"The Blue Jackets expect to take 24 players on their flight to Sweden late Saturday, meaning the roster they carried into last night's 3-2 shootout win over Minnesota will need to be halved in the span of four days. The easy part will go down today, when 10 to 13 players are jettisoned from training camp and sent to their junior clubs, to minor-league camp in Springfield, Mass., to Europe or home to ponder their hockey futures. The truly difficult choices are only now taking shape, and they'll be put off until Friday or Saturday. Blue Jackets coach Scott Arniel again articulated the organization's stance on veteran players, those with one-way NHL contracts that in previous years tended to guarantee spots on the NHL roster. "Those guys have a long leash. They've earned it," Arniel said. "I know as an ex-player, you're trying to get yourself going, but it just isn't the same as a regular-season game. I think a lot of them have gotten better as camp goes along, and I hope there's also more to give." In the next breath, Arniel acknowledges that those same leashes are just long enough to trip over. "If we come down to Saturday night," he said, "and we feel that somebody is above and beyond the better player than a player who was here, or slotted to be here, we're going to make that decision. We'll make that move." Of the 24 plane tickets to Sweden, three will be held by goaltenders - Steve Mason, Mathieu Garon and David LeNeveu. At forward, 12 spots seem to be farely well determined: Rick Nash, Antoine Vermette, Kristian Huselius, R.J. Umberger, Derick Brassard, Jake Voracek, Nikita Filatov, Ethan Moreau, Sammy Pahlsson, Jared Boll and Derek Dorsett are done deals. Veteran winger Chris Clark has not had a great training camp, but it's hard to imagine the club eating his $2.5 million salary while he played in the minor leagues." http://www.bluejacketsxtra.com/live...10/09/29/tough-cuts-are-upcoming.html?sid=101
