Ice Scoopz: Friday Morning

Lots of new rumors on the go after a day off. We'll start with the several waiver claims made yesterday.

*-> The Anaheim Ducks claimed forward Ben Maxwell off waivers from the Winnipeg Jets.

*-> The St. Louis Blues lost Taylor Chorney to the Edmonton Oilers.

*-> Mattias Ritola was waiver yesterday by the Tampa Bay Lightning then loaned to MODO of the SEL after not being claimed.

Now on to the rumors I'll start with the situation in Columbus

*-> I'm hearing lots of rumblings out of Columbus today. I received a text yesterday from a buddy saying "watch Nash". From what I'm hearing around the league is Rick Nash may be unhappy in Columbus and ready to pull the plug after watching his franchise consistently bomb. There's not doubt that absolutely nothing has worked out for the Blue Jackets except Rick Nash and maybe the signing of Vinny Prospal. Most of their high level prospects have busted and or have struggled with their careers playing in Columbus. Lets take a journey back in time for a second and look at where the Jackets first rounders have gone

2011(8th) - None - Traded to Philadelphia (Sean Couturier) with a 3rd Round Pick 2011 (Nick Cousins) and Jakub Voracek for Jeff Carter

2010 (4th) - Ryan Johansen -

2009 (21st) - John Moore -

2008 (6th) - Nikita Filatov - Trade to Ottawa for 3rd Round Pick 2011 (Thomas Tynan)

2007 (7th) - Jakub Voracek - Trade to Philadelphia for Jeff Carter with 2011 1st Round Pick (Sean Couturier) and 2011 3rd Round Pick (Nick Cousins)

2006 (6th) - Derek Brassard -

2005 (6th) - Gilbert Brule - Trade to Edmonton for Raffi Torres

2004 (8th) - Alexandre Picard - Trade to Phoenix for Chad Kolarik

2003 (4th) - Nikolai Zherdev - Trade to New York Rangers with Dan Fritsche fro Christian Backman and Fedor Tyutin

2002 (1st) - Rick Nash -

2001 (8th) - Pascal Leclaire - Trade to Ottawa with a 2nd Round Pick 2009 (Robin Lehner) for Antoine Vermette

2000 (4th) - Rostislav Klesla - Trade to Phoenix with Dane Byersfor Scottie Upshall, and Sami Lepisto

So when looking at the above for a team that has essentially picked in the top 10 for the past 10 years the Blue Jackets should boast a pretty good line-up. When Rick Nash and Rostislav Klesla (both of which were Doug Maclean era picks btw) have been your only real success the problem lies with the scouting staff and management. Ryan Johansen is their only real blue chipper in the organization and Rick Nash after being promised the ship would turn around for many years now is undoubtedly frustrated. So I believe the rumors about him being unhappy in Ohio. I don't think Rick Nash is the type to request a trade but we do remember he did test the waters of free agency in 2009. The more the ship continues to sink I have a feeling the Rick Nash rumors will persist. I highly doubt anything in Columbus is going to change without a complete overhaul of the management and even the roster.

*-> Bob McKenzie of TSN believes a deal is in the works to send defenseman Fedor Tyutin somewhere and the Nikitin deal could be a prelude to something bigger. I've been hearing Tyutin's name dropped a few times as well so we'll have to watch him over the next few hours. As for destinations I'm hearing Dallas and Montreal so far.

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