Elvis Merzlikins Out With Lower-Body Injury
It’s Joonas Korpisalo and Daniil Tarasov for at least the next little while, as Columbus Blue Jackets head coach Brad Larsen updated Elvis Merzlikins‘ timeline today. The netminder will be out for 1-2 weeks with a lower-body injury. Jake Bean, who was also being evaluated yesterday, still doesn’t have a firm recovery timeline but it is “not looking good,” according to Larsen, who spoke with reporters including Brian Hedger of the Columbus Dispatch.
Merzlikins hadn’t been doing well this season anyway, posting a .864 save percentage in nine appearances behind one of the worst teams in the league. The 28-year-old goaltender allowed two goals on 17 shots before leaving on Tuesday, and has a whopping 4.74 goals-against average on the year.
Korpisalo, who has been the better of the two goaltenders so far, will take the lion’s share of the starts while Merzlikins is out. Now 28, Korpisalo’s current .910 save percentage would rank as his best since 2019-20, should he maintain it all season. Tarasov, called up yesterday under emergency conditions, has a .893 in five appearances for the Blue Jackets tonight.
Emil Bemstrom, who is also dealing with an injury, is a game-time decision for tonight’s match against the Montreal Canadiens.
Patrik Laine Moved To Injured Reserve; Daniil Tarasov Recalled
The Columbus Blue Jackets continue to be ravaged by injury. This time, Aaron Portzline of The Athletic reports that Elvis Merzlikins, Jake Bean, and Emil Bemstrom were all having medical tests completed this afternoon to determine the extent of their various injuries. With Merzlikins out, the team has recalled Daniil Tarasov from the minor leagues under emergency conditions. Patrik Laine has been moved to injured reserve, as he is expected to miss quite a while with a sprained ankle.
Merzlikins left last night’s game with an undisclosed injury and wasn’t present at practice today, leaving Joonas Korpisalo as the only professional netminder on the ice (the other goal was tended by Reid Robertson, who is in their hockey ops department, according to team reporter Jeff Svoboda).
These three new injuries are in addition to the absences of Laine, Zach Werenski, Jakub Voracek, Justin Danforth, Nick Blankenburg, and Adam Boqvist, who are all on injured reserve as well. Things are unraveling in Columbus, and yet they still squeaked out an overtime win last night against the Philadelphia Flyers to climb to 5-9-1 on the year.
Tarasov, 23, has already appeared in five games for the team this season, posting a .893 save percentage. The young netminder has shown promise but is limited by inconsistency (as many young netminders are). Still, with Korpisalo an inconsistent enigma himself, they may end up sharing the workload should Merzlikins end up on the shelf for a while.
Sean Kuraly Activated From Injured Reserve; Jack Roslovic To Be Scratched
The Columbus Blue Jackets have officially placed Zach Werenski on injured reserve after announcing recently that he is out for the remainder of the regular season. It’s not all bad news though, as Sean Kuraly has been activated to take his spot on the roster.
Kuraly, 29, ended up missing only two games thanks to a five-day break the Blue Jackets had last week, and will likely assume his regular place in the lineup immediately. The veteran forward was great for the team last season with 14 goals and 30 points in 77 games and had been off to a nice start this year too, with four points in his first 11.
Still, Kuraly’s return won’t spark much excitement in Columbus where the season is quickly falling apart. Werenski is out for the year, Patrik Laine is out for a month, and Jakub Voracek, Justin Danforth, Nick Blankenburg, and Adam Boqvist all remain on injured reserve.
Even with that many injuries, the team is making a rather bold statement for tonight’s game against the Philadelphia Flyers. Aaron Portzline of The Athletic reports that Jack Roslovic will be a healthy scratch, with Kuraly and Kent Johnson drawing back into the lineup. A request for Roslovic to meet with the media was declined.
The 25-year-old center has just one goal in 14 games this season after signing a two-year, $8MM contract in June. The deal will walk him directly to unrestricted free agency in the summer of 2024, but it seemed after last season like Roslovic had established himself as a core piece in Columbus. With 22 goals and 45 points in 81 games, he finished fifth among Blue Jackets forwards in 2021-22 despite still rather limited minutes. Averaging just over 14 minutes a night, nearly all of his production was at even strength.
While one scratch doesn’t guarantee a player’s time in a market is over, it is rather stunning to see a $4MM player in the press box while the Blue Jackets have so many other injuries. Message sent.
Patrik Laine Out With Sprained Ankle
The Columbus Blue Jackets have been crushed by injury this season and it is only getting worse. Patrik Laine has been ruled out for three to four weeks with a sprained ankle, suffered in Saturday’s game against the New York Islanders.
Columbus is already without Zach Werenski for the rest of the season and recently put Jakub Voracek, Sean Kuraly, Justin Danforth, and Nick Blankenburg on injured reserve. Adam Boqvist is still on LTIR as well, and this season is quickly getting away from the Blue Jackets. The team lost that game against the Islanders (in overtime) and now sit tied with the Anaheim Ducks for last place in the entire NHL.
This isn’t even the first serious injury that Laine has dealt with this season. The Finnish forward missed a good chunk earlier in the year with an elbow sprain he suffered in the first game, and has just two goals in eight games played. Remove another month from his season and this looks like it will be another disappointing campaign for the Blue Jackets, who might be fighting for a lottery pick even after spending a huge amount on free agents in the summer.
Laine himself was one of those signings, inking a new four-year, $34.8MM deal in his final year of restricted free agency. The deal carries a cap hit of $8.7MM and made him the team’s second highest-paid forward, behind free agent acquisition Johnny Gaudreau, who surprised the entire hockey world by signing a seven-year, $68.25MM deal with Columbus. Gaudreau does lead the team in scoring, but that’s not saying much. Boone Jenner and Werenski are currently tied for second with eight points.
The Blue Jackets will be back in action tomorrow against a Philadelphia Flyers team that they beat last week, in the first of a six-game homestand.
Columbus Blue Jackets Activate Joona Luoto; Assign To AHL
One of the more notable European free agent signings will get his first taste of North American pro hockey this season in the AHL. The Columbus Blue Jackets activated Joona Luoto from season-opening injured reserve on Sunday morning and subsequently assigned him to the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters, according to a team release.
Luoto, 25, sustained a lower-body injury during the preseason and missed the first month of the regular season. Now healthy, Luoto heads to a Cleveland team that’s only been held back by goaltending, accomplishing a 7-5-0 record with many key scorers hovering around a point-per-game pace. Led by a nice blend of burgeoning Blue Jackets prospects such as Kirill Marchenko and Trey Fix-Wolansky, as well as seasoned AHL veterans like Brendan Gaunce, Luoto should provide solid reinforcements to Cleveland. Given the multitude of strong performers already in Cleveland, though, it will be a challenge for Luoto to work his way back up the organizational depth chart into a potential call.
The product of Tampere, Finland spent last season with his hometown team in the Liiga, capturing a championship and the playoffs’ best player award with 17 points in 14 games. Luoto last appeared in the NHL in 2019-20, skating in 16 games with the Winnipeg Jets. He’s still looking for his first NHL point. Across the 2019-20 and 2020-21 campaigns with AHL Manitoba, the bulky winger collected two goals and six assists for eight points in 29 games.
Kent Johnson To Return Saturday
- It was a tough day on the injury front for the Blue Jackets today with Zach Werenski being ruled out for the year while Nick Blankenburg will miss several weeks as well. However, there was one piece of good news as Brian Hedger of The Columbus Dispatch relays (Twitter link) that forward Kent Johnson will return to the lineup on Saturday after missing the last two games with an undisclosed injury. The 20-year-old is off to a nice start to his first full professional campaign with three goals and three assists through 11 games.
Columbus Blue Jackets Recall Jake Christiansen; Re-Assign David Jiricek
Just hours after being recalled under emergency conditions, 2022 sixth-overall pick David Jiricek finds himself back in the AHL. The Columbus Blue Jackets announced Friday afternoon that the team has recalled defenseman Jake Christiansen from the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters, re-assigning Jiricek there in his place.
The move comes hours after Columbus announced injury updates regarding defensemen Zach Werenski (out for season), Nick Blankenburg (two months), and Erik Gudbranson (day-to-day) forced Columbus to recall three defensemen from Cleveland under emergency conditions, including Jiricek. Gavin Bayreuther and Marcus Bjork, the other two emergency recalls, remain on the active roster.
Columbus does not play until tomorrow night against the New York Islanders, so there’s a chance this could be a paper transaction to get Jiricek into Cleveland’s game tonight against Rochester before returning to the Blue Jackets tomorrow.
It could also be a chance for Christiansen to get some NHL looks in 2022-23 after playing eight games last season, and recording his first NHL goal. He’s off to a bit of a tampered offensive start with the Monsters, recording four assists through 11 games, but he is coming off a 45-point campaign in the minors last year.
Zach Werenski Out Rest Of Season
The Columbus Blue Jackets have updated the status of Zach Werenski and it isn’t good news. The star defenseman suffered a separated shoulder and torn labrum last season and is expected to miss the rest of the regular season. The team has also moved Nick Blankenburg, Sean Kuraly, and Jakub Voracek on injured reserve, while recalling Gavin Bayreuther, Marcus Bjork, and David Jiricek.
Blankenburg is out six to eight weeks with a fractured ankle. Kuraly is considered day-to-day with an upper-body injury. Voracek is out indefinitely with an upper-body injury. Erik Gudbranson is also day-to-day but will not play tomorrow.
This is about the worst-case scenario for the Blue Jackets, who managed to win last night for just the fourth time this season. The team has already struggled to keep the puck out of their own net, allowing 57 goals through 13 games. By removing Werenski – and to a lesser extent Blankenburg – their defensive group now looks incredibly thin with basically no first-pairing talent. The 25-year-old also makes more than $9.5MM per season, a higher cap hit than anyone other than Johnny Gaudreau.
Without him, the team suddenly looks like a group that will be unable to turn around their tough start. The draft lottery in a year with several high-end prospects looks like a tempting reward for finishing near the bottom of the league.
The silver lining, perhaps, is that a young player like Jiricek could receive some interesting NHL opportunities. Werenski was the quarterback of the team’s top powerplay unit, a role that will now need to be filled by someone. During Jiricek’s short two-game taste earlier this year he did see a bit of time with the man advantage, though he wasn’t able to record a point.
While they won’t admit it, the Blue Jackets will likely have to transition this season into a development year and start looking toward the future. That will increase speculation about Gustav Nyquist, Vladislav Gavrikov, and Joonas Korpisalo, all scheduled to hit unrestricted free agency at the end of the year.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Columbus Blue Jackets Expected To Recall Gavin Bayreuther, Marcus Bjork
It was a great win over their former coach last night but it came at a price for the Columbus Blue Jackets. The team appears to have lost Zach Werenski long-term, while Erik Gudbranson was also removed from the game with a more minor injury. Aaron Portzline of The Athletic expects an update for both later today but notes that Gavin Bayreuther and Marcus Bjork will likely be coming up from the AHL.
Bayreuther, 28, played in 43 games for the Blue Jackets last season and has already suited up once this year. The minor league veteran doesn’t bring much offense to the table but is at least an experienced option to insert into the lineup. For long stretches, he’s probably not what you want though, which is what makes the recall of Bjork a little more interesting.
The 24-year-old Swede signed a one-year, entry-level contract last May to join the Blue Jackets organization after playing the last four seasons in the SHL. A star at the junior and minor league level in Europe, the undrafted defenseman has shown incredibly well in his short stint with the Cleveland Monsters. Through 11 games, Bjork has two goals and five points, and appears to be getting his first call-up to the NHL.
While losing Werenski drastically injures the Blue Jackets’ hopes of competing in the Metropolitan Division, it also could open up some opportunities to test young players. Top pick David Jiricek also played two games for the club earlier this year and has been good in the minor leagues, while Jake Christiansen played eight games for the team last season and could be due for another opportunity.
Three Columbus Blue Jackets Injured, Brendan Gaunce Recalled
The Columbus Blue Jackets announced a flurry of injury updates today, according to The Athletic’s Aaron Portzline. Forward Jakub Voracek is out indefinitely with an upper-body injury, Sean Kuraly is day-to-day with an upper-body injury, and Patrik Laine is day-to-day with an illness. Forward Brendan Gaunce was also recalled from the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters, per a team release.
Voracek missed the second game of Columbus’ Global Series matchups in Finland last week with the injury. It’s a huge blow to their depth scoring if he’s out long-term, as he was tied for second in scoring on the team with six points in 11 games.
Kuraly sustained his upper-body injury in the second Global Series game, leaving in the second period after playing 8:09. He had two goals and two assists through 12 games and was tied for the worst +/- rating on the team (-8).
Laine’s illness is hopefully short-term, as he’s only been present for half of the Blue Jackets’ season thus far with an elbow injury. The Finnish winger has scored twice and is averaging nearly 20 minutes a game.
Gaunce ends up on the active roster as the only healthy extra. The AHL veteran was off to a hot start in Cleveland, registering 11 points through 10 games.