When your team is at home, it should be a place of advantage for several reasons, home crowd, your own bed and coaches being able to make the last move on lines all of which meant nothing on this five game home stand as the Columbus Blue Jackets came out with only one win after they lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning 3-2 on Saturday night.
To be honest, Nationwide Arena has been a house of horrors this season as the Jackets have lost 12 times in 18 home games. With that type of performance right under your nose decisions have to be made.
Here are the possible decisions that the CBJ have at their finger tips to make.
Ax Arniel – the easiest answer and the one that the Blue Jackets are far to good at making is firing the head coach. The Kings just fired their coach, Terry Murray, for being 14-14-4. Do you think their level of expectations are a little higher there in the city of angels than in Columbus? Randy Carlyle from Anaheim, Bruce Broudreau from Washington, Paul Maurice from Carolina, Jaques Martin from Montreal, Davis Payne from St. Louis and along with Murray makes six of the 30 head coaches starting the year have been fired before Christmas. That's 20 percent folks and let's you know that those organizations and many other think the fix can be started or even completed by the right man behind the bench. It looks early on that it's working for St. Louis but more on that later.
There are signs that coaching could be an issue. 24 goals being scored by the opposition in the final two minutes of periods so far this season and another 12 goals in the first two minutes of periods makes you wonder if they are ready when the period starts and how he's using the players that doesn't allow them to finish. The team is 28th in the league in scoring at 2.28 goals a game even though every move that the organization has made was to add offensive fire power. The penalty kill is 76% and 28th in the league. Tied for last in the league for the worst win percentage (.636) when leading after two periods. What it illustrates is that it's not just one area that struggles but a complete failure to this point in the season.
Blow Up The Roster – On paper the ingredients are there for success but for some reason when they are put together, disaster has happened. I liken it to cooking a dish. You could have the finest ingredients. Fresh lobster tail, the richest chocolate cake, the most authentic Tzatziki sauce, the sweetest corn bread and creamiest and richest peach ice cream all by themselves they are fantastic. You mix all of that together and your probably going to be turning green. That might be what has happened in Columbus.
One of the finest ingredients is Rick Nash who has only seen the playoffs one time during his 9 seasons with the Blue Jackets. The question has to be asked if he is unable to be the leader of the team both statistically and in the locker room and have a team succeed. There are plenty of great players that aren't built to lead and are best in playing the Robin and having someone else play the roll of Batman. Marian Hossa is a player with skill, size and the game to have him argued as one of the top ten players in the league but there is no doubt on who leads the Blackhawks and that's Jonathan Toews. Does anyone think that Steven Stamkos is the leader on the Lightning with Martin St. Louis and Vincent Lecavalier there?
The other question is could Nash swallow his pride and let another player be the captain? Could he play second fiddle to someone else on the stat sheet in the pursuit of winning? It's one thing to say that you could but it is entirely something else to live it and be happy about it. The chances of that working with the Blue Jackets is not likely. Thus, the idea of trading Nash in the attempt of acquiring multiple parts that you can put together like a lasagna and know that when your done you will be full on wins.
Fire The General Manager – It has been asked many times at what time do you start laying blame at the feet of Scott Howson. To this point there has always been an argument whether it was not enough time, or not his coach or the organization hasn't spent enough. None of that can be used as an argument now. Scott Arniel, even though it was his second choice behind Guy Boucher, was his hire. When you have a cap hit of almost $62 million according to CapGeek.com, you aren't a budget team anymore.
There is plenty that he has done that has been good, plenty that is bad and still some that is too early to know. Two things that could be the death blow for Howson is the lack of building a team with a clear cut identity and the over confidence in the ability of Steve Mason to repeat his rookie year in net.
Do Nothing – Yes, if the organization sits on their hands, they are making a decision or decisions. Ownership could sit back and say this season is lost and let's go after the top overall pick in the entry draft. Meaning they have little faith in the ability of Arniel and this team to be able to turn it around and start winning at any level.
Another possible decision from doing nothing is the level of expectations is at a point that there is no sense of urgency to turn it around in a timely manner. This is highly unlikely but when a team that is 9-19-4 is pulling in over 16,000 fans against a non-original six team in Tampa Bay makes you wonder the incentive to do anything. They also have the deal with the county, city and Nationwide that has eased the financial burden that the McConnell family had prior.
The other possible and what I think is the most likely is that they don't know what to do. Ownership doesn't want to compound the problems by doing something just to do something. They have hired Craig Patrick this month and don't think that Howson is the only guy talking to the long time hockey executive. President Mike Priest was often seen chewing the ear of Ken Hitchcock looking for ideas. Now that Hitch is in St. Louis turning around that club to the fashion of a 12-2-4, Priest needs another confidant and Patrick probably will be the one to fill the bill. A detailed and executable plan has to be put together that includes everything from prospects, coaching, current players, current staff and finally set an identity and stick with it come hell or high water.
No matter what the Blue Jackets do, they will be making a decision and telling their organization as a whole and the fan base a lot of what expectations they have not only for this season but the future.
Columbus Blue Jackets Blogger • 
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