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Blue Jackets Place Zach Werenski On Injured Reserve, Recall David Jiricek

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The Columbus Blue Jackets announced a pair of roster moves this morning, placing defenseman Zach Werenski on injured reserve after sustaining a quad contusion in last night’s game against the Philadelphia Flyers on a hit from forward Garnet Hathaway, which resulted in a minor penalty and $5,000 fine. Werenski will miss between one and two weeks. In response, the team recalled top defense prospect David Jiricek from AHL Cleveland.

This continues to be a tough stretch of injury luck for Werenski, who missed the last 69 games of last season with a shoulder injury. Werenski skated 13:43 last night and recorded a -1 rating before exiting the game, which ended up being a 4-2 loss for Columbus in their home opener. It was the start of a four-game homestand for the Jackets, who don’t play on the road until October 21st at Minnesota.

It opens the door for Jiricek, the sixth-overall pick in 2022, to force his way onto the roster over the next few games. The Blue Jackets are reportedly shopping a defenseman to make room for Jiricek on the active roster, but a trade might now wait until later in the month with Werenski on the sidelines. Jiricek was one of the best rookies in the AHL last season, logging 38 points in 55 games for the Cleveland Monsters and earning a look in four NHL games with Columbus. He’s still looking for his first NHL point, however.

Columbus head coach Pascal Vincent confirmed earlier this morning that it wasn’t likely to be a long-term absence for Werenski, the team’s undisputed number-one defender. However, Jiricek, a right-shot defenseman, won’t be able to directly replace the role of Werenski, who plays on the left side. While Jiricek could get some significant minutes over the next few weeks, the most direct effect of this injury will be on offseason addition Ivan Provorov, who will now likely slide up to the top pairing alongside Damon Severson. Provorov had a tough outing against his former team last night, recording just two shot attempts and a -2 rating in over 25 minutes of ice time.

Latest On Zach Werenski

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As reported by Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, Columbus Blue Jackets franchise defenseman Zach Werenski exited last night’s game after suffering a quad contusion. Werenski was injured on an apparent knee-to-knee collision with Philadelphia Flyers forward Garnet Hathaway, and Blue Jackets head coach Pascal Vincent told reporters that Werenski’s injury is not believed to be one that will cause a long-term absence.

This development is extremely unfortunate, as Werenski, 26, was limited to just 13 games played last season due to injury. Although this injury may not keep Werenski out “long-term,” it is not clear exactly when he’ll be able to return to the ice for Columbus. That alone is a major blow for the club, as Werenski is the best player in an organization dripping with desperation to return to the playoffs after a nightmarish 2022-23 campaign. In what is expected to be a cutthroat Metropolitan Division playoff race, the Blue Jackets will have to hope Werenski can return to full health quickly so they can avoid falling behind.

Blue Jackets Notes: Boumedienne, Boll, McCarthy

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A day before they kick off their 2023-24 schedule, the Columbus Blue Jackets have filled the assistant coaching vacancy on their bench. The team hired Josef Boumedienne today to fill the role vacated by Pascal Vincent’s sudden recent promotion to head coach, per a team announcement.

It’s a nice promotion for the former NHL defenseman, who has been a member of the Blue Jackets since retiring from his playing career a decade ago. First joining the squad as a European scout for the 2013-14 season, he was promoted to the team’s Director of European Scouting three years later. He jumped up the ladder again in 2021 to serve as their Director of Professional Scouting, and now, two seasons later, he’ll be behind an NHL bench for the first time.

This is not Boumedienne’s first coaching experience, although his previous résumé in coaching roles is limited. He briefly served as the head coach for SHL club Brynäs IF for the league’s play-out round in 2021, and he held a coaching role within the Blue Jackets’ youth program last season. Now 45, Boumedienne skated in 47 NHL contests between 2001 and 2004 with the Capitals, Devils and Lightning.

Some other coaching news out of Columbus today:

  • Columbus also announced one-year extensions for their other assistants, starting with longtime Blue Jackets enforcer Jared Boll. The 37-year-old has been a member of the Blue Jackets coaching staff since 2018. He initially started as an assistant development coach before transitioning into the role of an assistant coach for this season. Between playing in Columbus and shortly in Anaheim, Boll accumulated 28 goals, 38 assists, and 66 points, along with 1,298 penalty minutes, over the course of 579 games played during his 11-year tenure in the NHL.
  • Steve McCarthy, also once an NHLer, received a one-year extension to match Boll. The 42-year-old has been in the Columbus organization since 2016 when he was brought on as an assistant coach for the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters. He was promoted to the NHL bench in 2021. The 42-year-old was once a first-round pick of the Chicago Blackhawks and skated in over 300 NHL games across eight seasons.

Columbus Signs Justin Danforth To One-Year Extension

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The Columbus Blue Jackets have signed Justin Danforth to a one-year, $1.1MM contract extension, carrying him through the 2024-25 season. Danforth played in his first NHL season in 2021-22 but missed all but six games of the 2022-23 season with a shoulder injury that required surgery.

Danforth, now 30, took roughly a year to rebound fully from the injury. But he made a strong enough impression at the team’s training camp to earn an NHL roster spot once more. He’s had a winding road to the NHL, originally going undrafted and pursuing collegiate hockey with Sacred Heart University. After four years of college, Danforth transitioned into the minor leagues – although he struggled to maintain a presence in the AHL. Rather than continuing to work his way up through the ECHL and AHL, Danforth instead signed with Lukko in the Liiga, Finland’s top league. He played in 59 games for their 2018-19 squad, recording a team-high 52 points. Danforth built his comfortability up enough to take on an alternate captain role with the club in 2019-20. He led Lukko in scoring again that year, tallying 60 points through 56 games.

After two years in Finland, Danforth then appeared in one season with Vityaz Podolsk of the KHL, Russia’s top league. He played in 58 games and, once again, led his team in scoring with 55 points. This burgeoning trend of scoring upside earned Danforth a spot on Canada’s 2021 World Championship roster. He appeared in nine of the team’s 10 games but only recorded one point playing alongside NHL talent.

It wasn’t until after his sole season in the KHL that Danforth finally received his first NHL contract – a one-year, league-minimum $775K deal with the Blue Jackets signed in May of 2021. Danforth appeared in his first NHL games during the 2021-22 campaign, scoring 10 goals and 14 points in 45 appearances. In response, Columbus signed Danforth to a two-year, one-way, $1.95MM contract that carries him through the end of the 2022-23 season. And while he hasn’t yet played more than 10 games on this contract, Columbus is clearly confident in what they have – extending Danforth through next season and providing him his first salary north of $1MM.

Kent Johnson Potentially Healthy Scratch For Opener

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2021 fifth-overall pick Kent Johnson had a stellar rookie season in 2022-23, scoring 16 goals and 40 points. The British Columbia native is one of the most purely skilled players in the NHL and is capable of creating highlight-reel plays on a nightly basis. Despite that stellar first campaign, it appears Johnson currently sits on the outside of new head coach Pascal Vincent’s nightly lineup.

Team reporter Jeff Svoboda relayed confirmation from Vincent that Johnson is currently considered an extra skater, and although Vincent added that he is “not sure [Johnson’s] not going to play” he maintained that he could only dress so many forwards. At the moment, players such as Emil Bemström and Justin Danforth are projected to hold positions on the team’s second and third lines, respectively, but one would think that Johnson will end up back in the nightly lineup sooner rather than later.

Some other notes from the Metropolitan Division:

  • The Athletic’s Cory Lavalette reports that Carolina Hurricanes star Andrei Svechnikov remains in a yellow non-contact jersey, and as a result, is presumably out for tomorrow’s season-opening game. Svechnikov is still working his way back from a torn ACL that cut his 2022-23 season short. When healthy, he’s among the Hurricanes’ best players, and last season was on pace to score a career-high 70 points.
  • The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review’s Seth Rorabaugh reports that defenseman Will Butcher skated this morning, a positive development for a player who missed all of training camp and preseason due to injury. Butcher has begun this season on season-opening injured reserve, but when he eventually becomes ready to play it’s likely he’ll find himself waived and sent to the AHL. Butcher signed a one-year, league-minimum deal in Pittsburgh likely with the hope that he would compete for a depth role on the Penguins’ NHL defense, but due to this injury it’s now likely that he’ll have to work his way into NHL consideration with the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins. 2022-23 was Butcher’s first in the AHL, and he impressed scoring 43 points in 67 games.
  • Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen is currently on injured reserve, though his stay there could be coming to an end. PHLY Sports’ Charlie O’Connor reports that Ristolainen was on the ice for Flyers practice today, and NBC Sports Philadelphia’s Jordan Hall relays word from Flyers GM Daniel Brière that Ristolainen’s IR placement can be backdated, and he therefore could become eligible to play the team’s season-opening contest against Columbus on Thursday. Ristolainen showed improved form under head coach John Tortorella last season and if he plays his activation could mean rookie Emil Andrae is assigned to the AHL or Felix Sandström gets placed on waivers.

Blue Jackets Working On Trade To Move Defenseman

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The Columbus Blue Jackets are “engaged in trade dialogue with teams” about moving a defenseman off their NHL roster, sources tell Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli. Seravalli adds these talks are “likely centered” around one of Jake Bean, Adam Boqvist and Andrew Peeke, but that general manager Jarmo Kekalainen is likely to “move whomever they find gets them most back.” The team’s roster crunch on defense left a pair of young defenders expected to earn NHL jobs, Nick Blankenburg and David Jiricek, off the team’s opening night roster yesterday.

This roster crunch didn’t come out of nowhere. After injuries depleted the Blue Jackets’ blueline depth for most of last season, Kekalainen acquired a pair of top-four defenders via trade back in June: Ivan Provorov from the Flyers and Damon Severson from the Devils. It would make sense, then, that both of those players are untouchables, as well as their top defenseman, Zach Werenski. The seventh defenseman on the active roster, Erik Gudbranson, carries a ten-team no-trade list and is locked into a rather unattractive $4MM cap hit through 2026.

That means the three defensemen Seravalli mentioned are the only realistic possibilities to get moved, and it’s hard to imagine Bean and Peeke would attract higher trade value than Boqvist. The 23-year-old right-shot defender was a core piece of the trade that sent Seth Jones to the Blackhawks in 2021. While injuries have affected his time in Columbus, he looks well on his way to becoming an everyday top-four player.

Selected eighth overall in the 2018 NHL Draft, Boqvist has 16 goals, 30 assists and 46 points in 98 games as a Blue Jacket. He’s received sheltered minutes, however, skating an average of just 17:47 per game since 2021. He is entering the second season of a three-year, $7.8MM contract carrying a $2.6MM cap hit. That’s quite an affordable number for his services and could likely fetch a first- or second-round pick in return.

Boqvist is projected to begin the season flanking Provorov on the team’s second pairing. If he’s moved, expect the Blue Jackets to recall Jiricek from AHL Cleveland to occupy the void.

It’s tougher to gauge Bean’s potential trade value. He’s two years older than Boqvist and was limited to just 14 games last season due to a shoulder injury. He also carries the pedigree of being a former first-round pick – the Hurricanes selected him 13th overall in 2016 – but doesn’t have the linear development track record of Boqvist. At a cap hit of $2.33MM and on an expiring contract, there’s more uncertainty attached to acquiring Bean than Boqvist.

Peeke has shouldered the heaviest minutes out of the potential trade trio as of late, but that doesn’t mean he’s done so successfully. The 25-year-old right-shot defenseman logged a -41 rating last season and had the unfortunate honor of being one of Columbus’ few healthy defenders throughout the season, having to take the brunt of the team’s depth issues. He notched 13 points in 80 games and averaged over 21 minutes a game for the second straight season, but his $2.75MM cap hit through 2026 carries some risk if he doesn’t pan out in a bottom-four role somewhere else.

Columbus Blue Jackets Assign David Jiricek To AHL, Make Other Roster Moves

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The Columbus Blue Jackets have their final 23-man roster in place to start the season, making a flurry of camp cuts today to do so. Those cuts are headlined by defenseman David Jiricek, who’s been assigned to the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters for the second straight season after the club selected him sixth overall in the 2022 NHL Draft. Defenseman Nick Blankenburg and forward Dmitri Voronkov were also assigned to the AHL, while their other top pick in 2022, defenseman Denton Mateychuk, has been returned to the WHL’s Moose Jaw Warriors. Lastly, Columbus placed forwards Yegor Chinakhov and Jordan Dumais, as well as goaltender Daniil Tarasov on the season-opening injured/non-roster list. Forward Mathieu Olivier was also placed on injured reserve.

Many believed Jiricek, 19, would make Columbus out of camp thanks to a strong showing in his rookie season with the Monsters. However, after Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekalainen added a pair of veteran bodies to his blueline this summer in Ivan Provorov and Damon Severson, the path to a roster spot muddied significantly for the Blue Jackets’ many young defense prospects. Jiricek is still looking for his first NHL point after skating in four NHL contests with Columbus last season. With Cleveland, he recorded six goals, 32 assists, 38 points, and a -11 rating in 55 games.

Blankenburg and Voronkov were also both strong candidates to make Columbus’ opening-night roster. Blankenburg, a 5-foot-9, 174-pound right-shot defenseman, joined the Blue Jackets in 2022 via free agency after captaining a star-studded University of Michigan squad. The 25-year-old immediately stuck in the NHL, thanks partially in part to the Blue Jackets’ rash of injuries on the blue line last season, but he didn’t look out of place at all. While injuries affected Blankenburg too, limiting him to 36 contests, the diminutive defender recorded four goals and ten assists for 14 points – an impressive 32-point pace over 82 games. He’s destined for a major role in Cleveland to start the season and will be one of Columbus’ first call-up options aside from Jiricek.

Voronkov, 23, will get his first taste of North American hockey in the minors. The 2019 fourth-round pick was expected to make a push for a roster spot after breaking out for 18 goals and 31 points in 54 contests with the KHL’s Ak Bars Kazan last season. Like the two others mentioned before him, expect a recall for Voronkov at some point during the 2023-24 campaign.

Mateychuk, however, will likely have to wait until 2024-25 (or at least the very end of 2023-24) to get his first taste of NHL hockey. The 12th-overall selection in 2022 returns to Moose Jaw, where he will reclaim his role as the team’s captain after registering 129 points in 128 games over the past two campaigns.

There’s nothing new regarding the injuries to the four players destined for IR. All injuries were previously reported and were expected to keep them out through at least opening night. These are paper moves to get the team’s roster compliant before tonight’s deadline.

Blue Jackets Could Make Coaching Addition

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  • The Athletic’s Aaron Portzline reports that the Columbus Blue Jackets are looking to make an addition to head coach Pascal Vincent’s coaching staff. (subscription link) The team lost longtime assistant Kenny McCudden this offseason, and according to Portzline is looking to replace him with the likely candidate coming from inside their organization.

Yegor Chinakhov, Daniil Tarasov Will Begin Season On IR

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The Columbus Blue Jackets will place both forward Yegor Chinakhov and goaltender Daniil Tarasov on injured reserve prior to Monday’s opening-night roster deadline, per The Athletic’s Aaron Portzline. Chinakhov is listed as day-to-day with a back injury, while Tarasov carries a day-to-day designation for a knee injury. Both sustained the injuries shortly after training camp began in mid-September.

Chinakhov, 22, is three years removed from being one of the most surprising first-round picks in recent memory. So far, it appears to have been somewhat of a worthy gamble – he notched 13 points in 30 games for Columbus last season and has posted strong numbers in limited AHL action since coming to North America before 2021-22. Unfortunately, missing nearly all of training camp may have cost him a spot in the NHL lineup when he does return from injury. Not only does the winger not require waivers for assignment to AHL Cleveland, but his roster spot wasn’t secured – many young forwards were battling for spots in Columbus’ bottom six, all of whom had more chances during camp to earn the trust of head coach Pascal Vincent.

While it’s concerning that an injury that’s carried a day-to-day designation for two-and-a-half weeks may stretch out closer to a month, the news surrounding Tarasov’s health gives even more pause. When the Blue Jackets confirmed Tarasov’s injury on September 23rd, Portzline reported that it wasn’t serious. In fact, he went so far as to say Tarasov would be available at that point if the regular season was beginning. Luckily, Portzline had already confirmed this knee injury is not related to a significant one he suffered during the 2021-22 campaign, but it’s still not a good sign to see a seemingly innocuous pre-season injury stretching out and affecting regular-season availability.

The 24-year-old Tarasov had a much clearer path to a roster spot entering camp as the undisputed backup to starting netminder Elvis Merzlikins. A 2017 third-round draft pick, Tarasov got off to quite a hot start to his career, posting a .936 save percentage in four contests with Columbus in 2021-22 before the previous knee injury ended his campaign. He played 17 games last season, recording a subpar .892 save percentage and 3.91 goals-against average, but still posted far superior numbers to Merzlikins’ eye-opening .876 save percentage and 4.23 goals-against average. There were few goalies worse than Merzlikins last season, and his -25.9 goals saved above expected per MoneyPuck ranked last out of all goalies to play 20 games in 2022-23.

Another name near the bottom of last season’s list was Spencer Martin, who the Blue Jackets claimed on waivers last week from the Vancouver Canucks to serve as Merzlikins’ backup until Tarasov returns to action. Martin, 28, is largely an AHL veteran but got a shot as the Canucks’ backup last season, appearing in 29 contests and recording a .871 save percentage. It was a necessary claim, as the Blue Jackets’ only two goalies under NHL contract were 22-year-old Jet Greaves, an undrafted free agent signing entering his third season of pro hockey, and 19-year-old Nolan Lalonde, who will spend this season as the starter for the OHL’s Erie Otters.

Training Camp Cuts: 10/7/23

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While teams have considerably whittled down their rosters compared to where they were just a weekend ago, there are still plenty more cuts to be made in the coming days.  Here are today’s roster trimmings excluding earlier waiver placements.

Buffalo Sabres (via team Twitter)

D Ryan Johnson (to Rochester, AHL)
F Lukas Rousek (to Rochester, AHL)

Calgary Flames (via team release)

D Nick DeSimone (to Calgary, AHL)
F Mathias Emilio Pettersen (to Calgary, AHL)
F Martin Pospisil (to Calgary, AHL)

Carolina Hurricanes (per team release)

G Yaniv Perets (to Norfolk, ECHL)

Columbus Blue Jackets (per team release)

D Marcus Bjork (to Cleveland, AHL)
D Jake Christiansen (to Cleveland, AHL)
F Joshua Dunne (to Cleveland, AHL)
F Brendan Gaunce (to Cleveland, AHL)
F Carson Meyer (to Cleveland, AHL)
D Billy Sweezey (to Cleveland, AHL)

Dallas Stars (via team Twitter)

D Alexander Petrovic (to Texas, AHL)

Detroit Red Wings (via team Twitter)

F Austin Czarnik (to Grand Rapids, AHL)
F Timothy Gettinger (to Grand Rapids, AHL)
F Taro Hirose (to Grand Rapids, AHL)
G John Lethemon (to Toledo, ECHL)
D Jared McIsaac (to Grand Rapids, AHL)
D Wyatt Newpower (to Grand Rapids, AHL)
D Brogan Rafferty (to Grand Rapids, AHL)
F Nolan Stevens (to Grand Rapids, AHL)

Nashville Predators (per ESPN’s John Buccigross)

D Marc Del Gaizo (to Milwaukee, AHL)

New Jersey Devils (via team Twitter)

D Santeri Hatakka (to Utica, AHL)
G Isaac Poulter (to Utica, AHL)

New York Rangers (per team Twitter)

F Jonny Brodzinski (to Hartford, AHL)
D Ben Harpur (to Hartford, AHL)

Philadelphia Flyers (via team Twitter)

F Wade Allison (to Lehigh Valley, AHL)

San Jose Sharks (via team Twitter)

F Ryan Carpenter (to San Jose, AHL)
F Oskar Lindblom (to San Jose, AHL)
F Quentin Musty (to Sudbury, OHL)
F Jacob Peterson (to San Jose, AHL)

Seattle Kraken (per team Twitter)

D Ryker Evans (to Coachella Valley, AHL)
F Shane Wright (to Coachella Valley, AHL)

Washington Capitals (per team Twitter)

F Nicolas Aube-Kubel (to Hershey, AHL)
G Mitchell Gibson (to Hershey, AHL)
F Alex Limoges (to Hershey, AHL)
D Dylan McIlrath (to Hershey, AHL)
F Joe Snively (to Hershey, AHL)
F Michael Sgarbossa (to Hershey, AHL)
G Hunter Shepard (to Hershey, AHL)

This post will be updated throughout the day.

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