FanHouse ColumbusBlueJackets

Making the playoffs for the first time was a big step for the Columbus Blue Jackets, a kick in the pants for the fans and the franchise.

Now, however, Columbus will have to repeat the feat -- and make it past the first round -- to meet the increased expectations that that first blush of success has created. And it's Scott Howson's job this summer to put the Blue Jackets in a position to be a postseason regular.

The Detroit Red Wings and the Columbus Blue Jackets face off for the third time this season Tuesday night in the first game after the All-Star Break for both teams. The series stands at 2-0 Detroit with three more meetings to come.

Detroit will play the game with an empty lineup spot due to a combination of injuries and a punitive measure meted out by the league office. The former is Brad Stuart's sore neck, an injury suffered when harmless contact with Phoenix's Steven Goertzen resulted in a head-first collision with the endboards. Stuart narrowly avoided major injury. He did not skate Monday and is listed as day-to-day. The Wings will also be short Nicklas Lidstrom and Pavel Datsyuk, in part because of injuries.

After six seasons as the doormat of the NHL, the Columbus Blue Jackets *finally* canned President/GM/Coach/Water Boy Doug MacLean, who 'led' the Dinner Jackets to a 172-258-33-29 record over their first six years in the league.

To those in the hockey world, there are two questions ...

1. What took so frickin long?

It was obvious that Doug MacLean, who was once a fine coach, was in over his head in the managerial/business side of hockey. As Michael Arace of the Columbus Dispatch puts it ...

To this point, Blue Jackets management has had little feel for developing young players, and little success in choosing the right free agents. It has been their double-whammy. The attempt to accelerate growth has retarded their prospects for success during Doug MacLean's tenure as president and general manager

Any good manager will have a strategy in place to grow his company (or their hockey club). In hockey terms, this means building with prospects, building around goaltending and defense, loading up on offense, or targeting veterans on the free agent market.

The problem for Dougie is that he tried to do everything, and succeeded at nothing. Expensive free agent busts such as Anson Carter, Luke Richardson, Todd Marchant, Adam Foote, Bryan Berard, and Scott Lachance simply sucked up a lot of salary and provided very little in return. Oh, let's not forget a way-past-his-prime Sergei Fedorov, the guy he traded for, who makes a cool $6mil a season.

The Jackets also drafted poorly during MacLean's tenure, netting very little with their picks outside of the first round. The mis-development of Nikolai Zherdev, their prized first rounder of the 2004 draft, has only continued to the building woes of this club.