Written by Adam Burke

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The Columbus Blue Jackets have spent this week trying to cram three weeks worth of practice into one week, without their former star player Rick Nash, and with a head coach who was only behind the bench for half of the 2011-12 season. The other 29 teams in the National Hockey League are facing the same time crunch, but with fewer hardships, and with a lot more of a roster to work with.

It appears to be an uphill climb for the Jackets entering the 48-game 2013 season, which will begin on Saturday night in Nashville. Prior to the lockout, Rick Nash was traded to the New York Rangers in exchange for Artem Anisimov, Brandon Dubinsky, Tim Erixon, and a first-round pick in the 2013 NHL Entry Draft. Without Nash’s commanding presence, the Jackets are without their captain and most gifted offensive player, entering a shortened season where every win and every point is critical. All of that while hoping Steve Mason has a bounceback season or Sergei Bobrovsky can provide some help in net.

Not only do the personnel problems represent some difficulty for the Jackets, but the all-conference schedule gives the team one of the worst travel itineraries in the league. With games only against the Western Conference, the Jackets will travel to the Western time zone four separate times out of their 24 road games, including two different six-game road trips. The team will also play on back-to-back nights 11 different times. The condensed schedule will pose problems for every team, but the Jackets especially.

Though the tone of this preview, so far, has been a lot of doom and gloom, the Jackets do have some exciting young players to keep an eye on in a season that should be looked at for development purposes rather than for results. Only four players on the roster are 30 or older and two of those four are just on the other side of 30. Free agent Adrian Aucoin, an 18-year veteran of the NHL, and 16-year veteran Vinny Prospal will serve as the elder statesmen on the team. Both Aucoin and Prospal will perform in key roles, but will also help mentor the younger players.

It remains to be seen if 20-year-old Ryan Johansen, the team’s first-round pick in 2010 will make the club, but Matt Calvert, Cam Atkinson, and John Moore all appear locks to be on the Opening Night roster and their development is critical to the team going forward. Atkinson made an immediate impact last season, scoring seven goals and adding seven assists in 27 games. Moore, the team’s 2009 first-round selection, went through some growing pains last season, putting up a minus-27 rating in 67 games, with just seven points.

Ultimately, the Jackets’ chances of making the playoffs rest on the shoulders of the new guys that they have acquired over the last year-and-a-half. Anismov and Dubinsky from the Nash deal, Colton Gillies, who the team acquired in the middle of last season, Nick Foligno, whose free agent rights the team acquired from Ottawa just before the lockout, and Bobrovsky, the former Flyers goaltender that the Jackets traded for last summer, are all going to have to contribute to the cause on a regular basis for the team to be successful. The nice thing about this group, which also includes defenseman Jack Johnson, who the team acquired in the Jeff Carter trade, is a versatile collection of players with skill, speed, grit, and tenacity. While the Blue Jackets lack a top notch scoring threat, they have a lot of talented role players with offensive upside.

RJ Umberger, James Wisniewski, Fedor Tyutin, and Derick Brassard highlight the returning players and consistency will be needed from them. After a career year in 2011, Umberger regressed a little in 2012, posting a 20-goal season, but only 40 points, his lowest point total in a season with the Jackets. Wisniewski had an impact on the powerplay, but suspensions and injury really never allowed Wisniewski to get into a groove for the team, as he played in just 48 games. Tyutin also missed some games with injury, though he nearly matched his 2010 offensive output in 14 fewer games. Brassard remains an enigma and a player who the Blue Jackets need to take the next step. The 2006 first-round pick has averaged just 41 points per full season and is minus-48 over the last three seasons.

The wild card, as he always seems to be, is Steve Mason. Mason was not given a whole lot of help from the team in front of him last season, posting a career-worst 3.39 goals against average and an .894 save percentage, well below his career average. It will be interesting to see who the number one starter is between Mason and Bobrovsky or if neither guy is able to distance himself in the goaltending battle. Unfortunately for the Blue Jackets, Mason’s spectacular 2008-09 rookie season looks to be an outlier rather than the norm. After failing to address their goaltending needs in both the Rick Nash trade and the Jeff Carter trade, the pressure is on Mason and Bobrovsky to keep the team afloat and give them a shot at making the playoffs.

If it sounds like the hopes aren’t very high for the Blue Jackets this season, that’s because it’s a dose of reality. The team has a lot of new faces and the shortened training camp is not going to help. Along with the rough travel and the lack of a dependable scoring threat, the Blue Jackets project to be at the bottom of the standings and have a great shot at securing the first overall pick in the June draft.

That being said, in a short season like this, anything can happen. If a goaltender gets on a two-week hot streak and the team gets some early confidence rolling, they can accumulate enough points quick enough to control their own destiny and be in the driver’s seat. One unfortunate element of this shortened season is that one team is sure to be left out of the playoffs because of a bad start, even though they’re one of the better teams on paper. There are a lot of wild cards and intangibles in play and the Blue Jackets could, potentially, be a surprise contender, since it won’t take six months of playing well to make the playoffs, but rather two or three months.

My advice to Jackets fans would be to take the season for what it’s worth and enjoy having hockey back. If you’re looking for results this season, you will probably be disappointed. Another silver lining to this season is that John Davidson will have a major say in personnel decisions and this season gives him a great opportunity to evaluate his players in advance of what is sure to be a hectic offseason with the new changes to the league’s collective bargaining agreement. With Davidson working alongside former Penguins general manager Craig Patrick and current Jackets general manager Scott Howson, the focus will undoubtedly be on improving for the future. Davidson was one of the main architects of the St. Louis Blues and their turnaround has been drastic and thoroughly impressive. In other words, the Columbus Blue Jackets organization is in much better hands than it previously was and this season will be the start of something better.

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A brief update on the Lake Erie Monsters…The Monsters shook off the loss of seven players that were recalled to Colorado Avalanche training camp and took two out of three on the road last week in the state of Texas. The Monsters will finish up their six-game road trip this weekend with trips to Hershey and Syracuse.

The end of the lockout will have an effect on the Monsters, who could lose two or three of their key regulars, but it won’t affect them as much as some of the other teams in their conference, who, in some cases, are losing entire first lines, goaltenders, or all of their top defensemen. The Monsters may even get their entire team back unscathed.

The Monsters are currently tied for fifth in the Western Conference with 43 points, but are listed in seventh due to tiebreakers. They are also tied for the second-most games played on the season. With 39 games played, the season is more than half over for the Monsters, who play a 76-game schedule.

Slightly past the halfway point, the Monsters are fifth in the conference in goals scored, but only one goal separates each of the top five teams in that category. Unfortunately, the Monsters are second-worst in goals allowed with 121, the same number of goals they’ve scored.

Once Disney on Ice leaves town, the Monsters will return home for a five-game homestand beginning January 24 and ending February 5.