Yegor Chinakhov Exits Game With Lower-Body Injury
- It would seem as though the injury issues simply couldn’t get any worse for the Columbus Blue Jackets, but on top of this morning’s news that captain Boone Jenner would require surgery, forward Yegor Chinakhov was forced to leave this evening’s game against the Dallas Stars with a lower-body injury. The forward will not return, the team announced. The injury happened early on in the game, Chinakhov colliding with a Stars player and leaving the ice gingerly. At this point, the compounding injuries do little to change things for the reeling Blue Jackets, however the silver lining to them was the ability to get young players like Chinakhov, a 2020 first-round pick, some quality minutes and opportunities. For now, Columbus will have to hold its breath that this injury won’t keep the young forward out for too long.
Columbus Blue Jackets Sign Justin Richards
After the Columbus Blue Jackets lost center Boone Jenner for the next several weeks, they’ve decided to convert one of their AHL players to an NHL contract. Justin Richards has signed a one-year, two-way deal for the rest of this season. That will allow him to be recalled if needed.
Richards, 24, had been playing on an AHL contract after failing to receive a qualifying offer from the New York Rangers last summer. The undrafted forward earned an entry-level contract with the Rangers after three seasons at the University of Minnesota-Duluth, and made his NHL debut in 2020-21, recording an assist in his only game.
This season with the Cleveland Monsters he has been a key player, recording 17 points in 23 games while playing with some of the team’s other young talent. His familiarity with players like Kirill Marchenko, Trey Fix-Wolansky, and Emil Bemstrom should only help him if the Blue Jackets continue to lose their more veteran options from the NHL roster.
Given that the team only had 43 of a possible 50 contract slots open, a deal for Richards doesn’t pose any risk. It does make him a restricted free agent at the end of the season but the team could simply leave him unqualified again, if they don’t want to offer him another NHL contract.
Boone Jenner To Undergo Surgery
The Columbus Blue Jackets continue to see key players head to the shelf, this time announcing surgery for Boone Jenner. The veteran forward will undergo a procedure tomorrow to repair a fractured thumb and is out for approximately four weeks.
Jenner has been moved to injured reserve and in his place, the Blue Jackets have recalled Joshua Dunne from the minor leagues.
It’s another brutal injury for a Blue Jackets team that can’t seem to escape them this season, as Jenner will join Jakub Voracek, Jake Bean, Joonas Korpisalo, Justin Danforth, Nick Blankenburg, Adam Boqvist, and Zach Werenski on injured reserve. The 29-year-old captain was the club’s second-highest scorer on the year, playing mostly alongside prized free agent signing Johnny Gaudreau on the top line. With 22 points in 30 games he was on pace to set a new career-high, but will now have his season disrupted by a month-long absence.
While it is another frustrating injury for Columbus fans to deal with, there is at least one thing to get excited about. Aaron Portzline of The Athletic reports that young prospect Kent Johnson is expected to center Gaudreau and Patrik Laine while Jenner is out. That will, at the very least, provide some highlight-reel moments even if expecting Johnson to step into a first-line center role is a little too much at this point in his career. The 20-year-old has 14 points in 27 games but at times looks slightly outmatched physically at the NHL level.
Dunne, meanwhile, will get another opportunity in the NHL after spending all of last season in the minor leagues. The undrafted forward played six games for the Blue Jackets in 2020-21, and is still looking for his first NHL point. Through 24 games with the Cleveland Monsters, the 6’4″ Dunne has 11 points this season.
Blue Jackets To Loan David Jiricek For World Juniors
The Blue Jackets have made a decision on Czechia’s request to loan defenseman David Jiricek for the upcoming World Juniors. As Aaron Portzline of The Athletic reports (subscription link), Columbus will let the 19-year-old participate in the event where he’ll play alongside two more team prospects in forward Martin Rysavy and defenseman Stanislav Svozil.
Jiricek was the sixth-overall pick by the Blue Jackets in the summer despite missing significant time due to an injury sustained in the original version of the World Juniors last December. This will be his third time participating in the event (not including the canceled edition).
His first season in North America has been a successful one to the point where it was possible that Columbus could have declined the Czechs’ request in order to allow him to continue his momentum with AHL Cleveland. Jiricek is on a nice run with the Monsters with an impressive 11 points in his last 10 games and is likely to have another NHL stint at some point in the second half of the season after getting into two games back in late October. It seems likely that Columbus will want to keep him below the 10-game threshold to not activate the first year of his contract.
The roster for the Czechs hasn’t been finalized yet – they have three cuts still to make – but as things stand, they’re likely to send 12 NHL-drafted prospects to the event with Jiricek being the headliner. On top of that, the team will likely also have draft-eligible winger Eduard Sale, who is expected to be a lottery selection in June. Accordingly, they could be an under-the-radar team to keep an eye on.
Korpisalo Helping His Trade Value
Heading into the season, it seemed likely that Joonas Korpisalo was entering his final season with the Blue Jackets. His re-signing allowed Daniil Tarasov to spend one more year in the minors before moving up to the NHL full-time in 2023-24. However, as Brian Hedger of the Columbus Dispatch suggests, Korpisalo’s performance this season coupled with his contract could make him one of their top trade chips heading into the trade deadline. While his numbers aren’t great on their own (3.53 GAA, .903 SV%), they’re considerably better than Elvis Merzlikins’ by comparison (4.68, .864). That, coupled with a low-cost $1.3MM expiring deal, could give them a chance to get a better draft pick they were offered the last time that Korpisalo was on the block.
David Jiricek To Play At World Juniors
Because of that outstanding performance, Tage Thompson‘s five-goal game was good enough for only second place. The Buffalo Sabres forward had seven points, though six of those came in one outing against the Columbus Blue Jackets, a game that saw him play a season-low 13:56 after it got out of hand early. Thompson now has 21 goals and 41 points in 28 games so far this year. The third star went to Toronto Maple Leafs forward William Nylander, who had his own five-point effort over the weekend, taking him over a point-per-game pace on the year. The 26-year-old winger is averaging the most ice time of his career and is on pace to set career highs in basically every offensive category.
- David Jiricek will be loaned to the World Juniors by the Columbus Blue Jackets to play for Czechia at the upcoming event, joining several other top prospects headed to the event. The sixth-overall pick from 2022 made his NHL debut and played two games for the Blue Jackets earlier this year. A force in the minor leagues, the 6’3″ defenseman has 13 points in 15 games for the Cleveland Monsters.
Blue Jackets Recall Daniil Tarasov, Joonas Korpisalo Out At Least A Week
Dec 12: The Blue Jackets have swapped, sending Greaves back down and recalling Tarasov.
Dec 10: Blue Jackets goaltender Joonas Korpisalo left last night’s game against Calgary after the first period with what was called lower body discomfort. Head coach Brad Larsen told reporters, including Aaron Portzline of The Athletic (Twitter link) that the veteran will be out for at least a week due to the injury. That designation allows him to be placed on injured reserve, creating an open roster spot for the team to recall Jet Greaves from AHL Cleveland.
Korpisalo returned to the lineup last month after missing the start of the season due to the hip surgery he underwent back in March. It’s unknown if this issue is related to that procedure but Columbus will understandably err on the side of caution here. Through his first 12 appearances, he has a 3.53 GAA along with a .903 SV% and while those numbers may not look great, they’re considerably better than what starter Elvis Merzlikins has put up so far (4.82 and .862, respectively).
At first glance, it seems a bit surprising that Daniil Tarasov wasn’t the one brought up from the Monsters. He has held his own in limited action with Columbus this season and as the presumptive backup starting in 2023-24, a chance to get him some more NHL experience at a time when the season is already well off the rails would have made some sense. Instead, they’ll prioritize the 23-year-old getting steady playing time in the minors.
This will be Greaves’ second recall of the season although this one should last a little longer than his first one. The 21-year-old undrafted free agent signing has played in 10 games with Cleveland this season, posting a 4.09 GAA with an .878 SV%. His promotion means that it should be Merzlikins’ net exclusively until Korpisalo is able to return.
Dmitry Voronkov Expected To Sign With Columbus After KHL Season Finishes
- Blue Jackets prospect Dmitry Voronkov is expected to sign with Columbus once his KHL season comes to an end, reports Aaron Portzline of The Athletic (subscription link). The 22-year-old center was a fourth-round pick by Columbus back in 2019 (114th overall) and has been a regular in the KHL since then. This season, he has 13 points in 28 games and is on pace for his best year offensively at that level. The Blue Jackets certainly could use some help down the middle and it appears they’ll get someone else to try at that position for next season in Voronkov.
Columbus Blue Jackets Recall Kirill Marchenko
Play the kids. The Columbus Blue Jacket’s season hasn’t gone anywhere near according to plan, so it’s time to see what they have in another youngster. Kirill Marchenko has been recalled from the AHL after just 16 games in North America.
Marchenko, 22, was the 49th overall selection in the 2018 draft, with an understanding that he wouldn’t be coming over for several years. Finally, after spending the last several seasons in the KHL, the young forward signed his entry-level contract last spring and made the trip to play with the Cleveland Monsters this year.
The AHL has proven to be no challenge for the young forward, as Marchenko has eight goals and 19 points in 16 games for Cleveland, though there are still some inconsistencies in his game. He is on a five-game point streak and should soon get a chance to show what he can do in the NHL.
Interestingly, it is Trey Fix-Wolansky who has been sent back to make room, after his own four-game stint with the Blue Jackets. Fix-Wolansky is the Monsters’ leading scorer with 22 points in 14 games, but standing just 5’7″ offers a very different skill set than the 6’3″ Russian.
The Blue Jackets have a back-to-back coming up tomorrow and Wednesday, where they will face the Pittsburgh Penguins and Buffalo Sabres. Now sitting just 8-13-2, with several key injuries, it has turned into something of an evaluation season for the Columbus front office, instead of a competitive one.
Early Retirement Not Ruled Out For Jakub Voracek
Just this Friday, the Columbus Blue Jackets announced injury updates on a number of players, including forward Jakub Voracek, who has been battling lingering effects of a concussion suffered early this season. With that announcement, Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekalainen clarified that Voracek did not necessarily have a timetable and that the team was going to give him time to see if his symptoms subsided before a return to the ice was considered. Today, The Athletic’s Aaron Portzline published a more in-depth look at Voracek’s situation, speaking personally with Kekalainen on the expectations around the veteran winger, and things may look worse than they had seemed at first.