After taking a couple months hiatus, I am back writing for The Good Point. I should have a piece out every other Thursday.

Today I wrote about the sorry state of the Columbus Blue Jackets. The vultures are certainly circling as the team rots in last place, and plenty of Leafs fans have turned their dreams of Bobby Ryan and Ryan Getzlaf into dreams of Jeff Carter and Rick Nash.

According to Sportsnet reporter John Shannon, close friends of Nash are saying the star winger is willing to waive his no-trade clause, but won't outright ask for a trade. Whether true or not, it has certainly fueled the speculation that Nash is on his way out of Columbus.

Elliotte Friedman of CBC made an excellent point in his 30-thoughts column this week, saying that with the Blue Jackets hosting the All-Star game next season, how can they trade Nash beforehand? Who is going to get the home fans excited?

In my article for The Good Point I'm actually defending the Blue Jackets and saying that a rebuild now might be one of the worst moves the franchise can make. Seeing how Columbus is pretty much the antithesis to a model expansion franchise they probably won't heed my advice.

Success in the NHL came quickly and easily for Dion Phaneuf. Almost immediately upon entering the league, the 9th overall pick in the 2003 NHL Entry Draft drew comparisons to both Al MacInnis and Scott Stevens for his big shot and even bigger hits.

In his rookie season, Phaneuf scored 20 goals and 29 assists, firmly entrenching himself as one of the game's brightest young stars.

Phaneuf improved on his point totals in the next two seasons, scoring 50 and 60 points, respectively. That third season also saw Phaneuf nominated for the Norris Trophy with Zdeno Chara and eventual winner Nicklas Lidstrom. That was the beginning of what many thought would be an annual accolade for Phaneuf. The Flames certainly thought so, as they awarded Phaneuf a 6-year deal worth $6.5 million a season.          

Then the shine started to rub away and the Flames shipped Phaneuf to Toronto. Phaneuf hasn't scored anywhere near the level that he did when he was with the Flames, which has left many wondering if he'll ever become the dominant defenceman that everyone once predicted.

In actuality, despite a decline in points, Phaneuf has actually become a far superior defenceman to the one he was in Calgary.

Jonas Gustavsson didn't see his shadow. That means there will be spring hockey in Toronto.

The race for the final few playoff spots is on. The Leafs are battling with a number of teams and have wavered in and out depending on the week. They had a good run in January and are in a position where they just need to keep winning at a reasonable pace, which is a nice change from the last few seasons when a .700 winning percentage was a minimum.

When the Maple Leafs re-signed John-Michael Liles, the prevailing thought was that Mikhail Grabovski was about to become a cap casualty. Liles took less than $4 million to stay in Toronto, putting next year's cap space at slightly over $11 million. The problem was that Keith Aulie, Cody Franson, and Nikolai Kulemin become restricted free agents in line for raises, and Jonas Gustavsson becomes an unrestricted free agent.

Grabovski will likely make close to $5 million, so to keep Grabovski in the fold the Leafs need some creative cap management, especially if they hope to make other improvements to the squad.

Because of the shrinking cap space and Grabovski's soon-to-be free agent status, his name has inevitably popped up in trade rumours. And unless there's some unlikely fantasy scenario where Ryan Getzlaf comes back the other way, in no way does a Grabovski deal help the Leafs.