Wow! It has been a while

I know it has been a while since I have been on to update you on what is going on. I have been enjoying summertime and everything that goes with it. Now that the Arena Football season is over, the only thing on my sports mind will be baseball. But just because the NHL is still months away from starting training camp, and the Arena Football season is over does not mean there isn't things to talk about with those.

As has been reported on all the local outlets, the Blue Jackets are in the process of revamping their lineup for the fall. General Manager Scott Howson never got the first-line center he was searching for. What he did get was some quality forwards and defensemen to boost this perennial losing team. Most will look at the list of names and scratch their heads on who these are. But what what you have to look at is they got players who are close to peaking or are at the top of their careers and a number of these players could have a breakout season.

R.J. Umberger, 26, is likely to have a breakout season. Critics say Umberger is not top center quality. I disagree. He knows Columbus very well playing at Ohio State a few years ago. That showed in the playoffs when he scored 15 points in 17 games. Umberger also showed signs of improvement after scoring 28 points in the 2006-07 season, he scored 50 points in the 2007-08 year. And playing with one of the league's premier wingers in Rick Nash will only boost those numbers. Umberger already comes in with much better numbers than center Michael Peca who scored just 34 times last season.

Kristian Huselius is also another huge scoring acquisition. He is a left winger who I expect will be converted to right wing so he can play with Nash. Believe it or not, Huselius has scored as much the last couple seasons than Nash. Huselius scored 66 times last season compared to 69 for Nash. The season before, Huselius scored 77 times compared to 57 for Nash.

Raffi Torres rounds out the new forwards. He is coming of an injury shortened season where he only played 32 games but is likely to score 30-40 times in a season. Only being 27, he is not likely to slow down anytime soon.

“Torres is an experienced NHL player who combines a physical presence with the ability to score goals,” Howson said. “He will also bring to our club the experience of someone who has played deep into the playoffs as he was a significant contributor to Oilers’ run to the 2006 Stanley Cup Finals.”

What about the forwards? Jan Hejda and Rostislav Klesla will still be key members of the blue line, however there is for the first time in team history depth back there. Mike Commodore, Fedor Tyutin, and Christian Backman all provide something different. The only thing that they have in common is they are between 25-29, and yet again the team didn't rely on getting veterans on their last limb to supply their team with talent. Commodore and Hejda would make an excellent stay at home and shutdown-their-offense pairing. Backman and Tyutin were added because they can quickly move the puck. Don't forget Kris Russell and O.K. Tollefsen.

“All strong teams are built from the backend out and we feel like we made significant strides in that area," Howson said.

So the team has upgraded at every spot, however the Central will be an even more tough division to play in. Chicago could contend this season with all their youth. Detroit is reloading, and doing a good job of it with grabbing Marian Hossa.

I also wanted to touch really quickly on the Destroyers. Doug Kay was recently dismissed as their head coach. Not a surprise after a disappointing 3-13 season following a trip to the Arena Bowl. But one thing that will be missed about Kay is his passion for what Arena Football is about; that is the fans.

After the Destroyers were blown out by the Georgia Force on June 7, many of the players did not want to come out of the locker room for the post game autograph session. Derek Lee sat in his locker with no clothes on and a towel over his head. Kay found out that many members of the team were not on the field. He ran into the locker room and told his players that they had to get out on the field. Within a second, Lee was all of a sudden not in his locker. I still have no idea how (or even if) he got dressed.

I am sure Kay saw the writing on the wall during the final home game on June 14 when the Destroyers lost a tough game to Grand Rapids. That was the infamous Justin Zwick game. After a week of the Destroyers' P.R. types building up Zwick's debut, he came in the second quarter to throw for a 47 yard touchdown. That was all she wrote. Kay put Nagy back into the game only to lose with the offense on the field at the end of the game down by three. Kay obviously always stood behind Nagy, however when asked about Zwick's play, he wanted to give credit to the offensive coordinator.