In a perfect world for Caniacs, Jack Johnson would have reported to camp this year and would be smashing the Blue Jackets tonight. That never happened. Somewhere along the line, Jim Rutherford gave up on signing Jack and made a decision to trade him. The rumors have been ongoing for months ever since last year's draft, and as CasonBlog reported about a week ago it was simply a matter of time. The trade: Jack Johnson and Oleg Tverdovsky for Eric Belanger and Tim Gleason. Â
I will not criticize Rutherford over this because nobody knows the particulars behind the scenes of signing Johnson like he does.  Jim Rutherford put together a Stanley Cup team last year and my memory isn't so short to forget about that. While I wish that JJ would have played for us at some point in time, I don't regret this deal right now and I doubt I will in the future because there are just too many unknowns.  I believe that Rutherford is doing what he thinks is best, he's not dumping a top prospect just for the fun of it. Although he is correcting the horrendous mistake he made in 2005 in signing Oleg Tverdovsky for 3 years at 2.5 million per year. Oleg was benched during the playoffs last year and didn't seem able to play his way off of it so far this preseason. Maybe he will do better with a change of scenery, but quite frankly he was a waste here and a very expensive one. I just hope Rutherford isn't correcting one mistake by making another.
On 850 the Buzz this afternoon, Rutherford had nothing but good things to say about Jack. But, Rutherford usually is a class act and wouldn't say anything negative even if there was something. He said he made this decision because the Canes need immediate help. There doesn't seem to be any argument about that as the defense has seemed depleted so far this training camp and the Letowski experiment at center hasn't seemed to pan out. Belanger will solve the immediate need for a 3rd line center and while Gleason isn't a Jack Johnson, he is a viable defensive prospect.
Next on the Buzz was radio play by play man Chuck Kaiton and he wasn't so politically correct. He said that he felt Jack's father had too much control over Jack and seemed to allude that he was a negative force in attempting to sign Jack. Chuck said that he had sons of his own and at age 18, he wouldn't dream of instructing them what they had to do. It does seem pretty weird that Jack's dad always seems in the picture here. Anyway, this blogger holds nothing against Jack Johnson and as the song says, "wish you were here" Jack!Â
I'll cut this post off for now because I'm about ready to leave for the game tonight. The Canes have yet to win a preseason game but tonight will be the first one using a lineup of players who will start this year.  Hopefully tonight they will take a bit more seriously and we'll see what they have.  Go Canes!
Â
Pink Floyd       Â