Umberger's recent play

[plong123]

Like a lot of CBJ fans, early in the season I may have been a bit harsh on RJ. I might have said things like 'he was slow, he was missing the net, he couldn't defend, looked old out there', etc etc.

But in the last two weeks, he's right up there with Bob and Vinny as one of our most valuable players.

Maybe it was a function of the lockout, and not being in game shape, but he's completely changed my view of him. He's shown some burst. He's been fighting into the hard areas. He's been battling to the font of the net. He's had some beautiful shots.

In short, he's looked like a guy who deserves that contract he got. His re-emergance cannot be overstated as to the effect on this team. He's a leader, and he's fighting. One of the many reasons that this is my favorite CBJ team in 5 years.

Click to read more...

 

[InjuredChoker]

Yeah, good to see him increase he's trade value .

 

[EspenK]

Yeah, good to see him increase he's trade value .

Not that he will waive(maybe for Pitt?) but I agree. No sarcasm intended.

 

[GrimReeper]

I completely agree with the OP. It's no fluke that once Umby started getting his game back this team kicked it into another gear.

He's been dominating in the tough area's. At times, he looks like one of the fastest skaters on the ice. I can see him out there directing people too.. There is not doubt, that he's on of our best veteran leaders.

This guy is a playoff monster. You don't trade away one of your only guys with playoff experience. We need to get him back there.

 

[Doug19]

Maybe he could try scoring a goal every once in awhile.

 

[EspenK]

To suggest Umbie has been the catalyst for the team's recent resurrection, is to me, a pipe dream. Has he played better? Yes.
But so has the entire team as a defensive, checking unit, which I believe is the key element, as well as reduction of turnovers and better goal tending. To give Umbie the credit or even a lion's share of it is wrong.

Oh, and let's not forget the PK.

 

[Robert]

He's playing better, especially in front of the net... but as some have said, he is a small part of the recent CBJ resurgence. When I think of player’s recent play Matt Calvert comes to mind much quicker than RJ Umberger.

 

[Crede777]

Many on here called that he would pick it up. That's not what we had problems with.

What we had problems with is how slow he is to get going. Here's an idea... how about you play this way when the season begins?

 

[GrimReeper]

Many on here called that he would pick it up. That's not what we had problems with.

What we had problems with is how slow he is to get going. Here's an idea... how about you play this way when the season begins?

Do you honestly believe that he was not attempting to play at this level when the season began? Umby lives full time in Columbus. My bet is he did his Ohio State gig just to get on the ice more.

Maybe he could try scoring a goal every once in awhile.

According to Portz he actually had the OT winner last week. Which would put him at 5 or tied for second on the team.

I'm not even a big Umberger fan but I feel the need to defend him. Fact is, he and Prospal alone, are our only PROVEN forwards. I think a lot of people only remember the last 3 games. Rather than the last 4 years.

If the guy had a 70 pt season I think some of you would still hate him.

 

[EspenK]

Do you honestly believe that he was not attempting to play at this level when the season began? Umby lives full time in Columbus. My bet is he did his Ohio State gig just to get on the ice more.



According to Portz he actually had the OT winner last week. Which would put him at 5 or tied for second on the team.

I'm not even a big Umberger fan but I feel the need to defend him. Fact is, he and Prospal alone, are our only PROVEN forwards. I think a lot of people only remember the last 3 games. Rather than the last 4 years.

If the guy had a 70 pt season I think some of you would still hate him.

You mean the one that brushed him (maybe) on the way in? 99.9 AA's .1 to Umbie at best.

And if Umbie ever had a 70 pt season (or was even back to the mid-50's) I don't think we'd be having this discussion.

And I think a lot of people remember the first 70 games last year as well as the atrocious start. had last year been normal this year wouldn't be as bad.

 

[pete goegan]

He put on a burst to get by on the outside, yesterday, that I thought he no longer had. Good for him, but I fear that his inability to do that a month ago was a result of poor preparation for the season. The question is: was that solely due to the lockout, or, since he also started slowly last year, is his off-season dedication in question?

 

[SuperGenius]

I completely agree with the OP. It's no fluke that once Umby started getting his game back this team kicked it into another gear.

This, in particular, is why it's so disappointing when he has the kind of start to the season that he's had lately. The same thing happened last season. When Umby is going, the team is going, no doubt about it.

 

[Jaxs]

This, in particular, is why it's so disappointing when he has the kind of start to the season that he's had lately. The same thing happened last season. When Umby is going, the team is going, no doubt about it.

Which brings to question, does the team have to be "going" for Umby to get going?

I think it has to do with conditioning this year, and possibly an injury last season. It is hard to feel sorry for a guy who isn't pulling the rope as hard as everyone else, which has been evident in parts of two seasons in a row.

 

[Viqsi]

Maybe he could try scoring a goal every once in awhile.

Sorry, who was it who scored in regulation for us against Vancouver three days ago again?

* * *​

To suggest Umbie has been the catalyst for the team's recent resurrection, is to me, a pipe dream. Has he played better? Yes.
But so has the entire team as a defensive, checking unit, which I believe is the key element, as well as reduction of turnovers and better goal tending. To give Umbie the credit or even a lion's share of it is wrong.

Oh, and let's not forget the PK.

Yes, how dare we actually give him credit for improving along with the rest of the team instead of, y'know, hanging like a millstone around the team's neck like all of those folks who can't stand him would prefer. Having one's assumptions challenged is wrong, and he should know better than to actually pick up his game.

For shame, Umby. For shame.

Seriously. I sometimes worry about how much homeristic love I give Umby, and then I see posts and sentiments like these and remind myself that by comparison I'm pretty restrained.

I want to see him doing better out of the gate myself (his season start was just disgraceful), but this is silly.

 

[Doug19]

Sorry, who was it who scored in regulation for us against Vancouver three days ago again?

Sorry, who is it who has four goals on the season and is making 4.6 million this year? He scored a goal against Vancouver and has 3 points in his last 5 games, wow. First off Umberger's goal had absolutely nothing to do with Umbeger. Welp we better make a thread and talk about how awesome he is and that the team goes when he goes. Johansen and Foligno did all of the work along the wall and Foligno gave a pass that even I could have scored on. Please, the guy is the worst on his own line. This team doesn't go where Umberger takes them, it just so happens that Umberger doesn't look like absolute garbage while the rest of the team is playing great. I can think of two guys on Umberger's own line who look like they are making a bigger impact than Umberger.

Umberger has nothing to do with Calvert playing possessed, or the defense playing amazing, or Bob standing tall. Umberger has nothing to do with the continued great play of Foligno and Johansen, or our fourth line going out every night and giving this team 7-10 solid hard checking minutes. How about the old guy on the team Prospal and hell even Brassard looks pretty solid now (surely it is just a coincidence that this happens when he is no longer playing with Umberger). I can't think of a single impactful thing that umberger does or has done this season outside of tapping in a goal that even Voracek couldn't shoot high and wide.

Lets give credit to the people that actually are the reason for the win streak, and that even includes the guy I hate the most Todd Richards. Congrats to Umberger he's removed himself from the should be scratched list to the he effective enough to not be scratched list.

 

[Samkow]

He's lost the "should be healthy scratched" label but has he played well enough for me to agree with the OP? Not really.

 

[Fro]

He's lost the "should be healthy scratched" label but has he played well enough for me to agree with the OP? Not really.

sometimes the simplist responses are the most correct

 

[EspenK]

Sorry, who was it who scored in regulation for us against Vancouver three days ago again?

* * *​

Yes, how dare we actually give him credit for improving along with the rest of the team instead of, y'know, hanging like a millstone around the team's neck like all of those folks who can't stand him would prefer. Having one's assumptions challenged is wrong, and he should know better than to actually pick up his game.

For shame, Umby. For shame.

Seriously. I sometimes worry about how much homeristic love I give Umby, and then I see posts and sentiments like these and remind myself that by comparison I'm pretty restrained.

I want to see him doing better out of the gate myself (his season start was just disgraceful), but this is silly.

"A man hears what he wants and disregards the rest"- Paul Simon

Guess this applies to a woman also. I didn't say he was a millstone, I merely said that to give him the credit for the teams revival is wrong.

 

[Roadman]

"A man hears what he wants and disregards the rest"- Paul Simon

Guess this applies to a woman also. I didn't say he was a millstone, I merely said that to give him the credit for the teams revival is wrong.

Not to say he is the reason, but note when his play picked up the one goal loses went to one goal wins. The line between winning and losing sometimes is so fine it doesn't take too much to go one way or the other.

 

[major major]

I thought he only looked bad out there for the first couple weeks of the season. But he brought his game around (of course, people kept writing the same things about him for another couple weeks).

I'm also not sure if it was a conditioning factor for him at the start of the season. Does anyone have solid information on this? It looked to me like he was just mentally out of it, and he just looked slow because of that. His season start's are inexcusable either way.

Umby does a lot of things right for this team, even when he is not scoring at his average 2nd line clip. He's a warrior on the PK and on the boards. I think he's playing well right now, blocking shots in one end and dominating the other with Foligno and Joey.

 

[EDM]

For those who said Umberger would have no trade value ..... begin to doubt yourself.

 

[Double-Shift Lasse]

What you'd like from a leader is to be playing well even when the team isn't. Won't always be and you can live with it at times. So whsat we're left with is a guy who was playing poorly when his team was playing poorly and has improved as his team has improved. Which is the result of which? Not ready to give RJ credit for anyone's improved play but his own.

 

[Viqsi]

Sorry, who is it who has four goals on the season and is making 4.6 million this year?

Brandon Dubinsky? Oh, wait, he's making $400k less and has 3 less goals. Silly me!

I'm not about to claim that Umberger's dragging this team kicking and screaming to competitiveness - that's overstating things. But he's actually back to contributing now on a reasonably consistent basis... and yet folks still bristle and get defensive and testy at the very suggestion that he could possibly be doing well by this team

I get it, I get it. G-d forbid we stop whipping the whipping boy.


Then again, at least you've acknowledged those four goals existed and that there has been improvement, so at least some reality is intruding on judgment even if the conclusion seems a tad extreme. I'm not sure certain other posters (okay, more like one poster, singular, but naming names would be bad) would be willing to even do that much.

 

[Cyclones Rock]

For those who said Umberger would have no trade value ..... begin to doubt yourself.

I'm sure that Jarmo's cell has been ringing non stop

Umberger has 6 points in his last 10 games (a 50 point pace) while getting roughly 19 minutes of TOI-including a lot of PP time. Nothing to get excited about, but still much better than most of the past 2 seasons-which speaks to how putrid his play has been for the bulk of that time.

I can't see any team really thinking that Umberger is the piece of the competitive playoff puzzle that they lack. He is getting the minutes and situations that a top scorer gets and he wouldn't be getting these advantages with most any other team not named the Columbus Blue Jackets.

This very small sample (10gp/6pts.) of a lower end of acceptable point production is not going to make Umberger a tradable commodity. The bulk of his play over the past two seasons and his contract make that almost impossible.

The talk of Umberger to Pittsburgh that occurs on this site is just silly. They only have $10 million of cap space available for next season with 3 of their top 9 forward positions needed to be signed and the pressing need of defensive help.

So, include me among those who are not doubting themselves.

 

[blahblah]

lol, Really?

He's been a part of the team that is winning a team game right now. I don't care if he plays at a .5 or .6 PPG pace, as long as he plays the two way game that he did in the past and is starting to play a little more of now.

He's no longer a liability, at this moment in time. Enjoy it and let the roster take care of itself down the line.

We all know I don't like Brass all that much, but I'm enjoying his last 2 or 3 games.

Don't give him (RJ) too much credit or too little. The team, as a whole, is playing pretty well with injuries. Good for the players in the lineup right now.