27 Columbus Blue Jackets

As one of the NHL's ardent anglers, Kevin Dineen knows about landing the big fish. In August, Dineen and fellow Blue Jackets forwards Geoff Sanderson, Jody Shelley and Tyler Wright went on a five-day fishing expedition off the Alaskan coast, a trip in which the group pulled in about a hundred coho salmon, red snapper and halibut. "Tons of fish," says Dineen. "Big, strong and fast fish."

However, they didn't land the biggest fish of the off-season. The prize catch belonged to general manager Doug MacLean, who made a trade with the Panthers for the first pick in the June draft and used it to select 18-year-old left wing Rick Nash, whose size (6'3", 188 pounds) and skill remind scouts of a young Brendan Shanahan. ( Florida received the No. 3 pick plus the option to swap first-round choices with Columbus in 2003.) Nash won't make the Blue Jackets a Stanley Cup-contender this season, but he's another important building block for the third-year franchise, joining All-Star defenseman Rostislav Klesla, 20, and top goalie prospect Pascal Leclaire, 19, who will start the season in the minors. Says Dineen of Nash, "He's going to be a very special player."

That's good news for Columbus, which endured a season of inept play and off-ice tragedy in 2001-02. The Blue Jackets dropped 14 points in the standings (from 71 in 2000-01) primarily because of a lack of scoring (164 goals, fewest in the NHL) and the league's second-worst road record (8-29-3-1). The team suffered emotionally following the accidental death of 13-year-old fan Brittanie Cecil, who was hit in the head by a puck last March 16 at Nationwide Arena. Soon after, forward Serge Aubin's father-in-law was killed in a car crash, and then MacLean's father died of cancer. "They were a discouraged group last April," MacLean says of his club.

There's a brighter outlook to this season, not only because of the injection of youthful talent but also because of the addition of three steady veteran free agents: 33-year-old center Andrew Cassels (50 points in 53 games for the Canucks last season) and defensemen Luke Richardson, 33, and Scott Lachance, 28. The Blue Jackets still won't make the playoffs, but with Nash, Klesla and Leclaire, the foundation is set. And that's no fish story.

[This article contains a table. Please see hardcopy of magazine or PDF.]