Last night the Pittsburgh Penguins got worked over by the Columbus Blue Jackets 4-0, but if nobody could see it did it really happen?
There was no TV coverage of the game, and the only way to access it was through the Blue Jackets website. Unless, of course, you lived outside of the Columbus area because the Blue Jackets geo-blocked the link. Which could be fine in 2026 with accessible VPN’s, except Columbus isn’t notable enough to have as a location on most VPN services.
This is just the latest example of the Blue Jackets being an unserious franchise. You can’t be playing these games when you’re a franchise that people already don’t think about.
Your most hated rival doesn’t think about you. Your second hated rival is an Original Six team not in your division, which you haven’t ever had a playoff series against. The third hated rival isn’t in your conference and hasn’t even started their tenth year in the league.
They aren’t on the radar of fans league-wide
Relocation not expansion
While I’m on the topic of the Blue Jackets being an afterthought in the grand scheme of things, let’s talk about NHL expansion. I am not for expansion at this time. I think the league is finally getting the proper amount of skill throughout the 32 teams. The on-ice product has higher potential than it has had for a while. More players can do cool things. The floor of the product is way better than it used to be.
I also recognize that the league wants to enter new markets (and potentially a city twice tried already). So how does the league accomplish this without diluting the talent? Relocation.
The Pittsburgh Penguins could have easily been relocated if not for the incredibly fortunate Sidney Crosby lottery ball. Every Penguins fan of a certain age knows this, experienced it, and it wasn’t great. I don’t take relocation lightly
That said, the Penguins had a league identity. There were quite a number of legendary players who came through the city; there were two championships, and they were still owned by Mario Lemieux.
Columbus doesn’t have any of that. The most notable thing they have is a cannon. A cannon that goes boom when the team scores and, when turned into a mascot, created an uncomfortable (and unintentionally funny) situation when it shot white T-shirts into the crowd. Past that? There isn’t really anything to grasp on to. Everything is mid at best.
For those reasons, I would avoid expansion and move Columbus to Atlanta. Yes, I am well aware of how ludicrous that sounds. The fact is, Atlanta is going to be Gary Bettman’s new Phoenix. It is very likely the NHL will try to go there for a third time. They will have a new arena near all the rich white suburbs this time around. And let’s face it, that is the demographic they are going for in this league. They already have two major sites competing for where the arena will eventually be built (Alpharetta and South Forsyth).
The Braves already vacated the downtown area with their new ballpark and are having better financial success. The NHL certainly sees this and it is why you still hear Atlanta being mentioned as an expansion site despite the follies of the previous two iterations.
Speaking of the Thrashers, Houston is another market I believe the league is highly interested in. Instead of expanding to Houston, the league can just move the former Thrashers there. Winnipeg isn’t a big market, and that franchise is about to implode. They missed their window, and it will be very difficult for them to organically draw talent to the team.
Because the league is going to want that sweet, sweet expansion money, you can just reframe it as a relocation fee to get around it. You’ll get someone in Houston and Atlanta to be willing to pay it.
Relocation sucks; as a Penguins and Bills fan I had to navigate the fog of relocation surrounding those teams for many years. However, I have no appetite for NHL expansion and do not want to dilute the talent. Having 32 teams is the right number. Keep it there. You have a couple of teams to have the relocation conversation with.
Day to day doesn’t mean day-to-day
Stop me if you have heard this before. A good player on the Penguins gets hurt; they tell you it is a day-to-day injury, and then hit you with, actually, this is going to be week-to-week.
Ben Kindel is the latest player to follow this all-too-common path with Penguins injuries. Amanda Kessel informed the public the other day that Kindel will be out longer than we were led to believe coming out of the injury.
This is very frustrating and really unfortunate considering how sharp Kindel’s skating looked the other night in his limited action. He is poised to take the next steps in his development, and if he were to get better linemates on a regular basis, it would certainly result in tangible offense.
Now it looks like he is going to have to claw back some of his hard work in the offseason with recovery. He may not hit the ground running like he otherwise would have. It really depends on the injury, but lower body week to week means he isn’t going to be able to keep those hockey legs churning.
This puts more pressure on the older veterans to start the year sharp. Kindel is one of their more dynamic players now and the other ones on the team are pushing 40.
Tragedy for Kuzmenko
Newly signed Penguins forward Andrei Kuzmenko got the worst news someone can get. He was informed of the passing of his father, who was on a fishing trip. The incident involved a bear.
From Dubas:
“The Pittsburgh Penguins organization was deeply saddened this morning to learn of the passing of Andrei Kuzmenko’s father, Alexander,” Penguins president and general manager Kyle Dubas said in a statement. “Our deepest thoughts and sympathies are with the Kuzmenko family and their loved ones as they grieve the loss of Alexander. We ask that the privacy of Andrei and the Kuzmenko family be respected at this time. … Andrei and the Kuzmenko family have the full support of the Penguins organization during this time.”
The organization will be doing whatever is necessary to support Kuzmenko, which may understandably include time away from the team.
It is an awful situation, and I send my condolences to the Kuzmenko family.
Opportunities to be had
With the injuries to Ben Kindel and Blake Lizotte being week to week, this opens up opportunities for other players. To this point, I believe Elmer Soderblom and Filip Hallander have the inside track to make the game-day lineup when the season starts.
Hallander has been very strong in his preseason minutes. He sports an 81.73 xGF% in his two games played. He has shown to be positionally sound and is tied for the most individual shot attempts among Penguins with 9 so far. Muse should be able to trust him to go to the places he wants him to on the ice and he has the ability to play center. Combine that with the fact he is not waiver-exempt, and he is a prime candidate to stick around.
Elmer Soderblom had a strong finish to the season last year. He was going to have to look way out of place to be on the chopping block. He hasn’t looked out of place and has an xGF% of 71.79 through two preseason games. His size and finishing ability makes him appealing.
Both players are currently among the penalty-killing units which is another plus
Ville Koivunen, given his contract, is also going to have an inside track to making the roster. With Kuzmenko taking a leave of absence it leaves another roster spot open. Koivunen appears to be in that spot currently. Here were the lines today.
These look like they could be an opening night lineup with the players available to Dan Muse.
One more preseason game to go. The Penguins visit Buffalo tomorrow at 3PM and it will be televised by both teams.
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