from Michael Arace of the Columbus Dispatch,

The Blue Jackets are the chic midsummer pick to leap the pack in the Eastern Conference. They ought to be. Expensive teams that are not the Philadelphia Flyers look good on paper, especially in July. And the Jackets are expensive.

The salary-cap ceiling for 2015-16 is $71.4 million. According to NHLnumbers.com, the Jackets have but $3.6 million in remaining cap space — and most of that is set aside as a “bonus cushion” (in case, say, Ryan Murray activates some bonus clauses in his entry-level contract).

In fact, the Jackets are one of the seven most expensive teams in the league. That might change as other teams fill out their rosters, but the bottom line is the Jackets’ bottom line. They are no longer a budget team. They have spent just about as much as any team can spend. We are not accustomed to this, not in our market.

So, Jackets fans ought to doff their cap to majority owner John P. McConnell. Whatever else one might say about the man, he has been willing to spend on talent. That is all one can ask of an owner. The rest is on management and on the players.

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