Blue Jackets versus Wild, picking a winner ten years in

Four franchises in the National Hockey League are celebrating milestone anniversaries during the 2010-11 season. Wittingly, they come in pairs.

The youthful twosome – the Columbus Blue Jackets and Minnesota Wild – will have a complete decade of NHL action under their belt come spring 2011, while the elder pair consisting of the Vancouver Canucks and Buffalo Sabres is only a decade away from the half century mark.

Although neither Vancouver nor Buffalo have enjoyed remarkable success over their tenure in the NHL – zero Stanley Cups and only five conference titles over a combined 78 years – their initial growing pains have been mended for quite some time. Ultra eager Buffalonians and Vancouverites have been fortunate enough to be blessed with buoyancy, and in turn hardware, over the past couple years – see Tyler Myers, Ryan Miller and Henrik Sedin – leading them to believe that the Promised Land is within grasp.

Conversely, in the direction that the Blue Jackets and Wild are aimlessly walking, growing pains appear to be a component of not only their past and present, but their future as well.

To be frank, the NHL’s millennium year expansion projects have been ensnared in mediocrity since their inception into the world’s greatest hockey league.

Case in point, who has wasted the prime years of their elite franchise player by simply neglecting the fact that he needs a legitimate No. 1 center to work with in order to be fully effective? That would be Columbus. Oh, and who sold out 409 consecutive home games – Oct. 11, 2000 to Sept. 23, 2010 – only to reimburse fans with a measly 10 playoff wins? That would be Minnesota.

Most importantly is another question. Who has progressed at a slower pace over the course of their first decade in the NHL? The answer is subjective and debatable, but made clearer through a direct statistical comparison.

[php snippet=1]

1. All-time regular season record:

Minnesota – 763 games, 342 wins, 303 losses, 55 ties, 64 overtime losses

Columbus – 765 games, 294 wins, 370 losses, 33 ties, 67 overtime losses

Edge: Wild

2. Best regular season:

Minnesota – 48-26-8 (first in Northwest with 104 points in 2006-07)

Columbus – 41-31-10 (fourth in Central with 92 points in 2008-09)

Edge: Wild

3. All-time one-two punch:

Minnesota – Marian Gaborik (459 points in 531 games) and Andrew Brunette (299 points in 450 games)

Columbus – Rick Nash (445 points in 545 games) and David Vyborny (317 points in 543 games)

Edge: Blue Jackets (Why? Although the right-hand men were relatively even in terms of production and assistance to each team’s stud, Nash trumps Gaborik)

4. Hardware collected:

Minnesota – Jack Adams Award (2002-03), Roger Crozier Saving Grace Award (Dwayne Roloson, 2003-04; Niklas Backstrom, 2006-07), William M. Jennings Trophy (Manny Fernandez and Niklas Backstrom, 2006-07)

Columbus – Rocket Richard Trophy (Rick Nash, 2003-04), Calder Memorial Trophy (Steve Mason, 2008-09), NHL Foundation Player Award (Rick Nash, 2008-09)

Edge: Blue Jackets (Why? Quality outshines quantity in this category)

5. Quality of fan base:

Forbes.com published a story after the 2008-09 season slotting the Wild in at No. 5 in the league on a “best fans” list while the Blue Jackets hold down the current No. 27 spot in average attendance.

Edge: Wild

6. Furthest playoff run:

Minnesota – lost in the Western Conference Final to Anaheim in 2002-03 (4-0 series loss)

Columbus – lost in Western Conference Quarter-Finals to Detroit in 2008-09 (4-0 series loss)

Edge: Wild

7. First selections in NHL Entry Drafts:

2000: Minnesota (Third overall: Gaborik), Columbus (Fourth overall: Rostislav Klesla)

2001: Minnesota (Sixth overall: Mikko Koivu), Columbus (Eighth overall: Pascal Leclaire)

2002: Columbus (First overall: Nash), Minnesota (Eighth overall: Pierre-Marc Bouchard)

2003: Columbus (Fourth overall: Nikolai Zherdev), Minnesota (20th overall: Brent Burns)

2004: Columbus (Eighth overall: Alexandre Picard), Minnesota (12th overall: A.J. Thelen)

2005: Minnesota (Fourth overall: Benoit Pouliot), Columbus (Sixth overall: Gilbert Brule)

2006: Columbus (Sixth overall: Derick Brassard), Minnesota (Ninth overall: James Sheppard)

2007: Columbus (Seventh overall: Jakub Voracek), Minnesota (16th overall: Colton Gillies)

2008: Columbus (Sixth overall: Nikita Filatov), Minnesota (23rd overall: Tyler Cuma)

2009: Minnesota (16th overall: Nick Leddy), Columbus (21st overall: John Moore)

2010: Columbus (Fourth overall: Ryan Johansen), Minnesota (Ninth overall: Mikael Granlund)

Edge: Blue Jackets (Why? Minnesota has had their last seven draft picks play only 338 total games for them while Columbus has had their supreme seven play 590 total games in the red, white and blue)

8. Top five roster additions since January 2009 via free agency and trades:

Minnesota – Martin Havlat, Guillaume Latendresse, Matt Cullen, Jose Theodore, John Madden

Columbus – Ethan Moreau, Antoine Vermette, Anton Stralman, Jason Williams, Nathan Paetsch

Edge: Wild (Why? Simply put, Minnesota is making an honest effort to improve their roster while Columbus is not)

9. Top rookie in 2010-11:

Minnesota – Casey Wellman (12 games, 1 point)

Columbus – Kyle Wilson (18 games, 9 points)

Edge: Blue Jackets (Why? Due to the low level of production from rookies on both teams, the best way to decide the edge is by point production)

10. Current squad’s performance in 2010-11:

Minnesota – Settling into expectations (predicted by The Hockey News to finish 13th in West) with a 11-11-4 record (13th in West)

–Eighth in NHL when a man up

–14th in NHL when a man down

–7th in NHL in most shots against per game

–24th in NHL in goals per game

Columbus – Overachieving (predicted by The Hockey News to finish 14th in West) with a 15-10-1 record (Sixth in West)

–29th in NHL when a man up

–17th in NHL when a man down

–19th in NHL in most shots per game

–20th in NHL in goals per game

Edge: Blue Jackets (Why? Overachieving or not, Columbus is in a playoff spot at the moment while Minnesota is in trouble in a tight Western Conference)

So there you have it – an in-depth evaluation of the two NHL clubs who opened up shop in 2000-01 and are still surviving, despite an overall meager output.

You be the judge as to who has progressed at a slower pace – the Columbus Blue Jackets or the Minnesota Wild?

*All statistics taken from NHL.com, ESPN.com and Hockey-Reference.com.

**All stats current as of Dec. 7, 2010

[php snippet=1]