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Alexandre Texier Out Four Weeks With Fractured Finger

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The Columbus Blue Jackets will be without young forward Alexandre Texier for the next month, as he suffered a fractured finger in last night’s game. He is expected to miss approximately four weeks, keeping him out through most of February.

Texier, 22, has turned things around since a disappointing 2020-21 campaign, and now sits with 11 goals and 20 points in 36 games. Both of those numbers are career highs, though he still hasn’t found a lot of consistency even with the increased production. Playing almost exclusively on the wing, the second-round pick is averaging fewer than 15 minutes a night and hasn’t scored a goal since the beginning of the month.

He’ll now face a long period out of the lineup and likely miss upwards of ten games. The Blue Jackets will have to find someone else to find those minutes and hope to help pull them out of their recent skid. Columbus now sits 18-21-1 on the season and 3-7 in their last ten, well behind the Washington Capitals for fourth place in the Metropolitan Division.

Oilers Have Shown Interest In Joonas Korpisalo

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With Mike Smith injured once again, Mikko Koskinen struggling, and the Oilers in a tailspin at the moment, they’re on the lookout to try to shore up their goaltending.  To that end, Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic reported in the latest TSN Insider Trading segment that Edmonton has kicked the tires on Blue Jackets goaltender Joonas Korpisalo.

With Elvis Merzlikins inking a five-year, $27MM contract extension at the start of the season, he cemented himself as the starter of the present and future in Columbus, basically making Korpisalo expendable.  The 27-year-old is also on an expiring contract with a $2.8MM AAV and while Edmonton’s salary cap situation doesn’t exactly give them much in the way of flexibility, some retention and some good fortune on the injury front could make a move doable.

Prior to this season, Korpisalo’s track record had been decent with a .905 SV% and a 2.90 GAA over his first six NHL campaigns.  Those aren’t numbers that scream a sizable upgrade but mediocrity would still be an upgrade on what Edmonton has had at times over the past few years, Smith’s strong 2020-21 campaign notwithstanding.

However, this season has been another story.  Korpisalo has a 3.95 GAA and a .882 SV% in 14 games, the worst numbers of his career by a significant margin.  Edmonton’s goaltending has struggled this season but the trio of Smith, Koskinen, and youngster Stuart Skinner have done better than that.  In that sense, there’s some question on how much he’d move the needle for the Oilers and whether or not that’s the best use of their very limited cap room.

While Edmonton needs a longer-term upgrade, affording one with their cap situation would be a significant challenge.  Even a higher-end rental starter would be tricky with the Oilers in a money-in, money-out situation and the fact that few are available; TSN’s Darren Dreger noted in the same segment that Chicago’s Marc-Andre Fleury wouldn’t be a great fit for that reason.

In the end, all that GM Ken Holland may be able to afford is a nominal improvement at best and when you factor in Korpisalo’s track record, that’s about all he’d be.  While there wouldn’t be a ton of upside with such a move, he’d at least give them some insurance between the pipes and with Holland not being interested in moving top young assets, this would be a move that could be made without moving those future pieces.  With Edmonton not in a position to accrue cap space since they’re well into LTIR, it’s also a move that they wouldn’t have to necessarily wait until closer to the trade deadline to try to make and with the Oilers struggling, Holland may be forced to try to do something sooner than later.

Boqvist, Gavrikov Added To COVID Protocol

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The Columbus Blue Jackets are down a pair of defensemen, as both Adam Boqvist and Vladislav Gavrikov have been added to the COVID protocol. The release notes that Boqvist actually entered the protocol yesterday, meaning his timer will be slightly ahead of his teammate.

Boqvist, 21, is having a nice season for the Blue Jackets, scoring seven goals and 14 points through 26 games. The young defender played more than 20 forgettable minutes on Saturday against the Florida Panthers though, as the team was blown out by the Eastern Conference powerhouse. Unfortunately, that’ll be the last action he sees for a few days as he faces a minimum of a five-day isolation period.

Gavrikov meanwhile played 18:35 on Saturday, which is actually close to a season-low for the 26-year-old defenseman. Usually playing more than 21 minutes a night, he too is having a strong offensive season for Columbus with 17 points in 36 games. That solid point total has been backed up by some analytical success too, as Gavrikov is given the hardest defensive deployment on the Blue Jackets roster but remains almost even in terms of goals for and against.

With both out, the Blue Jackets have elevated Gavin Bayreuther to the second pair with Jake Bean and will insert Gabriel Carlsson back into the lineup. The team already had Cole Sillinger and Jakub Voracek in the protocol, but should get the latter back at least if he can test out in the coming days. Columbus doesn’t play again until Thursday.

Poll: Is The Eastern Conference Playoff Picture Already Complete?

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It doesn’t make for much of an exciting stretch run, but it just might be the truth and The Buffalo News’ Mike Harrington isn’t afraid to make the claim: less than halfway through the 2021-22 NHL season, the eight Eastern Conference playoff spots appear to be locked up. While the eight in place can certainly jockey for position, Harrington believes that those teams currently in the postseason in the East will stay in postseason position and those not, including his Buffalo Sabres, have nothing left to play for this season. Do you agree?

The conference standings do paint a pretty bleak picture for the playoff race, as the gap between the eighth and final playoff spot and the next closest competitor is sizeable. In terms of both absolute points and points percentage, the Boston Bruins sit in eighth in the East with 46 points and a .657 points percentage, holding the second wild card spot if the postseason started today. In ninth place in both categories are the Detroit Red Wings, but calling it a distant ninth is generous. Detroit has 39 points on the year, just seven back of Boston, but having played four more games than the Bruins the Red Wings are actually just a .500 team, 157 percentage points back. Every other team outside the playoff picture is under .500 and they are all chasing a Bruins team that is 8-2 in their past ten games, riding a five-game winning streak. Just ahead of Boston are the Pittsburgh Penguins, who are also 8-2 in their last ten. The only other teams in the conference that are not 200+ percentage points ahead of Detroit are the Washington Capitals and New York Rangers.

[See: Eastern Conference Standings]

Statistically, there don’t appear to be any clear underachievers outside of the playoff picture primed for a late push either. All eight teams not in a playoff spot in the East have a negative goal differential, with the top mark being the Columbus Blue Jackets at -15. In contrast, the worst differential among the playoff teams is the Rangers’ +17 and they are the only club below +20. Hardly any of the non-playoff teams hold a spot in the top half of the league in any major statistical category either. The New York Islanders are ninth in goals against per game and eleventh in penalty kill efficiency, the Blue Jackets are tied for twelfth in goals for per game, the New Jersey Devils are thirteenth on the penalty kill, and the Ottawa Senators are tied for fourteenth in power play efficiency – end of list.

Yet, can the playoff picture really be sealed up this early? The law of averages suggests that a current playoff team is likely to slump while a current non-playoff team is likely to hit their stride in the second half. In fact, this may have already begun. While the Bruins and Penguins have been surging, the Capitals are just 4-3-3 in their last ten games and struggling to find consistent goaltending and defensive play. The Capitals’ record is also buoyed by a league-leading nine overtime points and their abysmal 30th-ranked power play is a major stain on their playoff resume. If there is a pretender in the East, it could be Washington. The Rangers may also be due for some regression in the second half. New York has exceeded expectations thus far and have somehow found ways to win despite trouble scoring. Their 2.85 goals per game is tied for 18th in the league, behind the likes of Columbus and New Jersey and just .01 ahead of Ottawa. On the flip side of the playoff picture, the Islanders are one of the biggest disappointments of the season. A conference finalist last year, the Isles looked to be building a true contender. While they are still playing a good defensive game, the team has had no luck offensively this season. Yet, with a league-low  30 games played, the Islanders could have time to find their game and fight their way back into postseason consideration. At least on paper, the Philadelphia Flyers should also be better than their current record, while the rebuilding Red Wings and Blue Jackets should be happy with their performance so far this season but would be even happier to get their young rosters into a postseason battle.

It is hard to remember a conference having no battle for playoff position in recent memory, especially so early in the season. While it looks like that could be the case this year in the East, is that actual a realistic expectation? Is the current gap in the standings just too wide to overcome? Or is there enough potential for one or two teams in the playoff picture to collapse while one or two on the outside find a way back? Vote now and comment on which teams, if any, could drop out of the playoff picture and who might replace them.

[mobile users vote here]

Cole Sillinger Enters COVID Protocol

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  • The Blue Jackets have placed center Cole Sillinger in COVID protocol, per a team release.  The rookie has held down a regular spot in the lineup with Columbus this season, notching 13 points in 35 games.  Liam Foudy has been recalled from the taxi squad to take Sillinger’s place on the roster.

Gregory Hofmann Placed On Unconditional Waivers

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Jan 14: Hofmann has cleared waivers and will have his contract terminated.

Jan 13: A few days after informing the team that he would not be returning to North America, Gregory Hofmann has been placed on unconditional waivers according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. The Blue Jackets had previously suspended Hofmann for not returning, with his Swiss team EV Zug announcing that he would rejoin them once the contract details in the NHL were dealt with.

Hofmann’s one-year, $900K contract with the Blue Jackets will be terminated tomorrow, technically making him an unrestricted free agent. He’ll be staying in Switzerland though, meaning his NHL journey will for now end at 24 games.

Those 24 games were actually relatively productive, as Hofmann recorded two goals and seven points for the Blue Jackets. He leaves as the current +/- leader on the team as well at +6. It’s an unfortunate situation for the Blue Jackets, especially after giving up so little to bring him over to North America in the first place. Last February, the team traded a 2022 seventh-round pick to the Carolina Hurricanes for Hofmann’s rights a decade after he was originally selected in the fourth round. The Hurricanes had never been able to sign him, but Columbus was able to bring him over now that he was no longer held to the entry-level system.

What remains on the $900K salary will not be paid out now that he’s gone, but Hofmann technically could sign a new deal with another NHL team at some point in the future. There’s not really any reason to believe he’ll do that though, as he is a star in the Swiss league he now returns to. A veteran of 11 seasons there, he had 41 points in 36 games for EV Zug in 2020-21 and scored the championship-clinching goal in the playoffs to take home his second career title.

Columbus Blue Jackets Suspend Gregory Hofmann

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Jan 11: EV Zug has announced that once “NHL transfer formalities” are completed, Hofmann will resume his contract there. That would suggest he will be placed on unconditional waivers today.

Jan 10: The Columbus Blue Jackets have decided that a suspension is their only option. Gregory Hofmann has been suspended indefinitely by the team, with general manager Jarmo Kekalainen offering the following explanation:

Gregory was given permission by the club to step away for personal reasons and informed us today that because of those reasons he has decided not to return. Obviously, we are disappointed, but we have no other recourse than to suspend him.

By suspending him without pay, Hofmann’s cap hit will not count toward the Blue Jackets’ total.

The 29-year-old forward signed a one-year, $900K contract with Columbus this offseason after a long career in Switzerland, and had played in 24 games so far this season. Though he had scored just two goals and seven points, his play had been impressive enough to earn more ice time of late, including nearly 20 minutes in his second to last game.

Given a leave of absence in late December, Hofmann’s reason at the time had to do with the birth of his first child. Aaron Portzline of The Athletic tweets that as recently as yesterday, Kekalainen had expected Hofmann to be back soon.

By suspending him instead of terminating his contract, the Blue Jackets will retain Hofmann’s rights through the end of the season. The Swiss league technically does not have a transfer agreement with the NHL and therefore could theoretically sign him, but they usually respect North American contracts (and related suspensions). Hofmann will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season.

Zach Werenski, Alexandre Texier Placed In COVID Protocol

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Jan 7: Alexandre Texier has also tested positive and is now in the COVID protocol, according to Aaron Portzline of The Athletic.

Jan 4: After initially being positive on a rapid test yesterday, Zach Werenski has now been officially placed in the COVID protocol after his case was confirmed. The Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman will be unavailable to the team for the next few days at least.

The team has also added Jean-Francois Berube and Cam Johnson to the taxi squad, as Elvis Merzlikins and Daniil Tarasov are both dealing with lower-body injuries. Johnson comes all the way from the ECHL, where he has spent the last several seasons.

Losing Werenski is arguably the worst thing that could happen for the Blue Jackets, given how much responsibility he carries on a nightly basis. The 24-year-old defenseman is averaging 26:34 in ice time this season, four minutes more than the next highest Columbus player. He also happens to be third on the team in scoring with 20 points through 30 games.

The Blue Jackets are in action tonight against the Tampa Bay Lightning, before a home-and-home with the New Jersey Devils this weekend.

Gregory Hofmann Takes Personal Leave

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  • Blue Jackets winger Gregory Hofmann has taken a leave of absence for personal reasons, notes Brian Hedger of the Columbus Dispatch (Twitter link). The 29-year-old has seven points in 24 games in his first NHL season after his rights were acquired from Carolina last season.  His wife is expecting the birth of their first child soon so there is no firm date yet for his return.

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