I was backstage in Philadelphia when the Blue Jackets drafted Sonny Milano.
More than anything, I was excited that I had time to eat my dinner before Columbus was on the clock. When you’re picking No. 2 or No. 8 (the Blue Jackets often found themselves in this range), you’d better eat fast because as soon as your GM walks off the stage, it’s lights-on for the team staff. The player is whisked into media interviews, autographs, appearances…it's a nearly two-hour adventure that ends in time for more work if you have a second first-rounder.
No. 16 overall? Cake walk.
Then came 2015. Sunrise, Florida. 100 degrees. Zach Werenski is the eighth pick. We do the media tour, get our quotes and get to work. Then we get the call that Jarmo Kekalainen has traded back into the first round to take Gabriel Carlsson. Ironically enough, my co-worker and I had interviewed Carlsson the day before at the NHL’s big media event with the prospects — one of us said something to the effect of “why did we waste our time talking to him? We have a top-10 pick.”
Good thing we got that interview.
Oh yeah. Sonny.
If I remember this correctly, they played his famous “stick tricks” YouTube video on the video board at Wells Fargo Center after his name was called by Blue Jackets head scout Ville Siren. The poor kid took dozens of questions and half of them involved that video, which was cool and all, but he wanted it to be known that he can play hockey, too.
The comparisons to Patrick Kane were lofty and probably a bit misguided, but there’s no denying how much talent rests within Milano. He’s driven. He’s really, really competitive and that spark comes from his parents, particularly his dad Frank. Frank Milano and I spent a weekend together watching Blue Jackets games in Traverse City a couple of years ago, and he’s watching every nuance in his son’s game.
Sonny has been prodded over the last few years to pay attention to the details. Back-check properly, reload the right way. Be mindful of where the puck needs to go, and not only when you have it on your stick. Most anyone you talked to would agree that, when Milano assembled the pieces, there was one hell of a player ready to break out.
Is this the time? I hope it is. I’m rooting for Sonny, and he’s going to get his shot starting Friday.
MAKING SENSE OF THE SENSELESS
There have been some weird-ass contract disputes over the last few years.
Perhaps none more so than what just concluded between the Blue Jackets and Josh Anderson. Was the juice really worth the squeeze?
It's like looking at a jug of Sunny D and hoping it turns into Simply Orange if you stare at it long enough.
I’m not sure if the player and agent thought they could milk the Blue Jackets into an extra hundred grand by playing the waiting game, but the situation seems pretty simple: take this deal by a certain date or it’s off the table. Next deal? You may not like it as much, but it’s got an expiration date too. Don’t like that one? Guess what, there’s a Dec. 1 deadline or else you can’t play at all this season.
You don’t need super-secret intel to figure it out. The only thing Ferris can do is threaten to take his client overseas, but Anderson is on his way to Columbus this week from Ontario and not Zurich. I think everyone knew where this was headed.
The conclusion isn’t at all surprising. Anderson wants to play. He’s been in contact with his teammates throughout the negotiations and they want him in the room. They know he’s an important part of the team and they’re better off with him than without him. Just like Ryan Johansen three years ago, Anderson decided the best course of action was to take the deal on the table and join his team.
And so, we move on.
WHO ARE YOU?
“I’m no one,” says Rey in the first trailer for The Force Awakens.
Rey believes she’s no one. Her life is one of a nobody. She’s a scavenger on a war-ravaged planet that saw the final battle between the New Republic and the Empire. We’re led to believe she knows little about that, as her knowledge of the Rebellion heroes is more mythical than factual. But there is clearly more to her story, even if we don’t actually hear that exchange between she and Maz Kanata in the movie.
I’ve got friends who think Rey is a Skywalker.
Others think she’s a Kenobi. Snore.
My take (which not many agree with) is that this trilogy is at its best, from a storytelling standpoint, if she’s not blood of those families. Why can’t we piece together her story in this new era, this new period of distress between the Resistance and First Order and figure out why the hell she was thrust back into it?
I know, I know. The damn lightsaber.
One of the biggest missteps in The Force Awakens is that spoken line from Maz — “it’s a story…for another time” — in reference to Luke’s lightsaber is a total throwaway. Fuck you, J.J. Abrams. Yeah, I know there are stormtroopers busting into the castle about to whoop some ass, but can we explore that a little further? Where did she get the lightsaber and why does she matter in this, other than being a conduit to the criminal underworld?
No pressure, Rian Johnson, but I’m going to need all these questions answered.
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