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Pijonty

19 lotteries, 0 wins
Membre depuis
18 oct. 2017
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Blue Jackets de Columbus
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Avalanche du Colorado
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Forum: Armchair-GM17 mai à 18 h 11
Sujet: CBJ Is This Enough
<div class="quote"><div class="quote_t">Quoting: <b>Greysuits</b></div><div>Blue Jackets fans love Jenner, I'm guessing that you could offer Dahlin, Thompson and the #11 overall and they would still be on the fence about it.</div></div>
It's not just the fans. I seriously don't think folks realize just how profound it is that the CBJ <strong>ownership</strong> has vetoed any idea of a Jenner trade.

By and large the folks interested in Jenner are from markets where ownership is into hockey. Pegula, for example, has purchased and/or invested in multiple hockey programs at multiple levels. MLSE kind of goes without saying. So it's likely easy for fans of those teams to imagine an ownership group that's enough into hockey that, even if they do pick silly favorites, they can at least hear out alternatives or proposals when they're made. Especially since as a consequence they'll sometimes get nosy and start interfering with the personnel they've hired to build those teams, and thus screw things up.

None of this applies to the Columbus Blue Jackets. The CBJ ownership group did not come about because of a particular interest in hockey. The founding principle behind getting the Blue Jackets here was <strong>civic pride</strong> - Mr. Mac (z''l) thought our city was getting undeservedly unrecognized in the world, and decided he was going to raise the city's profile by bringing a major professional sports team here. Guy knew next to nothing about hockey beyond the most general basics, but we loved him all the same (and still do). His son has largely continued in that vein, as have the various other business partners and investors who're involved. They're largely good people, and they take a very hands-off (to a fault, as some are increasingly arguing) approach to team management... because they know quite well they don't know a damned thing about hockey management in general.

I can't emphasize that last enough. <strong>The entirety of their hockey knowledge begins and ends with that which is or otherwise directly relates to the Columbus Blue Jackets.</strong> They know notable Jackets players, and a few of our direct rivals, and some of the basics about folks in charge of teams, and <strong>that's it</strong>. Seriously; at one point JP Mac (Mr. Mac's son, current lead owner) once, while we were still in the Central Division, referred to our rivals in the north as the "Detroit Blue Devils." The name of Noah Ostlund would have no meaning to them. Hell, Tage Thompson probably wouldn't ring a bell for them. It is in fact questionable whether or not they'd recognize names like Auston Matthews or Connor McDavid. They'll know Sidney Crosby, because he's the face of our geographic rival and he's been around for two decades. But otherwise, if it's not Columbus or Columbus-adjacent... the reaction is "who?".

As I said earlier, they recognize their limitations in this regard, and so take a very hands-off approach. They hire people they understand to have this kind of knowledge and then let them go and do what they will. (It's actually a pretty ideal setup for most front office types, arguably.) Otherwise, they speak in platitudes about how much they like the team, and sometimes they'll speak fondly of the occasional well-performing player (Rick Nash would get positive comments now and again, for example). They otherwise keep their mouths shut.

The sole exception - possibly the sole exception so far in <strong>franchise history</strong> - is this moment where they came out and said that We Are Not Moving Boone Jenner.

With all this background, consider the impact of this. An ownership group that is usually the last in the world to get involved got involved to say No. More to the point, you'd have to convince them to back off from that course - and that would have to be done with people who very likely have no idea who your best players are, because <strong>they don't play against Columbus enough so they haven't mattered to or been noticed or remembered by the detached casual Jackets fan</strong>. You could say you're offering Tage Thompson straight up and they'd go "is he good? I'm not sure if that name rings a bell." And these are the folks you have to sell on the idea of giving up the one player that they broke with 25 years of precedent to come out and say "we're not moving him" for. They didn't even go that far for Rick f***ing Nash. They did for Jenner.

When we say it's not going to happen, we're not exaggerating or being homers. It's quite serious.
Forum: Armchair-GM15 mai à 2 h 30
Forum: Armchair-GM13 mai à 21 h 32