What's that? You thought I was not going to post today, since it was the middle of the afternoon and I still hadn't updated? Well, you thought wrong! For that, I have to smack you with a You Don't Know Jack!


So the IIHF World Championships came and went, and on Sunday Team Canada was crowned the champions of the world with a 4-2 win over Finland. Hip, hip, hooray!

As a Jackets' fan, the focus that you'll find here will be on Game MVP/Tournament MVP Rick Nash. I was lucky enough to catch the 3rd period via a TSN feed (thank you to the fine folks at HFBoards for posting it up), and see that absolutely staggering and amazing goal that Nasher pulled out of his magic hat to seal the deal against the late surging Fins. For those who didn't see it, check this baby out:


I mean ... good God, man! Look at that! He's being bear hugged and piggy backed on his way to the net!

But highlight reel goals that seal gold medal victories in world championships aside, let's also look at Nasher's numbers: He tied for the most goals on Team Canada with Matthew Lombardi ... he had the 2nd most points for Team Canada (only behind Lombardi) ... and this here is the real kicker for his statistics: he had the best +/- rating of anyone on Team Canada.

Let that sink in, folks. The player who, in past seasons, has been lambasted for poor defense (one look at his +/- in both his rookie and sophomore years can tell you why he was lambasted), led Team Canada in +/- rating for this tournament. You can't ignore this, especially when you consider the possible influence that defensive-minded coach Ken Hitchcock had on him prior to the end of the Blue Jackets' season.

By the way, let's not forget Jason Chimera, who looked like he was having the time of his life at the Worlds. He must have drowned Nasher and Shane Doan with more champagne than I've ever even drank in my whole life (which is actually pretty easy to beat) during the locker room celebration. And besides just partying up a storm, he actually played a damn good game, at one point leading the team in +/-, and finishing with a respectable 6 points.

Moving back to news in Columbus and on the Blue Jackets organization itself, the interview process looks to be officially started as of this week, with internal interviews of Don Boyd and Jim Clark on tap for the early part of it, followed by external, non-CBJ employee interviews to come later in the week. Michael Arace churns out a good list (and the odds of landing) each of the several candidates that are supposedly on Jackets' President Jim Priest's list.

I still find myself wondering about the apparent love that former Kings GM Dave Taylor is getting. I've already pointed out one issue in that while he's supposedly a good GM, his Kings' teams fell out of playoff contention in his final three years as GM. Maybe Arace will spot this and go into a little detail about what he likes about Taylor on his own blog -- that is, if he does like him, and isn't just reporting Taylor as the favorite based off of rumblings around the league or in Columbus or anywhere else.

Outside of that, I got nothing else for you today. I have some groceries to buy and some laundry to do. So off with you, now! Go on, shoo!