Columbus Blue Jackets News Clips November 10-14, 2017 Columbus Blue Jackets PAGE 02: Columbus Dispatch: Blue Jackets | Coach tries to spark Alexander Wennberg PAGE 04: Columbus Dispatch: Blue Jackets | Gabriel Carlsson waits for more ice time PAGE 05: Columbus Dispatch: Blue Jackets: Tortorella says young team can learn from tough times PAGE 06: Columbus Dispatch: Blue Jackets | Rave review for rookie Pierre-Luc Dubois PAGE 08: Columbus Dispatch: Blue Jackets | Werenski, Jones paired on first power-play unit PAGE 09: The Athletic: Early-season struggles cost Alexander Wennberg a spot on Blue Jackets' power play PAGE 12: Columbus Dispatch: Hurricanes 3, Blue Jackets 1 | Frustration builds after fourth straight loss PAGE 13: Columbus Dispatch: Blue Jackets | Motte’s role may be diminished PAGE 14: The Athletic: Long-suffering power play must shoot its way to success for Blue Jackets PAGE 16: The Athletic: Stuck in muck vs. Carolina, Blue Jackets drop fourth in a row PAGE 19: Columbus Dispatch: Blue Jackets 2, Red Wings 1, SO | Johnson stops four-game slide with goal in ninth round of shootout PAGE 21: Columbus Dispatch: Blue Jackets | Aircraft issues cause delay in flight to Detroit PAGE 22: The Athletic: Can a sleeper become a star? Blue Jackets are banking on Maxime Fortier PAGE 24: The Athletic: Anatomy of a save: Sergei Bobrovsky rescues Blue Jackets with remarkable OT stop in 2-1 win PAGE 27: Columbus Dispatch: Blue Jackets notebook | Bobrovsky’s clutch save wows coach PAGE 29: The Athletic: Jack Johnson should be a Blue Jackets shootout secret no more PAGE 31: Columbus Dispatch: Blue Jackets | Sonny Milano tries to learn while playing less PAGE 32: Columbus Dispatch: Blue Jackets | Oliver Bjorkstrand’s play draws coach’s praise PAGE 33: Columbus Dispatch: Team looking for its identity, coach and players say PAGE 35: The Athletic: For Blue Jackets rookie Pierre-Luc Dubois, support is just a phone call — or text — away Cleveland Monsters/Prospects NHL/Websites PAGE 39: USA Today: Team USA Olympic coach Tony Granato: We have players 'who could play in the NHL' PAGE 40: Sportsnet.ca: Quick Shifts: The power of ’embarrassing’ your coach PAGE 42: Sportsnet.ca: Which players could one day contend for NHL games played title? PAGE 45: Sportsnet.ca: Jarome Iginla isn’t ready to retire from NHL yet PAGE 46: USA Today: Matt Gilroy, thriving in the KHL, now expected to become go-to player for U.S. Olympic team PAGE 48: TSN.ca: TSN Hockey's Top 10 Storylines of the Week 1 http://www.dispatch.com/sports/20171109/blue-jackets--coach-tries-to-spark-alexander-wennberg Blue Jackets | Coach tries to spark Alexander Wennberg By Steve Gorten – November 9, 2017 He’s “gone through the gamut” with Alexander Wennberg. He’s dropped him from the top line, met with him one-on-one, showed him video and nursed his confidence. Most recently, he has removed Wennberg from the power play (both units) and cut his ice time. Now, Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella is waiting, and wishing, for a certain response. “I hope he jams it to me,” Tortorella said after practice Thursday. “I hope he shows me, ‘What the hell are you doing?’ Because I’m sure a lot of (people) are saying, ‘What the hell is (Coach) doing?’ I’m doing it because I need to get his game to where it is (usually). He’s a great player, but he’s not playing great right now.” Told that Tortorella wants Wennberg to stick it to him, the center chuckled. “It’s up to me to show it then, right?” he responded. To be fair, Wennberg’s performance hasn’t dipped lately. It’s slowly gone on an upward trajectory, Tortorella noted. At the same time, “it depends on what standard you’re looking for. I’m certainly looking for a higher standard.” “I’m not ready to give there. It’s not fair,” Tortorella said of his expectations for Wennberg. “Other players lose ice time. I don’t care what you are, what (draft) pick, what money you make — all that crap. I want you to play. I want you to play for your teammates. I think Wenny has it in him. I’m not condemning him. But I need to see it.” Wennberg’s goal total through 16 games — one — is glaring. But you don’t need that statistic, or any other, to realize he has struggled so far this season. Tortorella doesn’t. “It’s the eye test,” Tortorella said. “It’s not analytics.” What he has seen, and what Wennberg readily admitted, is a lack of growth from last season, when the 23-year-old registered 13 goals and 46 assists in 80 games. The Blue Jackets need more from the player they gave a six-year, $29.4 million contract extension to less than two months ago, and Wennberg agrees. “I’m not really playing the way I wanted. I want to play better,” said Wennberg, who does have eight assists (none the past four games) and a plus-3 rating. “I want to help the team out a little bit more. It’s up to me to actually bring it. There’s different ways to do it. If it’s not scoring points, it’s getting involved in different ways. I’ve just got to find something that would help the team. “I’ve got to be more aggressive, skate more, and I’ve got to get involved in the game. Obviously, they want me to score goals and make points, and it’s something I have to work on. But you got to start with the small things and after that, you’re building on something. ... I feel like I have to be better. I know Torts wants me to be better as well.” 2 Tortorella said cutting Wennberg’s ice time and role on the power play isn’t punitive. It’s more of a loving push. “He’s been given a lot of rope to try to get his game together. I believe he will,” Tortorella said. “I think little by little his game is beginning to come. But I’m not going with, ‘Put him on the power play to get his game going.’ I’ve tried that. “A little bit of onus has to be put on the player also to try to get himself straightened out. If he does, and I have confidence that he will, we’re going to be a much better team, he’s going to be a much better player.” With Lukas Sedlak expected to miss another month because of a high-ankle sprain, Brandon Dubinsky struggling to score himself (one goal, four assists), Nick Foligno already a converted wing and Zac Dalpe day-to-day because of an upper-body injury, options at center are limited. Pierre-Luc Dubois and Boone Jenner could be moved, but Dubois is thriving as a wing on Foligno’s line, and Matt Calvert’s upper-body injury makes it less than ideal to move Jenner. “As I’ve always said, I’m not interested in benching people,” Tortorella said. “That’s an easy thing for a coach to do. I don’t want to do that to him because I think it hurts our team. But he has to show me he’s willing to give, too. It’s a two-way street here. I’m not looking to kick him. I’m looking to try to help him.” “Obviously, you want to play as much as you can, but Torts is fair,” Wennberg said. “He plays the guy he thinks is best. Right now, I’m not playing good enough. It’s not a matter of what Torts does. It’s a matter of what I do with my ice time. If I start to play good again, I’m going to earn more ice time.” 3 http://www.dispatch.com/sports/20171109/blue-jackets--gabriel-carlsson-waits-for-more-ice-time Blue Jackets | Gabriel Carlsson waits for more ice time By Steve Gorten – November 9, 2017 Gabriel Carlsson was forced to wait 10 games to return from an upper body injury. Now healthy, he has to remain patient. Carlsson saw his first playing time Tuesday night since he was hurt Oct. 13 against the New York Rangers, but his role as the seventh defenseman in the Blue Jackets lineup was limited. Carlsson, who was a healthy scratch Monday at New York, skated just six shifts and logged 5:52 of ice time (second-fewest on the team) against the Predators. “It was a lot of fun, a lot of excitement before the game,” he said. “It’s a little different when you’ve been out a couple of weeks, but I felt pretty good.” Carlsson recorded one shot on goal and was on the ice when Matt Irwin scored in the second period. “He lost his guy along the boards on the rush on that first goal. Still, he made some good plays with the puck,” said coach John Tortorella, who added that he’s not sure if he’ll use seven defensemen again Friday against the Hurricanes. “He’s a good player, but I also have a pair that has played very well in (Ryan Murray) and (Markus Nutivaara) and kind of bypassed another pair. So (Carlsson) might have to wait.” Tortorella spent part of practice Thursday meeting privately by the boards with David Savard and Jack Johnson. Much of practice was devoted to two-on-two and puck-battle drills. Quick hits Forward Zac Dalpe, a scratch Tuesday after playing Monday, didn’t practice because of an upper body injury and his status is “day-to-day,” Tortorella said.