting to tinker with the team dynamic.

The team’s bright spot was Rick Nash, who not only dominated on the ice for his team but was selected to participate in the 2008 All-Star Game. At the All-Star Game, Nash scored a record-breaking goal just 12 seconds into the period. His All-Star Game performance was stellar, but he was still unable to lift the Blue Jackets to new heights.

Along with a disappointing performance from the team, the Jackets faced disaster when goalie Leclaire went down with an injury and the team spiralled further down in March. With Adam Foote, the former captain, off to Colorado, Rick Nash took over leadership duties and attempted to turn the sinking ship around. By that time, however, it was too late and the squad missed the post-season yet again.

Playoffs: The Blue Jackets did not make the playoffs.

Outlook: With the season coming to a close, the Blue Jackets were able to dump some of their top-salary players and clear up some room on the cap. Sergei Fedorov was sent to the Washington Capitals and captain Adam Foote wound up on the Colorado Avalanche. The team signed Michael Peca, RJ Umberger, Kristian Huselius, Raffi Torres, Michael York, Mike Commodore, and Christian Backman for the upcoming season.

Columbus boasts a “new look club” and hopes that their mass of new players will be able to fit snugly into the line-up under Nash’s captaincy. With veterans like Peca rounding out the line-up, there should be a sense of cohesion in the locker room that will help the players conform to the system. The Blue Jackets ought to be fired up and should look to play fast and hard hockey throughout the season.

The one weak link may well be between the pipes, as the team is going with the same combination as last season. Leclaire and Norrena will need to be stronger this season, despite the former’s rather good numbers. The tandem will need to overcome obstacles and stay away from injuries in order to have success and guide the Jackets to the post-season for the first time ever. This may be the year for Columbus, but I wouldn’t bet any serious money on it.

The Columbus Blue Jackets announced that left winger Rick Nash has been named team captain. Currently playing in his fifth National Hockey League season, Nash has been one of the club’s alternate captains since the start of the 2005-2006 season. He becomes the fifth captain in franchise history, joining Lyle Odelein, Ray Whitney, Luke Richardson and Adam Foote.

Nash leads the Blue Jackets in scoring this season, posting a career-high 58 points. He ranks seventh in the NHL in goals and is tied for fifth in short-handed goals with four of them. Nash is six goals and seven assists shy of matching his career highs in both of those categories.

The first overall pick of the 2002 Entry Draft, Nash has registered 265 points and 372 penalty minutes in 351 career games with the Blue Jackets. He is the franchise’s all-time leader in goals (151), power play goals (55), game-winning goals (23) and shots on goal (1,083), ranks second in points (265) and assists (114) and stands fourth in games played (351).

Since the arrival of Ken Hitchcock in Columbus, Nash has become even better. Hitch pushed the young winger to become a more complete player and Nash happily obliged, playing some of his best hockey as of late. Despite showing incredible offensive talent, he often struggled with defensive aspects of the game and wasn’t a complete player. Now, however, he is turning into one of the most complete players in the league with incredible top-end offensive skill. The timing in naming him captain of the Blue Jackets couldn’t be better.

As Rick Nash gears up in his new role, he’ll hope to take the Blue Jackets to new heights. As the team has never made the playoffs, his immediate goal is clear. At this point, Columbus sits on the outside looking in. At the deadline, however, the Jackets appeared to be heading toward rebuilding mode after getting rid of Foote and Fedorov. With Nash as the new team captain, the rebuilding process will likely take place in the off-season and next year’s Blue Jackets will be a very different looking club.

Adam Foote has returned to the Colorado Avalanche, continuing the team’s trip down memory lane in hopes of winning the Cup.

Foote, whose negotiations with Columbus fell apart recently, only had one team on his mind when it was suggested that he be traded: Colorado. There were rumours for some time about Rob Blake heading to Colorado, too, which created a bit of a logjam.

With Foote returning to Colorado, the team looks poised to make a significant move for the Stanley Cup. Forsberg recently signed with the Avalanche after speculation that he wouldn’t be returning to the league this season.

Foote adds leadership and skill to the team, which should help increase the cohesion of an already tight-knit unit in Colorado. They’ll certainly be a team to watch in the playoffs this year and have to be a considerable favourite to win it all.

It’s over in Columbus for president and GM Doug MacLean.

There were conflicting reports at first, but the Jackets eventually announced the news on Wednesday and confirmed that MacLean would not be back next year. After a disappointing, but hardly surprising, 33-42-7 record this season, the Jackets felt it was time for a change. 53-year old MacLean has been the only president and GM in Jackets history.

The Blue Jackets were 172-258-62 under MacLean and are the only league franchise to never see the post-season.

Before his position on the Blue Jackets, MacLean served as head coach on several NHL teams including Florida, where he led the Panthers to the playoffs for both seasons under his watch. In his first season with the Panthers, he led them to the Stanley Cup finals where they would eventually lose to the Avalanche. That same year, MacLean was named top coach of the year by the Hockey News publication and was a finalist for the Jack Adams award.

MacLean began his NHL career as an assistant coach in St. Louis in 1985.