TV Schedules and defensemen!
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
We got a veritable bonanza of things to talk about today! It's like Christmas in August! ... except not. Let's go with the more exciting news as of the moment first:Jackets release TV Schedule - 81 out of 82 games to be aired!
This is quite awesome. While I'm sure that there are other people out there with their playoff-bound teams and their regular coverage by the media going "Yeah, whatev-- ... we get all 82 games broadcast on television either regionally or nationally", this is still a great thing for a Jackets fan. If I recall, we only had one game on OLN last year, no games on NBC, and about 76 games on FSN Ohio, leaving us with nothing for a choice few games (the ones I can recall off the top of my head are a home game against Phoenix, an away game at Phoenix, and probably one of the games during that Southeast swing through Florida. As well as one game while away in Nashville).
This season, however, FSN Ohio will be covering 75 games this season, while Versus (OLN for those not up to speed on the name change) will grab 3 games and NBC will grab another 3 games. The odd-man out? Dallas @ Columbus on March 9th. Mark your calendars, folks, since I'll be going to that game so that I don't miss a single one this season.
Barring trips out of the area, of course. Alas, FSN New York or FSN Ohio (Cleveland) probably won't have Jackets games. And by probably I mean definitely. But in any event, I find it pretty darn cool that the CBJ will actually be getting 6 games on the national coverage level. This shows that beyond the fans here in Columbus, there are people in the media hierarchy who also believe that the Jackets may put on a good show this season, playoffs or not.
New defenseman on the block: Filip Novak signs a two-way deal with the Jackets Yadda, yadda, "club policy" ... blah, blah "terms undisclosed". Let's skip the rant on the NHL's choice to normally not release financial info. I don't really understand the big deal about it ... but I'm no General Manager (if I had a penny for every time I've said that ...).
But let's get on the topic of Novak himself. To me, this seems like a safe, sensible, and possibly rewarding deal. Novak probably has been under the radar for a few reasons, specifically the fact that he was injured all of the 2003-2004 season, and then the lockout came the next season. He did play 11 games with Ottawa this past season with little result. However despite that, he still racked up 52 points (44 of them assists) in the AHL with Binghamton.
Will he be the next coming of Bryan Berard, who is currently our most producing powerplay quarterback (TSN does, after all, call him a PP specialist in their scouting report)? Definitely too early to say, and I don't expect to see him around with the Jackets unless he really turns some heads either at training camp or when he's down with the Crunch. But I have a good feeling about this guy. Just don't hold me to that comment ... I tend to regret them.
Come back tomorrow and I should actually have something new. The Blue Jackets website is holding a poll for anyone to vote on their favorite CBJ game of last season, and FSN Ohio will then air the top four games sometime before the season starts. If you're a Red Wings fan, I'm pretty sure you know which one I'll be voting for (... and apparently the majority of people so far!). I'll be talking about each of those games (or the ones that I was able to catch out of the list) in an entry tomorrow.
