from Michael Arace of the Columbus Dispatch,

It is a good season to stink, or to be hit by a tsunami. The two young men rated at the top of the 2015 draft class, forwards Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel, have been described as “generational” players. Sidney Crosby has allowed that McDavid might be even better than he was coming out of junior hockey.

That is the way Stanley Cup champions are built, by having good timing with god-awfulness and reaping the benefits in the draft. The Pittsburgh Penguins in their dark years drafted Marc-Andre Fleury, Evgeni Malkin and Crosby. The Chicago Blackhawks drafted Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane.

The Los Angeles Kings picked up Dustin Brown in the loaded draft of 2003, Anze Kopitar in the top-heavy draft of 2005 and Drew Doughty in 2008.

Those are players you can’t swing a trade for or sign as a free agent. Ryan Johansen is one of those types. How long did it take the Jackets to find a true No. 1 center?

The think about tanking is it takes commitment. The Jackets are on pace to lose 550 man-games to injury. That is a certain type of commitment. The Jackets had a 6-15-2 record coming out of last weekend. They were last in the NHL with 14 points in 23 games. That is a certain type of commitment.

Then they swept a home-and-home with the Florida Panthers. In the second game, Sergei Bobrovsky had a franchise-record 52 saves. Jeez, Bob, now you’re getting hot?

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