It was supposed to be a special night for Ken Hitchcock.  Instead, his Columbus Blue Jackets ended up on the arse end of a 9-1 washing at home by the Detroit Red Wings.  Ken’s 1000th game as an NHL head coach was over before his team ever had a chance.

In the continuous quest for good hockey, I often find myself watching Central Division games.  Call me a Norris Division holdover, but it’s gotten even better since the Leafs were exiled and replaced by a couple of pretend teams in Columbus and Nashville.  it helps that I’ve got a man-sized throbbing one for Rick Nash.  I’m standing behind my prediction that Columbus will win the Central, for now.

Detroit Red Wings’ hockey is unbearably boring,  even with all of that skill and scoring.  Nobody has scored more goals on your way back from the bathroom in the last three seasons than the Detroit Red Wings.  It took just a minute for them to get on the board tonight when Daniel Cleary potted one in the first period.  Justin Abdelkader scored a couple, but I must have been grabbing a beer or possibly taking a shit.  Land-fuck I can’t stand watching these guys play, but they’re incomparably good.

Even Todd Bertuzzi got in on the scoring tonight, along with six other Red Wings.  One of the many things they did noticeably better tonight was move the puck through the neutral zone and carry it into the Columbus zone.  It looked like the Blue Jackets’ defense was letting them walk in and take shots.  Another precursor to their sounding victory was the removal of Chris Osgood from his goal-hole for Jimmy Howard.  Howard made 25 saves, but wasn’t overly tested.  He’ll do until Ken Holland makes a move for Martin Biron, Dwayne Roloson, or some other Essensa-esque stand-in.

They didn’t look old and they didn’t look tired.  They looked like the Detroit Red Wings and they’ve got some winning to catch up on.  Your team’s next.

Before I pull out my pud and remind you of how much I love Rick Nash, I’ll take a second to acknowledge the new look here.  Yeah, it’s amazing what a sober Saturday night can do for your blog.  You may even notice that we have some new ads on Hockeyhead, so if you ever feel so inclined to buy a Hartford Whalers‘ t-shirt then we’ve got your back.

On to more impressive things; did you happen to see Rick Nash make the Los Angeles Kings look like a Junior B squad last night?  The Blue Jackets, who (you’ve heard it here first) are going to win the Central Division, already had a 2-1 lead on the Kings early in the third period when Nash made it 3-1 on the penalty kill.

After shedding their tag as the only expansion team that never made it to the post-season, the Columbus Blue Jackets took their licks from the eventual Western Conference champs the Detroit Red Wings.  It’s hard not to consider Columbus’ season a success,  especially when you factor in that it was enough to entice Rick Nash to sign the line for the long-term in the offseason.

The Jackets’ inexperience cost them a shot at advancing past the first round, they actually failed to win so much as a single playoff game, but the Hitchcockian squad set a high-water mark that they could very well eclipse in the 2009-10 season.  Their 41-31-10 record was good enough for 4th in the Central Division, and 7th overall in the West.  That’s not bad for a team that iced only 16 players with any post-season experience.

After locking up their best player for eight more years in Nash and riding on the momentum of a Calder Trophy winning performance by goalie Steve Mason, these Blue Jackets look poised to build upon the greatest season in the history of the relatively young franchise.  The painfully defensive minded Ken Hitchcock and GM Scott Howson have assembled a strong mix of highly skilled kids and hard-nosed veterans that should be tougher to play against now that they’ve established a winning style.

The Hitchcock Factor:

For years Columbus was viewed as the team that Rick Nash played for while he was licking his lips at the prospect of becoming a Toronto Maple Leaf.  Leafs fans’ hopes were crushed this past summer while Jackets’ fans rejoiced at the massive extension Nash signed.

When Hitchcock came on the scene things started to change.  Nash made significant strides to become a more complete player, and it’s entirely plausible that we haven’t even seen his best yet.  Jan Hejda and Mike Commodore emerged as a top-notch pair of shut-down defenesemen.  The Jackets as a whole showed that whether you love his coaching style, or despise it, Hitchcock can make you stronger in the defensive aspects of the game.

You could argue that Steve Mason’s 33-20-7 record, 2.29 GAA, and league best 10-shutouts were a product of his environment.  Even if that were completely true (which it’s not), it’s safe to say that with Nash and Mason taking care of business at opposite ends of the ice, this is the most imposing duo Hitchcock has had at his disposal since there were two Undertakers.

What's in that urn Kenny, c'mon, what's your secret?

Hitch will coach his 1000th game this season, this after notching his 500th career victory last year.  Just making it to the playoffs in ’09-10 won’t be enough for Kenny this season, he wants results.

The Outlook:

There are areas for improvement from this team.  Their power play was bad enough for 30th in the NHL last season, largely due to the fact that they’re missing a big-gun on the point.  There’s enough young talent in their system that they could make a move to acquire a veteran defenseman to run the point on the PP; Fedor Tyutin was the Jackets’ highest scoring blueliner with 34 points in 82 games in ’08-09.

A full season from both Derick Brassard and faceoff specialist Antoine Vermette will help bolster the offense, but vets Kristian Huselius, Fredrik Modin, and R.J. Umberger need to step up and provide some consistent punch.  Super-kids Jakub Voracek and Nikita Filatov will need to establish themselves as top-six forwards sooner than later if the Jackets intend to keep up with competitive Central Division.

The pressure is on this club to show that they’re going to be a winning team over the next several seasons.  Other teams will be making adjustments when playing the Blue Jackets this season, so it’s up to the players and coaching staff to step up their own approach and show that they’re for real.  They’re going to be in-tough to better their 7th place finish from a season ago, but as they now know very well it’s what you do after the regular season that counts.

The Bold Prediction: 3rd in the Central Division, 7th in the Western Conference.  Eliminated in the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Rick Nash will not be the saviour of a once proud franchise.  Rick Nash will not come riding into Toronto via the Brampton Go Train.  No, Rick Nash will be a Columbus Blue Jacket for the foreseeable future and Leaf fans are forced to look elsewhere for a hired gun to turn their speeding bullet of shit around.

From the school of “what the fuck were you thinking” comes this:  really, what the fuck were you thinking?  Was Rick Nash supposed to be another victim of “every Canadian boys’ dream” to win a Stanley Cup with the Toronto Maple Leafs?  Don’t get me wrong, the Leafs for once actually look like they’re building in the right direction.  Brian Burke has addressed the team’s most glaring deficiency so far this offseason:  their marshmallowy soft style is gone, they will be tougher to play against.

The bigger problem is that “the dream” has proven unattainable for every and any Canadian boy since 1967.

Instead of subjecting himself to becoming the great Ontario-born hype that should be able to carry a second-rate roster on his back in hopes (and I stress hopes) of a return to the playoffs, Nash has elected to stay where the foundational building blocks are already present (and a recent playoff appearance as well).  Columbus has great goaltending in Steve Mason, not some career backup with a slinky groin or the mere prospect of an unproven Swedish “Monster” on the horizon.  Shut-down defenseman?  Mike Commodore.  Don’t underestimate their offensive weapons either, Columbus is clearly a team on the climb up, albeit just a few steps ahead of Toronto.

The news of Nash’s eight-year $62.4 million contract extension is a shot to the heart for impatient Toronto fans that thought the attraction of “coming home” would be enough to lure the would-be free agent to Hogtown.  So with that, Toronto fans will likely start vocalizing their dreams of Ilya Kovalchuk as their poster boy for a return to competitive relevancy.  Keep dreaming kids.  Good teams are built over years, not through wishes.