The Weekly Dis
Blue Jackets trade for Mason Marchment
I've wondered aloud here whether Blue Jackets president/general manager Don Waddell might compelled to give his roster a shake. He did so late Friday night, when the Jackets acquired C/LW Mason Marchment from the Seattle Kraken for a 2027 second-round draft pick and a 2026 fourth-round pick.
When you trade two picks for a 30-year old forward who might be in regression, it's no blockbuster. Context is important here.
Trade rumors have been swirling around Marchment and there were reports that the Toronto Maple Leafs, who signed Marchment to his first pro contract, and the Dallas Stars, for whom Marchment played four seasons, were in the mix. These teams know Marchment and they wanted him back. That is interesting.
Waddell, then, managed to proffer a winning bid and get a deal done before the NHL's holiday roster freeze went into effect at midnight. Official word didn't come until a half-hour later, after the paperwork was processed by the league office. Waddell has some workboots.
In a press-release statement, Waddell said: “Mason is a player I know very well, and I think he will add a great deal to our team. He is a physical, hard-nosed competitor with proven offensive ability and we are very excited to have him join the Blue Jackets.”
There has been some chatter about the Jackets lacking physical oomph in their lineup, especially since Mathieu Oliver went on the shelf with an injury a couple of weeks ago. Marchment is 6-feet-5 and 212 pounds, and he is not shy.
So, there's that.
Marchment broke in with the Panthers and played two seasons in Florida. In 2022, he signed a free-agent contract with the Dallas Stars. He had some good years in Dallas – he was a 20-goal, 50-point player at his peak – and played on three teams that made it to the conference finals. (I had him on my fantasy team at times when the line he was playing on was fire.)
The Stars, looking for some cap relief, traded Marchment to Seattle for a third- and a fourth-round pick last summer. New Kraken GM Jason Botterill wanted Marchment for physical presence, complimentary scoring and playoff experience. In 29 games with the Kraken this season, he had 4-9--13.
Marchment is in the final year of a contract with an annual average value of $4.5 million. For his career, he has 80-122--202 in 331 games.
The Blue Jackets have the draft picks. The also have the cap space, around $15 million of it, in fact.
In terms of budgeting: Marchment's contract with the Stars was front loaded and Seattle picked up a portion of his signing bonus; thus, the Jackets are only on the hook for around $1.5 million.
Bottom line here:
Waddell didn't have to touch his NHL roster or move any prospects for a middle-six forward who can at times drive play, is good on the walls, provides some depth scoring and brings a physical presence. Marchment is not shy.
For a couple of picks, the Jackets got a veteran rental for 48 games. If they continue to bury themselves in the standings, Waddell can always flip Marchment at the trade deadline and get back the draft picks. Maybe, a first-round pick. The market will be there.
This was no blockbuster, but it was a no-brainer.
As for Olivier ...
Olivier has been out with an "upper-body" injury since Nov. 26. He has been back skating for more than a week.
"I haven't had to put on the brakes yet, which is a good thing," he said after taking a twirl during an optional pre-game skate this week in Columbus.
"I have to stick to the timeline," he said, without revealing the timeline. "It's going well. I expect to get a couple of practices in (soon). The next steps are getting through a practice, and then contact. I don't make the final decision. Hopefully, I get the green light (soon)."
I'd like to see a line that includes Olivier and Marchment. That'd be, how shall we say?, a tenor change. Olivier plays a very definite role and, when he is in the lineup, only stupid people hit Werenski, and then the stupid people get punished.
I'm not a troglodyte like Porty, but I see the value.
Jody Shelley has speculated that Olivier will be back for the New Jersey game at Nationwide on New Year's Eve. Do a search on "Blue Jackets New Jersey Devils." Interesting.
A god among us
Thursday night, the Jackets fell by a 5-2 score to the red-hot Minnesota Wild at Nationwide Arena. The game was much closer than the final score indicates as the Wild chucked in two empty-net goals in the final two-plus minutes.
Zach Werenski, who has no room for moral victories, issued a manifesto to the media post-game. Much respect.
The first half of his issuance is included in a post below. The second half was a compare-and-contrast with the Wild, and it went like this:
“That’s just a good hockey team that knows how to win,” Werenski said. “There was no panic in their game. It’s just them coming up, playing their game in the third period, playing hard, getting back on track. They did nothing out of the ordinary except just stick to their game plan and keep coming and keep coming. That’s what happens. Good teams find ways to win and they don’t stray from the game plan. They don’t turn the puck over at the blue (line) or whatever. They play a direct, simple game, and at the end of the day, their skill will take over and they’ll make plays and score.
"I hope we can learn from that, and learn from watching a team like that, who’s won six straight and are on a bit of a heater right now. But like I said, enough is enough of this losing."
Werenski is in the fourth year of a six-year contract that has an AAV of $9,583,333. He made a declaration of his dedication to Columbus when he signed the deal in 2021. At this point, to say he is sick of losing doesn't come close to describing how sick he is of losing.
It should be every CBJ fan's fervent hope that Waddell and coach Dean Evason can provide Werenski ample reason to think that he, Z, the best player in the history of the franchise, doesn't have go win somewhere else. We've seen that before. To borrow a favorite phrase of Werenski, "it sucks."
Thursday night, Werenski scored both the Jackets' goals against the Wild. He also had a brace in the Jackets' previous game, a 4-2, OT victory over the Anaheim Ducks.
Currently, Werenski is second among NHL defensemen in goals (13) and points (38) through 34 games. He is on pace for 90 points, which would be a new franchise record for a single season. And he's a defenseman.
A first-ballot Hall-of-Fame defenseman.
Posts
Monday: I didn't necessarily foresee Waddell making a move, but I did wonder if it was time to do so. Also, peek-in at the continental conflagration that is former Crew coach Wilfried Nancy and the firestorm in at Celtic.
Michael Arace
Wednesday: News broke that Yoann Damet was the man to coach St. Louis City. Thus, Crew GM Issa Tall's preferred in-house candidate to replace Nancy was no longer an option in Columbus (another sign that the Tim Bezbatchenko era in Columbus is drawing to a close – with charts!). Also in this post, more on Nancy and the conflagration in Glasgow. And I've fired my copy editor again.
Michael Arace
Friday: A plug for Season 1, Episode 2, of my CBJ podcast. The guest is ESPN's John Buccigross, who won four consecutive intramural basketball championships at Heidelberg College, and who orders a Crew-themed sweatshirt from Supporter Supply Co. Bucci floats some inside info about the chances of John Tortorella reuniting with Jarmo Kekalainen in Buffalo. Juicy. Also in here is the first half of Werenski's manifesto of frustration:
"I feel like it's the same thing we've been saying: we're playing well enough to win – but it's getting old. We keep losing. Enough is enough. It's unacceptable. ... At the end of the day, this is getting outrageous. We're a good hockey team and we're just losing games. Or, maybe we're not a good hockey team. I don't know. At the end of the day you've got to win games to be a good team.
"Yeah, it's frustrating. That's definitely a good hockey team over there, but I don't think they're better than us. They just ... they win. That's what it comes down to.
"At the end of the day, guys just have to step up and give a little bit more, especially in crunch time in third periods. Obviously, it's been a hot topic. We just have to find ways to dig in, and win. We're all sick of it. It's on no one else but us to get ourselves out of it. It's a fine line, but we're on the wrong side of it more often than not and, like I said, that's unacceptable."
Michael Arace
Note to paid subscribers: I'm still working through software issues (read: my idiocy) I've had with embedding podcasts in emails. My pods for "Cannon Balls" and "The Crewcible" can be found at Spotify and Apple Podcasts. The problem is with the emails; if you go to thedisrespected.com website, embeds work. Anyway, as I work through the bugs (idiocy), here's the link for the latest "Cannon Balls," which, unless I'm wrong – and it's entirely possible I'm wrong – will be usable in the emailed newsletters: https://open.spotify.com/show/1U0B3SfcOVcxpI3VuTbGoK
Clockwise from top left: Pita House by day. Pita House by night. One side of menu. My usual: The gyro plate with eggplant and cauliflower salads, topped tzatziki, with included hummus and warm pita. The flip side of the menu.
Two weeks ago in The Dis, I kicked off what will be a regular, or at least semi-regular, feature for Saturdays – a look at my favorite strip-mall restaurants. The first installment was about Stav's Diner at 2932 E. Broad.
Michael Arace
I grew up with a bunch of siblings in a big, active kitchen. I worked in restaurants a long time ago. More recently, I had a side gig cooking Italian on Monday nights at a local dive bar/cafe. Food experiences, like music, place us at a certain place and time, and orient our lives. Whenever Mrs. Arace and I and the kids are back to Hartford, a stop at the First and Last Tavern on Maple Ave. in the South End is automatic. The Italian menu is extensive and first-rate – but the pizza is to die for.
I've been in Columbus for 26-plus years now. I remember the first time I went to certain joints – like the Brown Bag in Italian Village, or Wario's Beef & Pork in the Arena District, or the Tacoriendo truck over by Africentric High School (or their brick-and-mortar joint on Refugee Rd.), or Speck in the heart of Downtown ... I can go on here. The entire North Market. The entire East Market. And so forth.
These are places that were recommended to me, or that I would recommend to you.
I try to walk every day and I walk all over the place. Recently, it occurred to me that on Fridays I tend to walked to any one of four places East Broad for a (relatively) cheap breakfast or lunch. Stav's Diner is one of those places. The three other's are within 100 yards of Stav's. They're in three different strip malls.
Strip malls were invented in Columbus, for good or ill. The first was the Bank Block on Grandview Avenue in Grandview Heights, opened in 1928. Town & Country, which opened on E. Broad St. in Whitehall in the late 1940s, was the modern successor. Both were built by Don Casto, Sr., whose eponymous development and construction company still survives (and thrives, as far as I can tell).
Throughout Central Ohio, the hellscapes that are strip malls contain scores and scores of restaurants serving classic American fare and ethic food offerings from all over the world, for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Most of them are mom-and-pop shops where the food comes straight from a family's heart.
I'm starting with recommendations from my corner of the city. One block from Stav's is Pita House, a family-run operation that has been open since 2010. Here, you'll find an excellent gyro among many choices. (Look for the lunch special of two gyros for $7.99.) Check out the rest of the menu in the photo gallery above.
I've been patronizing Pita House for more than a decade. There are Greek offerings here but, generally speaking, there's a tilt toward the Middle Eastern. It's Always solid. Always. Take a good look behind the glass at the steam table, which teams with a wide variety of offerings, before you order. The eggplant salad is my favorite.
If you have any strip-mall restaurant recommendations, feel free leave a word in the comments section that is open to paid subscribers below.
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Michael Arace
