COLUMBUS Blue Jackets making non-playoff plans

Due to the state of the game, most non-contenders are taking a hard look at cutting costs.
COLUMBUS (AP) -- With the playoffs just a dot in the distance, the Columbus Blue Jackets will spend the remaining weeks of the season evaluating not only veteran and young players but even interim coach Gerard Gallant.
Coming off the NHL All-Star break -- which was a break for every Blue Jacket except for Rick Nash and Nikolai Zherdev -- the Blue Jackets play the Los Angeles Kings tonight at home.
Nash played in his first All-Star game while Zherdev, also a 19-year-old prodigy, participated in the YoungStars competition.
"It's good for everybody," Gallant said of the past week off. "You get a little time out to regroup. We've got 28 games left in the regular season. We're looking forward to that and we want to come back refreshed and hopefully ready to work hard for the next 28."
Looking up
The Blue Jackets were 15-28-8-3 and had 41 points at the break. Only two teams in the league have fewer points.
The NHL and the players' association are considerably less than optimistic about negotiations surrounding the collective bargaining agreement. Most teams are steeling for a lockout that could set back or shut down the 2004-05 season.
Due to the tenuous state of the game, most non-contenders are taking a hard look at cutting costs (and players) to weather the labor storm.
As a result, Columbus general manager Doug MacLean will almost certainly make some moves to trim his budget in the weeks ahead. Demand will never be higher for veterans who could provide some valued support on the second or third lines of a contender.
MacLean is attending the three-day NHL GMs meeting in the unlikely setting of a desert resort outside Las Vegas. He will be talking and listening about potential deals to ease owner John H. McConnell's financial obligations if next season does not start on time.
Team moves
MacLean already has cut more than $9 million over three years from his payroll by dealing defenseman Darryl Sydor to Tampa Bay for unproven center Alexander Zvitov. The Blue Jackets also threw in a fourth-round pick for the Lightning's third-round pick this summer.
On the ice, the Blue Jackets hope to continue their improved play since the first of the year. Led by Nash, who is first in the NHL with 31 goals, they have collected 16 points in 17 games in 2004.
"Hopefully we can keep this going for the 28 games we've got left," goaltender Marc Denis said. "Maybe we can keep it alive for that long."
Nash said the club is hoping to erase some bad memories from their struggles earlier in the season.
"We're going to obviously take some momentum from the way we were playing the last 20-some odd games," he said. "And we'll try to clear the slate, too. It's a bit of both."
It won't be easy to finish on a high note. The rest of the schedule includes 15 games against teams that currently qualify for the playoffs. That includes three games against the Detroit Red Wings and two apiece against San Jose, Los Angeles, Colorado, Vancouver and Minnesota -- some of the elite teams in the sport.