Thursday night, the Columbus Blue Jackets will begin their quest into the strange new world that is the NHL playoffs. To get an idea of the atmosphere around town, and to continue to learn more about this once anonymous franchise, we discussed its upcoming series against the Detroit Red Wings with Aaron Portzline, beat writer for the Columbus Dispatch. Portzline, one of the most net-savvy of hockey's beat writers, also helps run a blog for the paper called Puck-rakers and has an excellent Twitter page.
Portzline has covered the Blue Jackets since their inaugural season in 2000-01, and has seen all of the ups and downs the franchise has offered over the years.
Going back to the start of the season, what were the expectations around town; were people expecting the playoffs, were they hoping for the playoffs, or were they maybe expecting more of the same from the Blue Jackets?
Well, I think there was a greater sense of expectation this season than ever before. I think people looked at the roster and I think they saw significant changes. But yet, this marketplace has been teased so much in the past I think there's always some sense of caution with expectations. I think people thought it was going to be the best Blue Jackets team ever, and of course that isn't saying much, but I think they thought it was going to be their best team ever, but they weren't sure exactly what that would mean or how far they could go.
They didn't know what to expect from a Steve Mason. They didn't know what to expect from a Derick Brassard before he got hurt, and a lot of things have fallen into place and people are excited. I don't think they expected them to be the seventh seed in the West necessarily, but there's a lot of people that are excited. And if they didn't believe it there's a lot of people who are glad that they were wrong.
How much has the team's popularity taken off because of this season? Is this the most excitement fans have had around town?
This team was extremely popular when they got to town. People loved the first-year team that worked so hard and did everything that they could, they were very popular the second season and sold out every game. Then, what became exciting times and a growing franchise turned into frustrating times where people felt they were sold a bill of goods and the team was wandering sort of aimlessly for a long time. It dipped, as it would anywhere, because hockey tickets are expensive, but it's picked back up. I think it's at least matched what it was when the team first got to town.
You have to understand Columbus, Ohio ... this is its first taste of major league professional sports, so when they got here it was quite the thing to do. But, yeah, people are fired up right now. Certainly this is the first they've ever been excited in the spring time if you want to look at it that way. Usually we're talking about the NHL draft in Columbus, Ohio, and not talking about the playoffs, or basically, the Detroit Red Wings.
So, let's talk about this series. The Blue Jackets had some success against the Red Wings this season, splitting the series, including an 8-2 thumping up in Detroit, does that give them any sort of psychological edge, or does that not matter going up against a team as good as the Red Wings?
I don't think it gives them an edge, I think it gives them an understanding that if they play well they can compete with this club. I think they also realize that they have not seen the best Detroit yet, I don't think. I think they expect them to kick it up a notch.
There is a healthy fear factor, I think, whenever the Blue Jackets face Detroit. Not fear in terms of intimidation, but a healthy respect that if they do not play well, that if they do not stick to the system, if they do not all commit to the same effort level, that it's going to be a long night for them and they can get blown out of the water. I do think the fact they've played with this team in most of their six games this season, and beat them, 8-2, in Joe Louis Arena, I do think that gives them confidence that they can compete with them.
The old cliche is that goaltending wins in the playoffs. I think based on what we've seen in the regular season Steve Mason is probably playing better hockey than Chris Osgood and Ty Conklin heading into the postseason. How do you see him holding up under the pressure of the playoffs? I mean, he's only 20 years old, does he have the type of mentality that can stand up to the pressure of not only playing in the playoffs, but taking on the defending Stanley Cup Champions in the opening round?
After practice the other day I approached Mike Commodore about this and said, 'Steve Mason started his season with knee surgery, he had his season derailed at the midpoint because of mononucleosis, and at the end of the season he was on the receiving end of death threats from a guy who had some issues here in Columbus. In the course of one season: knee surgery, mononucleosis, and death threats,' and Commodore's response was, 'well, hell, the playoffs should be easy.'
Now, having said that, you never know how these guys are going to respond, and the same goes for Rick Nash who has never been in the playoffs either. I think from his make-up, from his mental approach to things, I think probably the best part of his game is his mental approach, and that leads me to believe he's probably going to be a good playoff goaltender. But until the puck drops and until those nervous moments come up I don't think anybody can say for sure how anybody is going to play.
Columbus had a taste of being buyers at the trade deadline for the first time ever, picking up Antoine Vermette from the Ottawa Senators for Pascal Leclaire. To me, he always seemed like a guy who was loaded with talent but never really put it together in Ottawa, but he seems like he's fit like a glove in Columbus. How much of an impact has he had with this team?
He's had a huge impact. I think an issue in Ottawa was the team had so much depth at center that he was sort of shuffled about on the left wing in some cases, on the third line in some cases. In Columbus it's pretty clear that he's the best center on the roster ... the best healthy center I should say, Derick Brassard has a chance to be an elite player and he could be back in the first round. What he's done in Columbus is nothing short of giving them two lines that can score. He's found some great chemistry with R.J. Umberger, and now they've got Jakub Voracek on the right wing. And, you know, the confidence.
I think there's a huge emotional boost whenever you're a team like Columbus that's always been a seller at the trade deadline, some years tried to be a seller and had so little talent that they couldn't find anybody to sell their players to. When you've been through that for so long and you finally reach a point where you're buying players and adding players, I think it adds a great emotional lift, not just with the fan base, but in the dressing room as well and I think Vermette has provided that.
You mentioned R.J. Umberger. He was one of the big offseason pick-ups and the team paid a pretty steep price for him -- a first round pick that turned out to be a good young player in Luca Sbisa -- has he been worth the price?
So far he definitely has with 27 goals, and that's a lot of goals. That's a career-high for him. I think there's a larger issue here, too. Look, they overpaid for Mike Commodore, and I think most people will agree with that, but Mike Commodore means more to them than he would to any other team, and R.J. Umberger is the same way. This team needed not just talent, or goal scoring, this team needed players with heart. They needed competitive players, they needed players who don't shrink in big games, who aren't intimidated by big opponents, and R.J. Umberger has probably been their most consistent player this season, even more so than Rick Nash.
Umberger has moved all over the ice, he's played several different positions on different lines, he's been incredibly competitive, and he gives them a competitive forward like they have not had before. In a lot of ways Nash is the unquestioned leader of this team ... Umberger is sort of the conscience of this team in his approach, and he's the kind of player that fans really rally around. He's a midwestern kind of guy, he went to Ohio State, so essentially that trade, if you want to break it down to straight up numbers, that was Adam Foote for R.J. Umberger and I can't think of a general manager in the league that wouldn't make that trade right now.
I'm going to try and get a prediction out of you now, and if you look back to 1994, the Red Wings were in a similar series where they played the San Jose Sharks. It was their first ever trip to the playoffs, they were an expansion team, nobody gave them much of a shot, and the Sharks kind of shocked the hockey world by winning the series. What do you think are the chances of Columbus pulling off something similar here?
Well I don't think they're as big an underdog as a lot of people think. If you look at the two teams there's obviously a disparity in talent, but I've said this all along, I think Columbus is going to be a better playoff team than they are regular season team. I may fall flat on my face with this, but I think they're the kind of team that you can beat one night, you don't like to play them as much the second night, and they get progressively more difficult to play, not unlike Calgary a couple of years ago when they went all the way to the Cup finals. Very competitive team, very large team. They bang you, they crowd the net, and they're confrontational at times. I have a hard time convincing myself that Columbus is going to win this series, but I think it's going to go a lot further than people think. In the Columbus Dispatch I picked the Red Wings to win in seven, and I think that's a safe bet.
I live in Pittsburgh, and around the Stanley Cup Final a year ago the fish markets were taking a look at your drivers license if you were trying to buy an octopus and, obviously, not selling if you were from Michigan. Are they taking similar measures in Columbus to prevent flying Cephalopod's from hitting the ice at Nationwide Arena?
No, what they're doing is throwing raw squid at them. They're not even looking, they're just throwing stuff because nobody in their right mind buys octopus. It's pretty clear that if you're in Columbus, Ohio, early next week and you're buying octopus you've got bad intentions. (laughs)
Are the Blue Jackets doing anything special for the fans during games? I know in other cities like Buffalo and Pittsburgh they've set up video boards outside the arena to get more people involved. Are they doing anything similar in Columbus?
They have had a TV -- a gigantic TV -- right outside the front of Nationwide Arena, in the plaza area, Nationwide Plaza it's called, but they've had a gigantic TV that was hung there in year one with the idea of showing playoff games, I don't know, probably after year three ... that TV's been sitting up there forever, I don't think anybody knows where the remote control is it's been up there so long. But, yes, they're planning to show the games there and have a party on the patio, so it should be a wild scene in the Arena District.
Sounds great. Thanks for taking some time to talk to FanHouse, let's hope for a great series.
Hey, my pleasure.
