NHL Network: Elliotte Friedman on NHL Tonight when asked about the Columbus Blue Jackets.
** NHL Rumors.com transcription
Kevin Weekes: “But Friedge. Johnny talked about this earlier. I want to kind of lead a different direction. What do you see with the Columbus Blue Jackets right now?
We know they’ve got a lot of talented young pieces. We saw the news about Patrick Laine. But unfortunately it’s another down year for them. They’ve got great fans. It’s a great building. What happens with the Jackets right now going forward?
Friedman: “Well, I think the biggest thing that we’re all gonna be talking about here in the second half is you know, do they make changes and how high do those changes go?
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Like they had a really tough start to the season with the whole (Mike) Babcock situation. You know, hiring him and then he didn’t make it to the start of the year before they had to let them go. And I think people have wondered since then, what would be the repercussions? Now, it was very close to the beginning of the year. I think they wanted to see how things played out.
You know, to me, the (David) Jiricek situation comes at the absolute worst timing for them. You know, he’s a really good player. He’s going to be a stud on their blue line for a long time.
I thought he handled it really well. Like the fact that he, because I did hear rumors that he wasn’t going to show up in the American Hockey League. He went, he played, he spoke to Aaron Portzline. He outlined his concerns. I think he handled it pretty maturely.
But I think what we’re all wondering about here with the Blue Jackets is, I think internally they’ve been taking a long look about where they’re going, and what they need to do.
And I just think we’re wondering if there’s going to be some big changes there. And just how high do they go? And I think the other question is, when do they decide to do it if they do decide to make changes?
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Mike Johnson: “They’ve kind of mired in neutral for a while now expecting more, not quite getting there.”