Columbus Blue Jackets and the Metro in 18-19, Part IV
The Metropolitan Division is home to the last three Stanley Cup Champions. How do the Columbus Blue Jackets stack up heading into the 2018-2019 season?
The offseason moves and bicker between the Columbus Blue Jackets and Pittsburgh Penguins did nothing but fuel the flames in this Metro division rivalry. The bad blood won’t get a chance to boil over until Saturday, November 24th in Pittsburgh.
The Penguins most intriguing move of the offseason was, of course, signing Jack Johnson to a five-year contract worth $3.25 million per season. Johnson decided to start his career in Pittsburgh by disrespecting the franchise that he had played with for years and helped him through a terrible time in his life.
Johnson, after his high school buddy Sidney Crosby ensured he was overpaid, said that he was looking to be in a “winning culture”.
Jack Johnson: “I’ve been looking to be in a winning culture.”
— Josh Yohe (@JoshYohe_PGH) July 1, 2018
I think the Jackets would have more of a winning culture if Johnson would have been in the press box more often.
Columbus Blue Jackets
Following the comments, Pittsburgh GM Jim Rutherford doubled down on the dumbfounding comments. Rutherford stated that the Penguins knew the reason why Jack was benched during the playoffs (he’s not a good hockey player) and said that it wasn’t due to on the ice performance. This set of Coach John Tortorella who channeled his old school Torts and ripped both Johnson, Rutherford and the Penguins organization.
To make the signing even worse for the Penguins, they were forced to trade Conor Sheary in order to open up the necessary cap space to sign Johnson. Sheary and Matt Hunwick were sent to Buffalo for a 4th round pick. Sheary is a noteable loss for the Penguins that they hope rookie Daniel Sprong can fill in 18-19.
Finally the Pens brought back 41-year-old Matt Cullen because apparently Jack Johnson wasn’t enough of an ankle weight on the Pens.
The Jack Johnson story should do nothing but take the rivalry to the next level. A rivalry the Jackets look to get on the right side of this season. The CBJ lost all four of their matchups agains the Pens last year. Two of the losses were in shootouts and one was in overtime but a loss is a loss.
dark. Next. Potential CBJ Trade Chips
As long as the Pens have Evgeni Malkin, Sidney Crosby, and Phil Kessel they will be division favorites. The Pens and Jackets are, yet again, very likely to meet in the opening round of the playoffs.