In lieu of an actual fighting picture, there’s this. Image via Chris Breikss/Flickr

Backing into the division title? Yeah, that happened, but that shouldn’t diminish what the St. Louis Blues have accomplished all season. What SHOULD diminish things a bit is what exactly happened in their home game with the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday, looking a bit out-of-sorts in a 5-2 loss to the worst team in the league. Sure, the Jackets wanted it more, but that loss shouldn’t happen in your own building. There was a fight in the game, as after a clean yet harsh hit from Jared Boll, Scott Nichol decided to take matters into his own hands in a fight that was recapped in this Fight Card piece. After this was written, the fight was ruled a victory for Boll, which I can’t exactly argue with as even though the fight didn’t last long, Boll did throw and land a few more punches than Nichol even if Nichol got a bit of a takedown. So the Blues now boast 39 fighting majors on the National Hockey League season, good for a tie for ninth place overall with the New Jersey Devils. With the loss, the team’s fight record moves to a still-spectacular 16-6-17.

And now, the final Central Division game of the season, and who better to stage it with than long-time nemesis, the Detroit Red Wings? We’ve covered the team five times in this space this season (November 15th, December 6th, December 27th, December 31st and January 23rd). It’s long-known that they seem to have their gloves glued to their hands and don’t fight much, and when I pointed out this fact in the most recent edition of this report against the Wings, it didn’t settle well with some of their brethren. I embrace the hatred. Anyway, what still holds true is that the Wings are dead last in the NHL with 15 fighting majors on the season. To put it this way, there are six individuals with more fights than the whole Wings team, and one player – Brad Staubitz – has been waived once this year and still has as many fights as the Wings. Yikes. The Wings fight record? Predictably not good, at 5-9-1.

Of those 15 Wings fights, Justin Abdelkader (6’1”, 219lbs, 2-4-0) has taken part in six of them. Three of them were battled by veteran Mike Commodore (6’4”, 227lbs, 0-2-1 including a Loss to BJ Crombeen and 0-3-1 overall, traded to Tampa at the deadline) and two of the fights involved Todd Bertuzzi (6’3”, 229lbs, 1-1-0). The solo fighters have been Jonathan Ericsson (6’4”, 221lbs, Win), Brendan Smith (6’1”, 199lbs, Win, currently with Grand Rapids of the AHL), youngster Jakub Kindl (6’3”, 216lbs, Loss) and Brad Stuart (6’2”, 213lbs, Loss to Chris Stewart).

And while I expect this to be a tightly-checked and physical contest, I do not expect any fighting. It’s just not the Wings’ Modus Operandi, and the Blues probably don’t want to go down that path tonight.

I would love that top seed in the West.

LET’S GO BLUES!!!!!

Information obtained via the incomparable Fried Chicken’s Hockey Fights

Want proof? Here’s your proof:

What has really endeared many St. Louis Blues fans (including yours truly) to Nichol has been his outright tenacity and true grit. If he were a baseball player, his name would be David Eckstein and he would play shortstop even though he should play second base. He wins face-offs, he stands up for himself and his teammates and he fights people he should not fight, including Boll, who has long been the Columbus Blue Jackets’ top enforcer, despite the fact that he’s about half a foot shorter and about 40 pounds lighter. Oh, and he gets pissed off . . . INCREDIBLY easily, like in this instance.

All that said, the fight was a definite draw as it didn’t last more than a few seconds and a few punches from both guys, not much of which landed. In many ways, it was the epitome of Nichol’s season . . . fast, furious and full of a lot of “GET THE HELL OUT OF MY WAY I’M GOING TO KILL YOU” moments.

So yeah, the fight sucked, but that was an insane moment, and I’m not about to give the man low marks because it was fun to see.

Jared Boll usually isn’t left licking wounds after fights. Image via BridgetDS/Flickr

Well, the division title is still in range for the St. Louis Blues, as they gained a point in a game they probably didn’t deserve to get one in after losing to the Chicago Blackhawks 4-3 in a free-throw shooting contest. But while there were a few mild skirmishes, there were no fights to speak of in this game. So the Blues stay at 38 fights on the National Hockey League season, good for a tie with the New Jersey Devils, Vancouver Canucks and the Hawks on that ladder, and the team’s fight record sticks at a very good 16-5-17.

I could spend an hour talking about how horrible tonight’s opponent, the Columbus Blue Jackets, has been this season. But, it would do no good, really. This is the last meeting of the season between the Blues and Jackets, so we’ve covered them on five occasions on this report (November 27th, December 18th, February 14th, March 10th and March 11th), and there have been seven total fights between the two teams in those five games, with videos to each below. The Jackets are currently tied for fourth in the NHL with the Ottawa Senators with 52 fighting majors collected on the season, sporting a fight record that’s relatively average at 18-20-14.

The Jackets are led in fights by Jared Boll (6’2”, 219lbs, 5-6-5 including a Draw with Ryan Reaves and a Draw with Chris Stewart) and Derek Dorsett (6’0”, 192lbs, 5-8-3 including a Loss to BJ Crombeen), who each have fought 16 times this season and Cody Bass (6’0”, 205lbs, 2-3-1 including a Win over Reaves, currently with Springfield in the AHL) with six. Dane Byers (6’3”, 204lbs, 0-1-2 including a Draw with Roman Polak and a Loss to Crombeen) has fought three times this season, while Derek MacKenzie (5’11”, 180lbs, 1-0-1, out indefinitely with a concussion) and Derick Brassard (6’1”, 202lbs, 1-1-0) have each fought twice. Seven former and current Jackets have fought once each this season, and they are current Blue Kris Russell (5’10”, 172lbs, Win), James Wisniewski (6’0”, 208lbs, Win, Day-To-Day with a concussion), Fedor Tyutin (6’2”, 216lbs, Win, out with a broken hand), Jack Johnson (6’1”, 231lbs, Win, acquired in trade from the Kings), Colton Gillies (6’4”, 208lbs, Draw, claimed off waivers from the Wild), Darryl Boyce (6’0”, 200lbs, a Draw with Chris Porter, claimed off waivers from the Maple Leafs) and RJ Umberger (6’2”, 220lbs, Loss).

Even with the Blues now boasting a full roster and even with the fact that the “goons” will probably sit out, I still anticipate a fight or two in this contest. Look for Scott Nichol to get involved somehow. The best possible matchup size-wise might be Dorsett, but that may be a bad fight for Nichol to take.

Win the game. Win the division. Clinch at least a 2-seed in the West. Do it.

LET’S GO BLUES!!!!!

Information obtained via the incomparable Fried Chicken’s Hockey Fights

I think Brandon Bollig is trying to tell Daniel Carcillo that he sucks. He might be right. Image via HockeyBroad/Flickr

The St. Louis Blues needed to escape that weekend with, at the fewest, three points. They got four from the downtrodden Columbus Blue Jackets, and the second one was practically stolen by the goaltender. Sunday’s 2-1 victory was a beauty, in which Jaroslav Halak showed why he will likely be the first choice in net come postseason time by flashing the leather, padding and sticks the way he so skillfully can do, with some help from his defensemen. Not only was the goaltending brilliant and the offense timely, there was a tussle in this game between Chris Stewart and Jared Boll. Sure, the fight was horrible and ended in a draw, but at least it happened, I guess. That fight, along with the pair of scraps from Saturday’s game, are all recapped with video in the most recent edition of Fight Card. Now up to 35 fighting majors on the National Hockey League season, the Blues now find themselves in a tie for eighth in the category with the New Jersey Devils and Vancouver Canucks. Adding the draw, the Blues’ fight record now stands at a very robust 15-6-14.

Didn’t we play these guys, like, last week? Yeah, that happened. Now, the Blues travel to Chicago to face the Chicago Blackhawks. Whereas the Blues’ fortunes have been on an upward trend since mid-November, the Blackhawks – while still firmly entrenched in a playoff spot – have been slipping a bit since January. We’ve covered the Hawks four times this season (November 8th, December 3rd, February 19th and March 6th). The Blackhawks have fought 34 times on the season, good for 11th by themselves in the NHL in that category, and their fight record is not bad at 13-10-11.

The Blackhawks are led in fights by one of my favorite former Blues players of all time, Jamal Mayers (6’1”, 222lbs, 4-1-5), who has fought 10 times this season. Following him is a guy I despised even before the Blackhawks signed him, Daniel Carcillo (6’0”, 203lbs, 1-3-1 including a Loss to Ryan Reaves, Out for the season after having knee surgery which happened because of an illegal hit that he got suspended for), who fought five times this year before doing the “most Carcillo thing ever” and, somehow, earning a two-year contract extension in the process. Recently-traded John Scott (6’8”, 270lbs, 4-0-0 including a Win over Reaves, traded to the Rangers at the deadline) and recent call-up and St. Louis area native Brandon Bollig (6’2”, 223lbs, 3-1-0 including a Win over Reaves) have fought four times each as Hawks this year. Andrew Shaw (5’10”, 180lbs, 1-2-0) and Steve Montador (6’0”, 210lbs, 0-2-1, on IR with the dreaded “Upper Body Injury”) have each fought three times. Bryan Bickell (6’4”, 233lbs, 0-0-2) has fought twice. Solo fighters include Dave Bolland (6’0”, 184lbs, Draw), Sean O’Donnell (6’2”, 238lbs, Draw) and Jimmy Hayes (6’6”, 221lbs, Loss). Also, be on the lookout for new acquisition Johnny Oduya (6’0”, 190lbs, Draw, acquired from Winnipeg at the deadline).

We’ll see what happens in this game, but after Reaves was replaced in the lineup on Sunday and with the arrival of Jaden Schwartz, the feeling here is that the goons for both clubs will stay in the stable for the most part, and there will be no fights. That said, a fight between Bollig and BJ Crombeen would not be the worst thing that ever happened.

Keep winning, eh?

LET’S GO BLUES!!!!!

Information obtained via the incomparable Fried Chicken’s Hockey Fights

We start with a fight that came seemingly out of nowhere . . . Darryl Boyce vs. Chris Porter. Have a look:

Boyce took exception to a hard-but-clean Porter check by flying in and . . . blasting Porter with a hard-but-Interference check. Porter didn’t like that too much, so the two dropped gloves and traded jabs. Boyce had early control but let Porter into him late, and Porter scored a takedown. Quality of punches gives Porter a win here.

Next, the other fight from Saturday’s home contest and a fight that was to be expected . . . Dane Byers vs. BJ Crombeen. Here it is:

Byers’ only tangible skill is to be an enforcer. If it weren’t for injuries and the fact that the Blue Jackets are hockey’s equivalent to a garbage can fire this season (unfortunately for them, obviously), Byers would not be playing in the NHL. That established, with this being his most tangible skill, he got his lunch handed to him by Crombeen. Don’t get me wrong, Byers threw well, but he let Crombeen basically sweater-jab him to death. And as much as I hate the sweater jab, well . . . that’s not good. Crombeen gets the victory here.

Finally, on Sunday, perhaps the most pointless fight of the three . . . Chris Stewart vs. Jared Boll, who is fresh off Injured Reserve. Here you go:

Look, I have no problem with a player standing up for a teammate after a bad play. That’s fine and dandy in my book. But Stewart should not be fighting the likes of Boll. Sure, Ryan Reaves was in the press box for this contest, and that’s fine. But how would it look if a Top Six guy got his hand broken fighting a goon on a last place team? Not good. Thankfully, nothing bad happened in this fight . . . in fact, it’s pointless to even cover the fight as it not only was horrible, but was a draw. As good a fighter as Boll is (he’s one of the top fighters in the league, in my eye), he should’ve done better against Stewart, even if he is knocking off the rust from an IR stint.

You may be wondering . . . what about that scuffle between Boyce and Kevin Shattenkirk? Well, fighting majors were not issued in that fight, so it didn’t count. Too bad, but that’s the way it goes.

This, an AHL uniform, is the only kind of hockey uniform Dane Byers would be wearing this year if the Blue Jackets were, y’know, good. Image via BridgetDS/Flickr

Beat the teams you’re supposed to beat. The Columbus Blue Jackets, no offense to them, are a team the St. Louis Blues are supposed to beat, and after a shaky beginning, that’s exactly what happened in a relatively dominant 4-1 win in the first leg of a home-and-home with our blue-coated division mates. We even got a couple scraps thrown in there . . . after a hard but clean hit by Chris Porter, former Leaf Darryl Boyce took exception, hitting Porter, causing both to drop the gloves in a fight Porter appeared to win (video here). Then, when the momentum had clearly switched to the Blues in the middle of the game, noted goon Dane Byers decided to have a go with BJ Crombeen, a fight Beej won handily (video here). A full Fight Card recap will be available at some point after tonight’s contest to capture the whole home-and-home. The Blues now stand in 10th by themselves in the National Hockey League with 34 fighting majors collected on the season. Adding the two wins, the Blues’ fight record now stands at a very robust 15-6-13. Wins in the standings, wins in the fight column . . . way to go, boys.

And now, the Columbus portion of the home-and-home with the Blue Jackets. I’ll cut the crap here, because we’ve covered them four times now this season (November 27th, December 18th, February 14th and last night). With the two fights from last night, the Jackets move into a third place tie with the Philadelphia Flyers with 49 fighting majors collected on the season, and with last night’s two losses, their fight record now dips to 17-21-11.

The Jackets are led in fights by Derek Dorsett (6’0”, 192lbs, 5-8-3 including a Loss to Crombeen) with 16, followed by Jared Boll (6’2”, 219lbs, 5-5-3 including a Draw with Ryan Reaves, on IR with a broken foot) with 13 and Cody Bass (6’0”, 205lbs, 2-3-1 including a Win over Reaves, currently with Springfield in the AHL) with six. Adding last night’s fight, Byers (6’3”, 204lbs, 0-1-2 including a Draw with Roman Polak and last night’s loss to Crombeen shown above) now has fought three times this season. Two Jackets have fought twice each, and they are Derek MacKenzie (5’11”, 180lbs, 1-0-1, out indefinitely with a concussion) and Derick Brassard (6’1”, 202lbs, 1-1-0). Seven former and current Jackets have fought once each this season, and they are current Blue Kris Russell (5’10”, 172lbs, Win, still out with a concussion), James Wisniewski (6’0”, 208lbs, Win), Fedor Tyutin (6’2”, 216lbs, Win, out with a broken hand), new Jacket Jack Johnson (6’1”, 231lbs, Win, acquired in trade from the Kings), Colton Gillies (6’4”, 208lbs, Draw, claimed off waivers from the Wild), RJ Umberger (6’2”, 220lbs, Loss) and Boyce (6’0”, 200lbs, the aforementioned Loss to Porter).

More fights? I do believe there will be, as there’s about an 18-hour turnaround from the end of last night’s game to tonight’s contest. It tends to bring out the best in the scrappy ones of the bunch. Look for not just one fight, but multiple fights. After Reaves’ misconduct from last night, I fully expect him to be involved in at least one fight, if not more.

All they do is win, or at least it seems like it. Keep up the good work, gang, and beat the teams you should beat.

LET’S GO BLUES!!!!!

Information obtained via the incomparable Fried Chicken’s Hockey Fights

Derek Dorsett gets rag-dolled quite a bit. Image via BridgetDS/Flickr

First place overall in the entire National Hockey League? That’s totally awesome. The St. Louis Blues made that happen with help from a 3-1 win over the Anaheim Ducks. The downside? Well, partially because George Parros was in the press area for this game, there were no fighting majors handed out during the contest. I’ll take the win, thanks. The Blues remain at 32 fights on the season, now good for 13th in the NHL by themselves, and the team’s fight record stays at 13-6-13.

The first of a home-and-home with the Columbus Blue Jackets takes place in St. Louis tonight, and it’s been well-documented how lowly this team has been this season. That said, the Jackets are coming off four wins in a row heading into tonight’s action after trading off assets to receive useful bodies and draft picks in return. We’ve covered the Jackets on three occasions this season (November 27th, December 18th and February 14th). The Jackets, not surprisingly, are one of the most active fighting teams in the NHL, having fought 47 times thus far in the season, good for fourth in the league by themselves. Their fight record, though, is relatively average at 17-19-11.

The Jackets are led in fights by Derek Dorsett (6’0”, 192lbs, 5-8-3 including a Loss to BJ Crombeen) with 16, followed by Jared Boll (6’2”, 219lbs, 5-5-3 including a Draw with Ryan Reaves, on IR with a broken foot) with 13 and Cody Bass (6’0”, 205lbs, 2-3-1 including a Win over Reaves, currently with Springfield in the AHL) with six. Three Jackets have fought twice each, and they are Derek MacKenzie (5’11”, 180lbs, 1-0-1, out indefinitely with a concussion), Derick Brassard (6’1”, 202lbs, 1-1-0) and Dane Byers (6’3”, 204lbs, 0-0-2 including a Draw with Roman Polak, rumored to be recalled from Springfield this weekend). Six former and current Jackets have fought once each this season, and they are current Blue Kris Russell (5’10”, 172lbs, Win, still out with a concussion), James Wisniewski (6’0”, 208lbs, Win), Fedor Tyutin (6’2”, 216lbs, Win, out with a broken hand), new Jacket Jack Johnson (6’1”, 231lbs, Win, acquired in trade from the Kings), Colton Gillies (6’4”, 208lbs, Draw, claimed off waivers from the Wild) and RJ Umberger (6’2”, 220lbs, Loss).

Being that there will be two games in two days against each other, feistiness will likely be in order for one or both of these games. Expect there to be multiple fights in one or both of these games, and involve more than several fighters to be active this weekend.

Keep. Winning. Hockey. Games.

LET’S GO BLUES!!!!!

Information obtained via the incomparable Fried Chicken’s Hockey Fights

Jared Boll, doing what he does best against Milan Lucic. Image via slidingsideways/Flickr

Why not the St. Louis Blues. This team is white hot of late, thanks to some luck and some spectacular defensive play. Their 3-0 shutout victory over the San Jose Sharks on Sunday was a prime example of the kind of play the Blues are showing that makes experts and fans alike wonder if this really is a Cup contender. I still think it’s way early to consider that, but . . . the seed is planted and properly watered, so to speak. The Blues and Sharks had some interesting scuffles in the usual “dirty areas” during a lot of Sunday’s contest, but nothing that warranted fighting majors being issued. So the Blues remain in an 11th place tie with the Buffalo Sabres with 26 fighting majors each on the National Hockey League season. The team’s fight record sticks at 12-3-11.

And now, to visit the one team in the Central Division that, at least this season, has not inspired fear in opponents. Yes, it’s off to Ohio to face the Columbus Blue Jackets! It’s bad enough when a team grossly underperforms expectations, but it’s infinitely worse when your team is in the news for stuff other than on-the-ice related issues. In the Jackets’ case, it’s been a coach’s firing that probably should have happened sooner to save the coach from further embarrassment, a fresh acquisition (Jeff Carter) who has appeared unhappy to be there and who the team is willing to offload (at least according to reports), an agent (Allan Walsh, whose arrogance seems to be endless league-wide, mind you) telling the front office that they’re misusing one of his clients (Derick Brassard, who we’ll get to later but has not exactly lived up to his expectations in Columbus, save for part of a season) and a protest in front of Nationwide Arena by Jackets fans to protest the front office and their general lunacy, among other things. Add in that the team’s goaltending has been so (predictably) awful that their current “starter” is career backup Curtis Sanford (HEY, REMEMBER HIM?!), and you have a veritable train wreck of a season. I was talking to my girlfriend about it recently, and she put it best (I paraphrase, of course): “I feel SO BAD about this team . . . and yet, I don’t. They’re the Blue Jackets.” She’s a smart woman. Moving on . . . one thing the Jackets ARE good at this season is getting into fights. We’ve covered them on two occasions in this space (November 27th and December 18th, the latter being truncated). The Jackets have fought 38 times thus far on the season, good for fourth place by themselves in the NHL. Their record in those fights is relatively decent, actually, at 15-14-9.

26 of those 38 fights are split evenly among the top two Jackets fighters, and not only do they lead the team in fights together, but they both have the exact same fight record! I am, of course, talking about Derek Dorsett (6’0”, 192lbs, 5-5-3) and Jared Boll (6’2”, 219lbs, 5-5-3 including a Draw with Ryan Reaves, out indefinitely with a broken foot), each with 13 fights. Following them is Cody Bass (6’0”, 205lbs, 2-3-1 including a Win over Reaves, currently with Springfield in the AHL) with six fights, then Dane Byers (6’3”, 204lbs, 0-0-2 including a Draw with Roman Polak, currently with Springfield in the AHL) with two. The Jackets have four solo fighters, including our pal Kris Russell (5’10”, 172lbs, Win, traded to the Blues in November), James Wisniewski (6’0”, 208lbs, Win), Fedor Tyutin (6’2”, 216lbs, Win) and the aforementioned Brassard (6’1”, 202lbs, Loss).

I would find it extremely fitting and very amusing if Russell got into a fight with someone on his old team. So I’ll go ahead and say it’ll happen . . . Russell will fight Dorsett.

Keep winning. That is all.

LET’S GO BLUES!!!!!

Information obtained via the incomparable Fried Chicken’s Hockey Fights

Cody McLeod is not afraid of Matt Bradley’s spit-take face. Image via clydeorama/Flickr

Ten goals, two fights and a victory are three good ways to shake out from a hard-battled, emotional road loss 24 hours previous. The St. Louis Blues also got some home-cooked enthusiasm in that 6-4 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Sunday. As for the two fights, they were both draws, though for different reasons I figured an edge would be given either way in both fights. First, Roman Polak FINALLY got on the fight board, and while his fight with Dane Byers (By the way, what in the bloody hell is a Dane Byers?) was adjudged a draw, I thought Polak might have been given the edge in that one because of some post-fight punching by Byers (video here). In the second bout, Ryan Reaves expectedly went at it with Jared Boll, and while Reaves started out decently, I felt Boll might have had the edge because he landed a big shot at the end of the fight (video here). Alas, both fights were called draws, and I can live with that in both instances. Also of note – Polak’s fight with Byers marked the first time a Blues player had picked up a major fighting penalty in nearly three weeks (November 29th, to be exact, was the previous time). The Blues now move into a tie for 16th in the National Hockey League with the Calgary Flames, Dallas Stars, Nashville Predators and Winnipeg Jets, each team earning 13 fighting majors on the season thus far. Adding the two draws, the Blues now hold a fight record of 5-1-7.

And the boys go back to Denver. It’s a two-game Mountain Time Zone swing that the Blues go on, first visiting “The Land of Tebow” (Yes, I am a long-time Denver Broncos football fan, sorry) and squaring off with the Colorado Avalanche. We covered this team a few weeks back (December 2nd, to be exact), and all things considered, when you take away the record and the goaltending, this is pretty much the Blues – a few studs offensively, a couple blue-line standouts and a few brawlers. But that goaltending . . . well, we’ll just leave that alone, as it’s not my area of expertise. The Avalanche have fought 14 times now this season, all alone in 15th in the NHL in that category. The Avs are a mediocre 3-6-5 in those fights.

This is about the point in the season where I forget about telling you how these teams fared in fights last year, as every team is now at least 30 games deep into the season. So let’s recap how individual Avs have fared in fights during the 2011-2012 season, shall we?

The team is led, not surprisingly, by fighter extraordinaire Cody McLeod (6’2”, 210lbs, 2-3-1) with six fights on the season. Following him are a trio of players with two fighting majors each – Shane O’Brien (6’3”, 230lbs, 1-0-1), Ryan Wilson (6’1”, 207lbs, 0-0-2, on IR with a head injury) and David Jones (6’2”, 210lbs, Day-To-Day with a groin injury). Two Avs players have fought once each, they are Ryan O’Byrne (6’5”, 234lbs, Loss) and Daniel Winnik (6’2”, 210lbs, Loss).

While McLeod may be a touch undersized for Reaves, the Manitoba native would likely not back down from a challenge by Reaves. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if McLeod challenged Reaves to a fight. But who knows what will happen, really? I’m just saying that McLeod and Reaves is the best bet.

LET’S GO BLUES!!!!!

Information obtained via the incomparable Fried Chicken’s Hockey Fights

Derek Dorsett seems unaware that Kyle Clifford could kill him. Image via BridgetDS/Flickr

I love hard-fought victories. The St. Louis Blues were able to eke out a win over the Calgary Flames by a 2-0 score, and a fight with an unexpected result took place. Ryan Reaves, starting to assert himself as one of the league’s big bruisers, took on one of the toughest SOB’s in hockey today in Tim Jackman and absolutely eviscerated him for an easy victory (see the video here). The Blues are now sliding up the National Hockey League fight standings, now holding in an eight-team tie for 13th in the league with nine fighting majors on the season. The team’s fight record now slides up to 5-0-4. Nice work, gentlemen.

And now, the squad’s first encounter with the struggling Columbus Blue Jackets, in “The House That The Ohio State University Built”, Nationwide Arena (let’s not kid ourselves, folks). The Jackets made a slew of moves this offseason that seemingly foretold a run at the playoffs to be coming in ’11-’12. What they forgot to do is get a goaltender that did not suck like a vacuum cleaner, and the team staggered out of the gate in epic fashion. With the return of the squad’s biggest offseason acquisition, Jeff Carter, from an early-season injury, the Jackets seem to have stabilized themselves. But can they contend in a very rugged Central Division and Western Conference after having such a horrible start? The rest of the season will tell us the answer. For now, though, the Jackets are all alone in second place in the NHL behind the New York Rangers with 18 (18!) fighting majors on the season. Their fight record stands at a rather unimpressive 5-8-5, however. In 2010-2011, the Jackets were eighth in the NHL with 54 fights, holding a record of 14-21-19.

Of Jackets players that have fought this season, Derek Dorsett (6’0”, 192lbs, 1-4-3) is second in the league amongst individuals with eight fights on the season. Former Senators farmhand Cody Bass (6’0”, 205lbs, 1-3-1) and the ever-violent Jared Boll (6’2”, 219lbs, 1-1-1) follow him with five and three fights respectively, and two players with one fight each include familiar face Kris Russell (5’10”, 172lbs, Win, now with the Blues) and another big Jackets acquisition over the summer, former Canadien James Wisniewski (6’0”, 208lbs, Win). Among players currently on the Jackets roster, the fighters from last year go like this: Boll (6-8-9) was third among individual fighters last year with 23 majors. Dorsett (5-9-3) was tied for sixth among individuals with 17 fighting majors. After that, it gets hairy: Marc Methot (6’3”, 227lbs, 0-1-1) and Derek MacKenzie (5’11”, 180lbs, 0-1-1) each fought twice and former Penguin Mark Letestu (5’11”, 195lbs, Draw), the aforementioned former Flyer Carter (6’4”, 199lbs, Draw), Derick Brassard (6’1”, 202lbs, Draw) and former Islander Radek Martinek (6’2”, 210lbs, Loss, on IR with a concussion) each have fought once.

There’s a lot of possibilities between these two teams, that have already had a testy past not only because of division familiarity but some feuding about silly things such as “kicking a soccer ball around in the cavernous bowels of the arena” (REALLY, GUYS . . . GET A GRIP). Reaves and Boll match up very well size-wise, though Boll gives a lot of weight up to Reaves and is coming off a broken thumb. Otherwise, I’d think Dorsett would make a decent fight matchup with Scott Nichol or Matt D’Agostini, but you’re likely not going to see either of those guys go at it with Dorsett, and it’s not like Dorsett is a spectacular fighter to begin with. Or maybe Russell has a former teammate he’d like to go at it with? We shall see.

Ken Hitchcock returns to Columbus. Will the results be positive for the Blue Note? I hope so.

LET’S GO BLUES!!!!!

Information obtained via the incomparable Fried Chicken’s Hockey Fights