Jackets appear to be better fit

RON HAINSEY Power-play QB

Ron Hainsey grew up just east of Hartford, loving the Whalers, reveling in everything Ron Francis and, yes, "Brass Bonanza."

"But then things began to change," Hainsey recalled late last week. "They traded Francis to Pittsburgh, and then they even got rid of the song, too. We had Whaler season tickets for years, but once the song went, that was pretty much it for my family."

The Whalers have long since departed (see: Raleigh, Hurricanes, and Stanley Cup), and Hainsey, Montreal's first pick (13th overall) in the 2000 draft, also has moved on to better environs. A little more than a year ago, the proud son of Bolton, Conn., was placed on reentry waivers by the Canadiens and wound up, hours later, on the Columbus Blue Jackets' back line.

All it cost the Blue Jackets was the discount price of some $250,000, or 50 percent of what Hainsey had remaining on his 2005-06 salary, a small investment that has begun to pay big dividends.

"You go through something like that, and you don't know where you're going to end up," mused Hainsey. "You also don't know what the new place is going to be like when you get there -- sometimes you're being used as nothing more than a Band-Aid, and next thing you know you turn around and you're right back in the same situation."

With Ken Hitchcock in charge of the Blue Jackets' revival show since Thanksgiving, Hainsey has emerged as a key component of a retooled and potent Columbus power play. The Blue Jackets are a sizzling 5-1-1 in their last seven games , and Hainsey, the 6-foot-3-inch former UMass-Lowell defenseman, is in the midst of a personal offensive surge (2-6--8 in his last eight games).

"When I left Montreal, things were sort of in a crisis situation there," recalled Hainsey. "[Sheldon] Souray was hurt. [Mike] Komisarek's mom had just passed away. [Andrei] Markov had been suspended. They called me up, thinking maybe they could get me through [waivers], and I got picked up [by Columbus]. Kind of funny how it works sometimes . . . you just never know, I guess. A year later, I'm pleased with how it's worked out."

Matt Keator, Hainsey's Boston-based agent, noted last week that his client has improved his strength and conditioning significantly in the last 2-3 years.

"And all of that has made him better able to handle the overall defensive job, especially in his own zone," said Keator. "He's a top-four defenseman who has turned himself into a pretty good package -- a guy worthy, in my mind, of real consideration for the US Olympic team in 2010."

If Hainsey keeps up anything near his point-per-game pace of late, he no doubt will like even more what will happen July 1, 2008 -- the day he is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent. Power-play quarterbacks are not easy to come by, and while his overall defensive game may still need some tightening, Hainsey, only 25, would be in store for a whopping pay raise. He is on the books this season for a modest $575,000 and jumps to $900,000 in 2007-08.

"I'd love to stay right where I am," said Hainsey, noting that his UFA date, a season and a half away, can seem like an eternity. "We have a great young team here and, to be honest, if we keep winning I wouldn't have much of a desire to go anywhere else."

All in all, quite a contrast to the Blue Jackets squad that was stuck at the bottom of the Western Conference standings when coach Gerard Gallant was sent packing less than a month ago. Hitchcock, dismissed early in the season amid the bizarre goings-on in Philadelphia, once more appears to have taken a disparate bunch of parts, as he did in Dallas, and quickly whipped them into puck proficiency.

"He is very, very . . . what's the word I'm looking for here? He's very thorough in his game preparation," said Hainsey, when asked his new coach's style. "There isn't a player on the roster who goes into a game not knowing what's going on. Everything is covered. I think that's good for a young team like us, to have everything laid out right there, and be told, 'You do this, and you're going to be successful.' We have a real focus here now on getting to the net. The forwards drive to the net. The defensemen jump up. I wouldn't call it an all-out forecheck, but when we get the puck on turnovers, the emphasis is on getting it to the net -- fast."

The coaching fairy didn't just sprinkle pixie dust over Hitchcock, who today is celebrating his 55th birthday, following last night's visit by the Blackhawks. He is using much the same approach, virtually to the X and O, that led to his dismissal in Philadelphia, where the word among the rank and file was that he was an old-world coach, too demanding on the personnel. The Broad Streeters had lost five straight when Hitchcock was canned Oct. 22, and have done little to improve their lot since his departure.

The Flyers have lost five straight and are 1-6-1 in their last eight games. They are also last in the Eastern Conference.

"I don't even think about vindication," Hitchcock said.

Why think about it when you can live it?

Their prospects are good

The annual World Junior Championship, set to begin just after Christmas in Sweden (cities: Mora and Leksand), likely will include as many as five Bruins prospects.

Netminder Tuukka Rask and forward Mikko Lehtonen are expected to suit up for the Finns. Defenseman Yuri Alexandrov is considered a shoo-in for the Russians, ditto for center Vladimir Sobotka for the Czechs. Left winger Brad Marchand found out Thursday night that he made the cut with the Canadians.

"This tournament allows you to focus in on your own prospects," said assistant general manager Jeff Gorton, part of the Causeway Street management brigade that will make the trip. "You see them play against the best in their age group, and that's hard to duplicate. Sure, you see them during the season in their individual leagues, but you might see them when they're facing a weak team, and that's not the best indicator. This is the best group of under-20s in the world, and you see how they stack up."

Gorton said he expects both Rask, acquired in the trade for Andrew Raycroft, and Sobotka, selected 106th overall in 2005, to be signed and playing in North America next season. Rask is considered among the best, if not the best, netminding prospects in Europe. Sobotka's stock has risen considerably since his draft year.

"He's a little undersized," said Gorton, noting the Czech's 5-foot-10-inch, 185-pound frame. "But he's a real competitor who gives everything he's got. You really see his playmaking skills on the power play. I wouldn't say he is like [Michael ] Nylander in overall style, but he'll hold the puck and make plays a lot like Nylander."

School may be closed, but Billington won’t stop teaching

Ex-Bruins netminder Craig Billington, who last stopped pucks for the 2002-03 Washington Capitals, is now in his third year as Colorado's director of player development.

"What's the job description? More than anything, it's teaching," said the 40-year-old Billington, who figures he spends an average of three weeks every month on the road, helping in the grooming and educating of Avalanche draft picks. "Growing up, my mom taught kindergarten and my dad taught phys ed. So I guess I come by it naturally."

The affable Billington also came by it a long time ago. Now married and about to be a father for the first time, he opened up the Billington Goaltending School in London, Ontario, when he was only 15 years old, or about three years before the Devils made him the 23d pick in the 1984 draft. One of the Billington School's former students: Jeff Hackett, also once a Bruins netminder who today is Colorado's goaltending coach. Too busy with his Avalanche duties, Billington closed the school for good only a couple of years ago.

"I have to tell you, honestly, I love this job," said Billington, who had spent two years as the Avalanche's goalie coach, working with the legendary Patrick Roy in the Hall of Famer's final season. "When Pierre [ Lacroix, formerly the Colorado general manager] came to me with this idea, he felt, as an organization, we lacked development -- that hands-on one-on-one development -- and that's what this job is all about."

Since taking charge of what was a one-man department, Billington has expanded it, bringing in Avalanche alums Sylvain Lefebvre and Steve Konowalchuk.

"One of the keys in this kind of one-on-one teaching is not only establishing a relationship with the kid, but also with the organization he plays for, and his coach," said Billington. "And with the new CBA, and the salary cap, it's crucial that you bring these kids along. In the old-world CBA, you could make a few more mistakes, and if you did you could spend to fix those mistakes. Not anymore. The whole development piece of the equation is far more critical. And you know what? It's fun. The kids keep you young."

But an average of 21 days a month on the road can wear a bit thin.

"Think about it," said Billington. "If you do this for a living, you buy clothes based on how efficiently you'll be able to get through airport security. That means shoes that slip on, and belts without metal. I mean, who knew we could all make a pretty good living making products packaged in 3-ounce bottles?"

Don't count Bruins coach Dave Lewis among the fans of the trapezoid, the only area behind the net that goalies are allowed to handle the puck. A former defenseman, Lewis thinks modern-day blue liners have been placed in a difficult spot with goalies able to offer them little support. And with the Devils in town Thursday, Lewis, an ex-employee of the 16W's, noted that the rule change, enacted out of the lockout, has taken away one of Martin Brodeur's greatest strengths -- handling the puck. "One of the league's best puck-moving goaltenders in history," said Lewis. "And now you inhibit that. For defensemen, it's impossible now to slow pursuit down. I say take it out. But that's just me."

The Blue Jackets' surge has come with a recent change in net, following an injury to 24-year-old Pascal Leclaire. The five-game winning streak for aged rookie Fredrik Norrena, now 33, came to an end last night against Chicago. "The years I was over there, I heard he was good, but I didn't see him much," said Bruins goalie Tim Thomas, who had starred in Finland. "He was [Miikka ] Kiprusoff's backup when my team [HIFK Helsinki] faced his [TPS Turku] in the finals." Norrena opened the month with back-to-back shutouts over Edmonton and Colorado.

Jeremy Roenick, not experiencing the career revival he hoped for in Phoenix, irked Coyotes coach Wayne Gretzky Tuesday in Vancouver, where he was told not to dress for a game against the Canucks. Rather than stick around the rink, J.R. slipped off to a nearby restaurant and enjoyed dinner with a beer while watching the game. "I treat players like men, and they should act like men," said The Great One, who felt the aged forward should have remained in-house. "There will be ramifications for what happened." J.R. met two days later with Gretzky and Coyotes general manager Mike Barnett, and came away from the meeting in agreement that AWOL was not the way to go. "The air is cleared and everyone is on the same page," said Roenick's Boston-based agent, Neil Abbott. "Hockey is a game of intense warriors, and J.R. and Wayne are both intense and both want to win. I think it will be fine and consider the matter closed." With only one goal in 28 games this season, Roenick, making $1.2 million on the dining beat this season, says he will retire at the end of the season.

The Senators broke a three-game losing skid with a 3-2 edging of the Red Wings Tuesday, but followed up with a 6-0 pasting Thursday night at the hands of the Predators. As for places to improve, the Senators' penalty-killing unit has given up 12 goals over a 2-4-0 stretch . . . After falling into a four-game slumber (totals: 0-0--0 with only seven shots on net), ex-Bruins captain Joe Thornton woke up with a thunderclap for the Sharks, collecting 12 points ( 2-10--12) over the next six games, and landing 27 shots on net. Meanwhile, fellow Shark Jonathan Cheechoo continues to struggle ( 11-10-- 21 in 28 games) and could be challenged to score 30 goals this season after leading the league last season with 56 . . . Lewis, asked where he likely would have fit in today's NHL: "I think I would have been a penalty leader -- two minutes at a time. You've always had to be in the right position to play the game, but that's even more the case now." . . . Columbus coach Ken Hitchcock, dismissing the notion that the new NHL is much different from the old NHL, said much the same as Lewis last week when he noted one similarity between the eras: "You have to move your feet." . . . The Czech Republic likely would have asked Bruins prospect Petr Kalus to be part of the World Junior Championship, but the 19-year-old forward, already sidelined in Providence (AHL) for two weeks, is likely to miss another two weeks with his knee injury . . . Player movement at a minimum thus far in 2006-07, it will go dormant at midnight Tuesday when the league implements its eight-day holiday freeze. Once the embargo is lifted at midnight, Dec. 27, only two months will remain until the Feb. 27 trading deadline.

Kevin Paul Dupont's e-mail address is dupont@globe.com; material from personal interviews, wire services, other beat writers, and league and team sources was used in this report.