Much of the twitter banter last night surrounding the Blue Jackets roster included the excitement of a Horton visit, and the question mark surrounding a Prospal extension. It was enough to get me into a couple of late night heated debates about the value of an aging Prospal not only to the team, but to the fan base. It caused me to pose a question to my fellow twitter’ers that served some intriguing results.
The question I asked (for a reason), was who the original culture change with Columbus began, whether it was Prospal or Davidson. The results were nearly unanimous, with Vinny getting somewhere in the realm of 15-20 responses, with honourable mentions to JJ, Nash’s departure, and Howson’s removal.
I asked the question simply because the Blue Jackets fan base has an astounding ability to fall in love with players. It is very hard to take any bias away when considering what is best for Columbus, and I can’t help but think it’s playing a part for Vinny to stay.
What Prospal brought to Columbus upon arriving was immense. He was a catalyst in removing the cool ‘country club’ attitude of many in the locker room, questioning the conditioning levels of the team, questioning the lack of competitiveness both on the ice during games and in practice. He brought crazy passion to the fans even in scrimmages, grossly over-celebrating (entertainingly so) for scoring goals in simple drills.
On ice, he has been known to score goals at important times. 16 goals in his first season as a Blue Jacket, and 12 goals in a shortened 2012/2013 season was good enough for first place on the team in points, as well as second place in goals (behind only Mark Letestu).
What you can’t get out of those statistics, was his speed on ice. His tenacity, while unwavering, cannot withstand the rigors of an 82 game season, and his speed was slowed noticeably by the end of each year. At age 38, he is nearly 12 years older than the average age of the Columbus roster (26.42). With the average age of forwards in the NHL being 27.31 in 2012/2013, he is on ice playing against guys who are on average, 11 years his junior. While these stats are not perfectly telling, it does show that the NHL trends are towards younger, talented players, giving fair reason to have Vinny on the bubble.
To the actual decision making process of the Columbus front office, I am comfortable with Vinny not returning due to only one scenario. The top nine needs to be more competitive, and more talented, than he is. If you consider the current mix of players under contract you see the following justifiably in the top nine;
Gaborik – Foligno – Atkinson – Anisimov – Dubinsky – Umberger – Johansen
I think if you see a Vinny contract, he can comfortably slot in below each of the seven players listed above, leaving the following to round out the current NHL roster;
Calvert – Letestu – Comeau – Jenner – MacKenzie – Boll
This isn’t a bad NHL forward roster, but it is void of too many true scorers; has question marks on guys like Umberger and Johansen; a budding prospect in Jenner; and a pretty visible need to improve the top nine even with Prospal in the lineup. I expect to see the addition of at minimum one, if not two legitimate top nine forwards during free agency, whether it’s through UFA signings or trades, leading me to the only reasonable excuse why Vinny wouldn’t get an extension.
He’s not a fourth line forward. No matter how I look at it, how I divide it, or how many excuses I can generate, I simply do not see a way to convince Prospal to play a successful role on the checking line of this hockey club. He has not averaged less than 15 minutes of ice time per game for more than a decade, and is at his best with the puck on his or his teammates stick. He doesn’t seem terribly into the dump and chase, and while he doesn’t shy away from a check when needed, he would be a far cry from ideal there. Simply put, this roster, at the end of today, might have outgrown the needs of this aging veteran.
It will more than likely have some negative ramifications. Vinny has said that he wants to remain part of the team past his playing career, but considering he might not be done playing yet, this could cause some animosity. He is a great asset to have in convincing players to join the club, however once again, I believe the need for that has been reduced by the introduction of JD, Jarmo, and this new life, new attitude squad.
This has been a pretty long winded response to come to a relatively simple conclusion. Vinny will always be a major cog in the Columbus rebuild, whether he was THE change or not; but, at some point, we as fans need to stop worrying about the names on the backs of the jerseys, and start focusing on what will make the team get above that playoff line for only the second time in franchise history. Offense was a pretty clear need throughout the 2012/2013 season, and I for one am excited to see it being addressed.
Carry the Flag.
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