NHL Announces 2022 Global Series
The NHL is going overseas again. The league announced the 2022 NHL Global Series games, which will feature the Nashville Predators, San Jose Sharks, Colorado Avalanche, and Columbus Blue Jackets playing in European cities during the regular season.
Two of those games will open the NHL season. The Sharks and Predators will do battle in a pair of games in Prague, Czechia at O2 Arena on October 7 and 8. Those games follow exhibition matches for both clubs, with the Sharks taking on Eisbaren Berlin in Germany on October 4 and the Predators battling SC Bern in Switzerland on October 3.
Then, a month later, the Avalanche and Blue Jackets will meet in Tampere, Finland for a pair of games on November 4 and 5.
Columbus and Colorado are obvious candidates for games in Finland, since they have some of the biggest current stars the country has produced. Patrik Laine and Mikko Rantanen will be the headliners, though others like Artturi Lehkonen and even general manager Jarmo Kekalainen will certainly draw some attention as well. Laine and Kekalainen are even from Tampere specifically, meaning this is a homecoming of sorts for the Blue Jackets.
It’s no different for the Czech games, where Tomas Hertl of the Sharks will be the big draw. Hertl just signed a massive extension with the Sharks that makes him the team’s highest-paid forward and will lead his club into his hometown a decade after he left for the NHL. Teammate Radim Simek is also from the Czech Republic, as is Nashville goaltender David Rittich, though the latter is not yet signed for next season.
Auston Matthews, Patrik Laine Out Day-To-Day
Any injury hurts a team and a star player’s injury makes an even greater impact. However, when superstar players are sidelined, it even hurts the league itself as the on-ice product suffers. The NHL was dealt some bad news on Sunday night regarding two high-profile players, but at least their absences seems short-term. The Toronto Maple Leafs were without league-leading goal scorer Auston Matthews as they took the ice, with TSN’s Mark Masters relaying that he was out with an undisclosed “minor” injury. The Columbus Blue Jackets were in the same sport with point-per-game scorer Patrik Laine, announcing that he would miss Sunday’s game with an upper-body injury. Both players, who went No. 1 and No. 2 overall in 2016, are considered “day-to-day”.
Toronto head coach Sheldon Keefe told Masters that Matthews was held out for precautionary reasons, especially as the team played the second of a back-to-back. In fact, it was during Saturday’s game that Matthews suffered the injury. Matthews has been relatively healthy this season, only missing time due to injury for the first three games of the campaign, which has helped him reach his massive 58-goal, 102-point totals for the year. The Maple Leafs are understandably playing it safe surrounding the source of so much of their offense.
While Columbus is out of the playoff picture, the team is still rightfully careful with their skilled winger who has dealt with injury issues. Laine is quietly having a career year, recording 56 points through 56 games thus far. Had he been healthy this whole season, Laine very easily might have been on an 80+ point pace. There is no reason to rush him into action if he is dealing with an ailment, no matter how small, with the season lost. Instead, the Blue Jackets will hold out hope that Laine can stay on the ice next season and produce at the same rate.
Sean Kuraly Clears COVID Protocol
- Blue Jackets center Sean Kuraly will return to the lineup after missing the last two games due to a stint in COVID protocol, relays Brian Hedger of the Columbus Dispatch (Twitter link). He’ll take the place of Brendan Gaunce in the lineup. Kuraly has set new career bests in goals (12) and points (28) in 72 games this season in his first year with Columbus.
Kent Johnson To Make NHL Debut
- Kent Johnson‘s immigration issues have been resolved, according to Aaron Portzline of The Athletic, meaning the young forward will make his NHL debut tonight for the Columbus Blue Jackets. Johnson, 19, had 37 points in 32 games for the University of Michigan this season, scoring five in five for Team Canada at the Olympics as well. The fifth-overall pick from 2021 is incredibly skilled and should be an instant offensive boost for the Blue Jackets.
Sean Kuraly Placed In COVID Protocol
The Blue Jackets announced (Twitter link) that they have placed center Sean Kuraly in COVID protocol which means he will not play tonight against Detroit. The team has been dealing with the virus lately with both head coach Brad Larsen and assistant coach Steve McCarthy entering the protocol late last month (they have since returned) while associate coach Pascal Vincent entered on Monday. Kuraly has had a good first season with his hometown team, posting career highs in goals (12), points (28), faceoff wins (580), and hits (216) over 72 games.
Blue Jackets Sign Nick Blankenburg
One of Kent Johnson‘s Michigan teammates is joining him on the Columbus Blue Jackets. After the team inked the 2021 fifth-overall pick, Columbus announced they also signed the captain of the Michigan Wolverines, Nick Blankenburg. Blankenburg, 23, went undrafted and chose to sign with Columbus as a college free agent. His entry level contract is a one-year deal, lasting for the remainder of the 2021-22 season, and he is expected to join the team alongside Johnson on Monday.
Blankenburg is a veteran of four seasons at the University of Michigan, where he has collected 68 points in his 133-game career. Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekalainen referred to Blankenburg as “a talented, smart, really competitive player with great leadership qualities” and stated that the Blue Jackets organization is “thrilled to welcome him.”
While Blankenburg is a bit undersized, standing at five-foot-nine and 175 pounds, it’s not his physicality that has earned him an NHL contract. Blankenburg is a right-shot defenseman who flashed offensive upside in his most recent season as a Wolverine and could help the Blue Jackets as a puck-mover. It remains to be seen if Blankenburg has a true NHL future, but his signing today should afford him the opportunity to make his case to Columbus’ management team that he deserves to be in their future plans as they rebuild their squad.
Blue Jackets Sign Kent Johnson
The stretch run of this Blue Jackets season looks set to become significantly more exciting. The team announced that they have signed top prospect Kent Johnson to a three-year entry-level contract. Johnson is expected to join the team on Monday and is expected to make his NHL debut in the team’s Wednesday contest against the Montreal Canadiens, according to Aaron Portzline of The Athletic.
Johnson, 19, was the fifth overall selection in the 2021 draft, coming off of a freshman season at the University of Michigan where he posted 27 points in 26 games. Johnson is a dazzling playmaker who has become one of the most consistently creative players outside of the NHL this season. In his sophomore season at Michigan, which recently ended in an overtime loss to the University of Denver, Johnson improved his production, posting 37 points in 32 games. Johnson has experience at both winger and center, so while he has been utilized more as a winger it will be interesting to see how Columbus coach Brad Larsen chooses to deploy him.
Additionally, the unique package of skills Johnson brings to the game caught the attention of Hockey Canada’s Olympic selectors, and Johnson represented his country at the 2022 Beijing Olympics, where he collected five points in four games. Johnson won’t turn 20 until October, but if his skill and playmaking ability at the college level (and his brief showing at the Olympics) is any indication, he should make the Blue Jackets’ on-ice product a lot more exciting sooner rather than later.
Kent Johnson Could Turn Pro After His NCAA Season Concludes
6:55 pm: According to ESPN’s Emily Kaplan, seven or eight Michigan University players are expected to turn pro after their NCAA season comes to an end (link). Most notable among them are Sabres’ number one overall draft choice in 2021, Owen Power; the second overall selection in 2021 and the first draft pick in Seattle Kraken history, Matty Beniers; and the fifth overall choice in 2021 by the Columbus Blue Jackets, Kent Johnson. Another premier name on the highly-talented Michigan team, Luke Hughes, who was selected fourth overall in 2021 by the New Jersey Devils, is not expected to turn pro and will return to Michigan next year. The NCAA men’s hockey championship game is scheduled for Saturday night at 8:00 pm ET.
Kirill Marchenko, Ivan Morozov Linked To NHL
At the end of this month, many contracts in the KHL will expire, making a whole wave of players free agents eligible to sign in other professional leagues. For some, it appears as though NHL contracts are on the horizon. A report from Leonid Zakhvatov of Match TV in Russia indicates that both Kirill Marchenko and Ivan Morozov will sign entry-level contracts with their respective NHL clubs, leaving the KHL behind.
Marchenko, 21, was selected 49th overall by the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2018, a team that has patiently awaited his arrival in North America. The young forward has shown an ability to score even in limited KHL minutes while playing with SKA St. Petersburg the last few seasons, adding 12 goals in 39 games this year despite averaging under 12 minutes of ice time.
He actually hasn’t played with the KHL club since January though, heading to the VHL instead for the affiliate’s playoff run, where he added four goals in ten games so far. Marchenko is playing a lot more there, but is in danger of being eliminated tomorrow as SKA is down 3-1 in their semi-final series.
Morozov, meanwhile, was the 61st pick in 2018, this time by the Vegas Golden Knights. He too was playing with SKA the last few seasons and saw a demotion to the VHL squad this year, before ending up with HC Sochi for the end of the year. The complicated year for Morozov is especially curious, given how well he had previously shown at the highest level. In 2020-21 he scored 31 points in 55 regular season games, added seven more in 15 playoff contests, and then was named to the Russian World Championship team. This year, in 22 KHL games combined between SKA and Sochi, he had five goals and 11 points.
Both players represent no sure thing but could be quick risers through the system and contribute at the NHL level in 2022-23, should the contracts be finalized. In fact, technically either one would even be eligible to play in the postseason this year, though it would mean burning the first year of the entry-level deal.
Brad Larsen Exits COVID Protocol
April 4: The Blue Jackets have their head coach back, as Larsen has cleared the protocol and will be back behind the bench this evening. McCarthy is still in it and now Vincent has joined him, meaning Mcudden and Boll will still be running the forwards and defense when the Blue Jackets take on the Boston Bruins.
March 29: The Columbus Blue Jackets will be without head coach Brad Larsen and assistant coach Steve McCarthy this evening, as both have been placed in the league’s COVID protocol. In their absence, the Blue Jackets will be led by associate coach Pascal Vincent. The team is at home to face the New York Islanders this evening.
Larsen, 44, was hired as head coach of the Blue Jackets last summer after serving previously in an assistant role and has posted a 32-29-5 record so far behind the bench. In fact, Columbus has done better this season than many expected after the trade of Seth Jones and other key players, and specifically, the play of Patrik Laine has been an impressive turnaround. The relationship between the two has resulted in plenty of media speculation on several occasions, and yet Laine is currently having the best offensive season of his career with 49 points in 47 games.
With Larsen and McCarthy out, Vincent will serve as head coach, while Jared Boll and Kenny McCudden will run the defense and forwards respectively.