2006–07 Columbus Blue Jackets season

Off-season

The off-season was dominated by a contract dispute with top forward Nikolay Zherdev, who had threatened to return to Russia to play if Columbus did not meet his demands. Zherdev remained a holdout for much of the preseason. However, the two parties were able to come to an agreement approximately a week before the season began.

Regular season

The Blue Jackets, hoping to qualify for the playoffs for the first time in franchise history, got off to a disastrous start, falling as low as 6–16–2 into December, briefly holding the worst record in the NHL. The Jackets' poor start led general manager Doug MacLean to fire head coach Gerard Gallant on November 13. Assistant coach Gary Agnew was named interim head coach the following day.

Gallant would be replaced a week later by veteran coach Ken Hitchcock. Coincidentally, Hitchcock's first game as Jackets head coach was against the Philadelphia Flyers, the team that fired him as head coach earlier in the season.

The Blue Jackets were shut out a league-high 16 times during the regular season. Along with the four shutouts Blue Jackets goaltenders recorded, 20 of the Blue Jackets' 82 regular-season games ended in a shutout. They were also the most penalized team in the League, with 453 power-play opportunities against.

Season standings

Schedule and results

|- | 1 || October 6 || Vancouver || 3 – 2 || Columbus || OT || Leclaire || 18,136 || 0–0–1 || 1 || |- | 2 || October 7 || Columbus || 5 – 4 || Chicago || || Leclaire || 17,133 || 1–0–1 || 3 || |- | 3 || October 9 || Phoenix || 1 – 5 || Columbus || || Leclaire || 16,298 || 2–0–1 || 5 || |- | 4 || October 14 || Columbus || 0 – 5 || Minnesota || || Leclaire || 18,568 || 2–1–1 || 5 || |- | 5 || October 20 || Toronto || 4 – 2 || Columbus || || Leclaire || 17,303 || 2–2–1 || 5 || |- | 6 || October 21 || Columbus || 3 – 5 || Pittsburgh || || Norrena || 14,637 || 2–3–1 || 5 || |- | 7 || October 23 || San Jose || 3 – 0 || Columbus || || Leclaire || 16,067 || 2–4–1 || 5 || |- | 8 || October 27 || Los Angeles || 0 – 2 || Columbus || || Leclaire || 16,087 || 3–4–1 || 7 || |- | 9 || October 28 || Columbus || 0 – 1 || New Jersey || || Leclaire || 14,015 || 3–5–1 || 7 ||

| Legend:

Player statistics

Scoring

• Position abbreviations: C = Center; D = Defense; G = Goaltender; LW = Left wing; RW = Right wing
• • = Joined team via a transaction (e.g., trade, waivers, signing) during the season. Stats reflect time with the Blue Jackets only.*
• • = Left team via a transaction (e.g., trade, waivers, release) during the season. Stats reflect time with the Blue Jackets only.*

Goaltending

• • = Joined team via a transaction (e.g., trade, waivers, signing) during the season. Stats reflect time with the Blue Jackets only.*
• • = Left team via a transaction (e.g., trade, waivers, release) during the season. Stats reflect time with the Blue Jackets only.*

Awards and records

Awards

Milestones

Transactions

The Blue Jackets were involved in the following transactions from June 20, 2006, the day after the deciding game of the 2006 Stanley Cup Finals, through June 6, 2007, the day of the deciding game of the 2007 Stanley Cup Finals.

Trades

Players acquired

Players lost

Signings

Draft picks

Columbus' picks at the 2006 NHL entry draft in Vancouver, British Columbia. The Blue Jackets picked 6th overall.

Farm teams

[[Syracuse Crunch]]

The Syracuse Crunch are the Blue Jackets American Hockey League affiliate for the seventh season. Prior to the start of the 2006–07 season, the two clubs announced they had agreed to extend the affiliation agreement for four more years.

[[Dayton Bombers]]

The Dayton Bombers of the ECHL are also entering their seventh season as an affiliate of the Blue Jackets.

[[Youngstown SteelHounds]]

The Jackets are also affiliated with the Youngstown SteelHounds of the Central Hockey League.

Notes

References

References

1. (August 22, 2006). "Zherdev threatening to stay in Russia".
2. (November 13, 2006). "Blue Jackets fire Gerard Gallant".
3. (November 14, 2006). "Blue Jackets Name Gary Agnew Interim Head Coach".
4. (November 22, 2006). "Blue Jackets hire Hitchcock as coach".
5. (November 24, 2006). "Flyers ruin Hitchcock's Jackets debut".
6. "2006-07 NHL Schedule and Results {{!}} Hockey-Reference.com".
7. "2006-07 NHL Summary {{!}} Hockey-Reference.com".
8. "2006-07 Columbus Blue Jackets Schedule".
9. "NHL All-Star Game Historical Summaries - 2007".
10. "NHL Three Stars of the Week".
11. Columbus Blue Jackets 2014–2015 Media Guide, p.301
12. "2006-07 NHL Debuts".
13. "Hockey Transactions Search Results".
14. (June 26, 2006). "Columbus Blue Jackets Select 10 Players In 2006 NHL Entry Draft".
15. (June 30, 2006). "Blue Jackets Acquire LW Fredrik Modin and Goaltender Fredrik Norrena from Lightning".
16. (October 25, 2006). "Blue Jackets Acquire Ryan Caldwell from New York Islanders".
17. (November 29, 2006). "Blue Jackets Acquire D Derrick Walser from Carolina".
18. (January 26, 2007). "Blue Jackets Acquire Center Zenon Konopka, Left Wing Curtis Glencross".
19. (February 23, 2007). "Canes acquire Carter for playoff run".
20. (February 27, 2007). "Sabres add Conklin from Columbus".
21. (May 16, 2007). "Blue Jackets Acquire Fifth Round Pick From Boston".
22. (July 1, 2006). "Blue Jackets Agree to Terms with Defensemen Kris Russell and Anders Eriksson".
23. (July 6, 2006). "Blue Jackets Sign G Ty Conklin and D Tomas Kloucek".
24. (July 21, 2006). "Columbus Blue Jackets Sign Defenseman Jamie Pushor, Center Janne Hauhtonen".
25. (August 9, 2006). "Columbus Blue Jackets Sign Defenseman Filip Novak".
26. (August 22, 2006). "Blue Jackets sign former AHL MVP".
27. (September 13, 2006). "Blue Jackets Sign Free Agent Forward Anson Carter".
28. (February 28, 2007). "Transactions".
29. (March 25, 2007). "Transactions".
30. (June 2, 2007). "TRANSACTIONS".
31. (July 1, 2006). "NHL RELEASES FREE AGENT LIST".
32. (July 1, 2006). "Lightning ink Eddie Shore Award winner".
33. (July 7, 2006). "Depleted Oilers patch up blue-line". The Expositor.
34. (July 10, 2006). "Devils Sign Defenseman Colin White".
35. (July 27, 2006). "Syracuse Signs Four Players to AHL Contracts".
36. "Cam Severson".
37. "Jeff MacMillan".
38. (August 18, 2006). "Penguins ink puck stopper Penner".
39. "Radoslav Suchy".
40. "Jan Hrdina".
41. (August 30, 2006). "Columbus Re-signs Sugden".
42. "Alexander Guskov".
43. (October 12, 2006). "PrairieThunder roster". The Pantagraph.
44. (December 15, 2006). "Simon Signs AHL Contract with Syracuse".
45. "Transactions de la Ligue Nord Américaine de Hockey (LNAH)".
46. (December 10, 2006). "Enforcer Corner". The Times-Tribune.
47. (June 21, 2006). "TRANSACTIONS".
48. "Jaroslav Balastik".
49. (July 1, 2006). "Blue Jackets Re-Sign Forward Alexander Svitov".
50. (July 11, 2006). "Blue Jackets Re-Sign Defenseman Ron Hainsey to Two-Year Deal".
51. (July 18, 2006). "Blue Jackets Re-Sign Goaltender Pascal Leclaire".
52. (July 22, 2006). "Blue Jackets Re-Sign Forward Jason Chimera to Multi-Year Contract".
53. "Aaron Johnson".
54. (September 8, 2006). "Blue Jackets Sign Trevor Hendrikx to Entry Level Contract".
55. (September 11, 2006). "Blue Jackets retain Westcott".
56. (September 15, 2006). "Thursday's sports transactions".
57. (September 21, 2006). "Blue Jackets Sign 2006 Top Pick Derick Brassard to Three-year Contract".
58. (September 28, 2006). "Jackets end cold war with Zherdev, re-sign right wing".
59. (February 11, 2007). "Blue Jackets Re-Sign Goaltender Fredrik Norrena to Multi-Year Contract".
60. (February 26, 2007). "Blue Jackets make deal with Modin, put Fritsche on IR".
61. (March 20, 2007). "TRANSACTIONS".
62. (March 28, 2007). "Activity". The Gazette.
63. (April 8, 2007). "Hockey". The Baltimore Sun.
64. (May 3, 2007). "Blue Jackets Sign OHL Goaltender of the Year Steve Mason".
65. (May 26, 2007). "Blue Jackets sign left wing to entry-level contract".
66. "2006 NHL Entry Draft Picks at hockeydb.com".
67. [http://www.syracusecrunch.com/press/index.cfm?&action=display&pr_id=1450 Syracuse Crunch and Columbus Blue Jackets extend affiliation agreement], Syracuse Crunch press release, July 31, 2006. Retrieved December 9, 2006.