The second, though, might be a bit of a surprise. Many people might say all-time penalty minutes leader – and current assistant coach – Jared Boll, but the answer is Dorsett. His 235 penalty minutes in 2015-16 led the league, and to hear Dorsett tell it, he made sure he finished atop the standings.
After all, why get that close without being No. 1? Dorsett entered the final day of the season with a six-minute edge on Philadelphia’s Zac Rinaldo, but the Flyers wing picked up 15 penalty minutes during his team’s afternoon game to take the lead by nine. (Interestingly, who was one of Rinaldo’s Philly teammates in that game? None other than Shelley.)
From here, well, we’ll let Dorsett tell the story.
“Ryan Johansen was on my line and Ryan Russell, maybe, if I recall. I said to them, ‘Boys, I’m getting 10 penalty minutes tonight,’” Dorsett remembered. “Before the game, we’re on the bench and I looked at Ryan Johansen and said, ‘Hey Joey, go hard to the net with the puck first shift. I’m coming in hot. I’m fighting the very first shift.’ And he’s kind of looking at me like, ‘You’re crazy. Like, this game means nothing.’
“But I knew I wasn’t going to lead the league in penalties all year long and then on the last day of the regular season get passed and lose the belt.”
Sure enough, Dorsett got the job done, so to speak. He dropped the gloves with New York Islanders forward Matt Martin just five minutes into the game, but that wasn’t enough to pass Rinaldo, so the two had another bout in the second period to push Dorsett over the top.
“I actually fought Matt Martin twice that night,” Dorsett said. “I fought him the first time and he goes, ‘What are you doing? Why are you doing this?’ in the penalty box. I said, ‘Man, I need four more, so we might as well fight again. We’re fighting again.’ So we fought again in the second period and I beat Rinaldo by two or three penalty minutes, I think.”
That’s the kind of attitude that made Dorsett a fan favorite, and he’d go on to lead the league in PIMs again in 2015-16 with Vancouver. But Dorsett was far from a one-trick pony, as he also had 12 goals in 2011-12 when he claimed the PIMs crown.
Dorsett played five seasons in Columbus, posting a 27-38-65 line and 727 penalty minutes in 280 games, before being dealt to New York in April 2013 in the trade that returned Marian Gaborik to the Blue Jackets. A season later, he played in all five games of the Stanley Cup Final before the Rangers fell to Los Angeles.
Interestingly enough, that trade – which also sent Derick Brassard and John Moore to the Rangers – also was a funny story.
“We were kind of sitting around, and we knew that trades were going to be happening just to where we were at in the season,” Dorsett said. “Derick Brassard texted me and said, ‘Hey, I think I’m traded.’ I lived across the courtyard from him, so I walked across and then walked in and I look at the TV and it said, ‘Derick Brassard, Derek Dorsett and John Moore traded to the New York Rangers.’
“I was kind of like, ‘Well, OK, I guess I’m coming with you.’”
Dorsett went on to play four seasons with the Canucks before retiring. A Central Ohio resident, he spent time in the Blue Jackets front office as a development coach but now his full-time job is being a dad and an "Uber driver” for his kids as they start their athletics journeys.
Of all the sports Dorsett attends now, which one does he enjoy the most?
“I’d say lacrosse,” he said. “It’s the sport that I wish I would have had the opportunity to play. There’s a lot of vicious slashes and swinging of the stick. I think I might have been pretty good at that.”
Atkinson Enjoys Retirement
When Atkinson officially put pen to paper to retire as a Blue Jacket in October, CBJ president of hockey operations and general manager Don Waddell had some advice for him.
Take some time, be retired, be with your family, and see where it takes you.
A few months later, that appears to be good advice for Atkinson, who has returned to his Central Ohio home and found plenty to do.
“Right now, I’m just trying to live in the moment and enjoy this time,” the fourth-highest scorer in CBJ history said. “Believe it or not, I’ve been busier than I’ve ever been just with my kids, doing a little bit of stuff with the Blue Jackets, obviously a lot of stuff with The Battery (Hockey Academy, which he co-founded) trying to expand and grow the game, and travel hockey.
“It’s a different kind of stress level for sure, but I’m busy. I can’t sit still, so I’m always on the go. I’m not sure if I got that from my old man or not, but yeah, I’m always going to continue to stay busy one way or another. But as of now, I’m here and enjoying my time in Columbus.”
In fact, for someone whose passion marked his game throughout a (fittingly) 13-year NHL career, the transition to leaving the ice has been surprisingly easy. Atkinson noted that his gear remains somewhere in Nationwide Arena after he wore it to be recognized with a final lap before a game earlier this year, and the pull to put it back on hasn’t bubbled to the surface for someone who posted 213 goals and 402 points in 10 seasons with the Jackets.
“It's a different feeling, but the transition has been great,” Atkinson said. “It’s been a lot easier than I anticipated. ... Don’t get me wrong, I miss it all, but I’m also in a very good state of mind. I’m where I should be.”
It helps to have three kids to shuttle around, much like Dorsett, and that includes being a hockey dad. Though, as Atkinson noted, things haven’t quite come as naturally for his 5-year-old son Caden.
“Declan, my oldest, who is 7, is a forward; I mean, my boys will be forwards,” Atkinson said. “My 5-year-old just played his first hockey tournament this past weekend and he didn’t make it past the second period one game. He threw his gloves and stick because he went offside and had a little bit of a breakaway and went down and the goalie made a save, and he was not happy about that. So he threw his gloves and his stick and he said, ‘I’m done,’ but he used the bad word in between.”
Leclaire Appreciates His Return
When Leclaire was chosen eighth overall in the 2001 NHL Draft, he likely had dreams of Stanley Cups and playoff success ahead with the Blue Jackets.
It didn’t quite work out that way, but he did make plenty of memories.
Those memories became stories that regaled the audience at the Blue Jackets’ season ticket holder luncheon Saturday, with fans often left laughing at the tales told by the gregarious former goaltender.
That’s what Leclaire was hoping for when he returned to Columbus, as the netminder was more than happy to come back to the city where he played his first five NHL seasons.
“When I got the call from (VP of communications) Todd Sharrock asking if I wanted to come in, I said yes right away,” Leclaire said. “I was pretty excited about it, and kind of touched, too. It’s not every day that you get some kind of recognition from a past organization. I only played with two teams in my NHL career, here in Columbus and in Ottawa.
“I was pretty excited about the opportunity just to bring my daughters and show them what Daddy used to do. They weren’t born when I played in the NHL. We do get the chance to go to some games in Ottawa because it’s close to Montreal, but they don’t know the Columbus chapter. To me, it’s a special event and special weekend with my family.”
While Leclaire’s career was cut short due to injury, there were highlights, including some during his stint with the Blue Jackets that included a 45-55-12 record, 2.82 GAA and .907 save percentage.
His 2007-08 season was one of the best for a goalie in team history, as Leclaire was 24-17-6 with a 2.25 GAA, .919 save percentage and nine shutouts, good for second in the NHL behind the 10 of New York Rangers star Henrik Lundqvist.
Leclaire also was on the ice for a couple of historic moments in his time with the Blue Jackets. The netminder drew the start on Oct. 5, 2005, in Washington, which happened to be the debut of touted prospect Alex Ovechkin. Now the NHL’s all-time goal-scoring leader, Ovechkin tallied a pair of goals on Leclaire in that game, prompting the Caps legend to send Leclaire a signed jersey last year when he passed the record.
Leclaire also was 180 feet from the opposing net on Jan. 17, 2008, in Phoenix when his longtime roommate Rick Nash scored what is known simply as “The Goal” in Blue Jackets lore. Nash’s winning tally with 21.5 seconds left in which he toe-dragged past two Coyotes defenders and scored past goalie Mikael Tellqvist remains the gold standard for spectacular tallies in team history.
“I was pretty happy because we were leading 3-2 in that game, and they scored on a late power play,” Leclaire said. “It’s always bad when you get tied toward the end of the game, and right after, (he) scored with about, what, 30 seconds left in the game? I was like, ‘This is great. They don’t have time to shoot again, so we’ll win.’
“When he started toe-dragging, when it worked the first time, (you think) it’s not going to work a second time, you know? Then it’s like, ‘Oh, he’s done it again, so we might have a chance.’ Obviously you see it more on replays and stuff. It happens quick during a game. But yeah, I think it’s his nicest goal that he probably scored. Maybe not the most important one, but probably his nicest.
“It’s a good memory, and I think it’s good for the younger kids that they heard about Rick Nash, but they don’t realize how good he was.”
Umberger Also Remembers History
Umberger originally hails from the Pittsburgh era but has found a home three hours west, first arriving in Columbus to play three seasons at Ohio State, then spending six years with the Blue Jackets before settling in Central Ohio after retirement.
As such, he didn't just see a fair number of iconic moments in team history, he had a hand in them as well. Take, for example, the unforgettable time when Nick Foligno blew the roof off Nationwide Arena in Game 4 of the first round of the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs with an overtime tally that clinched the first home postseason win in franchise history.
Umberger had a key part in the play, selling out to block a Pittsburgh shot and give the Blue Jackets possession. From there, James Wisniewski dove through the neutral zone to create a loose puck that Umberger reclaimed before the pass to Foligno on the rush for the winning goal.
“It was a cool moment,” Umberger said. “The last few years, they showed it a lot, so it kind of keeps coming back. It feels like it was more recent than it was, but it’s been a long time. I just remember blocking the shot and Nick scoring from far out and the crowd going pretty crazy and everybody celebrating. It was just a cool moment, and another one of those first steps in the building blocks of the history here.”
Five years before that, Umberger became the answer to another pair of CBJ trivia questions when he scored the first postseason goal and first home playoff goal for the Blue Jackets in their initial appearance against Detroit.
“If you look back at it now, it’s cool trivia questions, I guess, good moments,” he said. “When you’re in the moment, you don’t really think about that. We were just in Detroit trying to win hockey games, and we wanted to win our first game and win a series, so you don’t really think about that. I probably didn’t even enjoy it that much because we lost that first game in Detroit and we got swept in that series. But you look back on it now, they’re cool memories for sure.”
