Blue Jackets Place Adam Boqvist On IR With Shoulder Strain, Make Six Other Roster Moves
The Blue Jackets have made a series of roster moves ahead of tomorrow’s game against the Islanders, as outlined in a team release. The team has placed defenseman Adam Boqvist on injured reserve with a shoulder strain, placed goaltender Elvis Merzlikins on IR with an illness, and forward Cole Sillinger on IR retroactive to November 26 with an upper-body injury. Columbus has recalled three players from AHL Cleveland in response: defenseman Nick Blankenburg and goalie Jet Greaves have been summoned on an emergency basis, while forward Emil Bemström is coming up on a standard recall.
Additionally, the club has activated netminder Daniil Tarasov from long-term injured reserve, although he will remain with AHL Cleveland on a conditioning stint. He had previously been assigned to the minors on an LTIR-specific conditioning stint.
Boqvist, who sustained the injury in last night’s overtime loss to the Kings, is expected to miss four weeks, per the team. It’s horrible timing for the 23-year-old, who was beginning to settle into a top-pairing role alongside Zach Werenski after starting his season on a rough note. Boqvist made just four appearances in the team’s first 18 games, sitting as a healthy scratch on a near-nightly basis. He’s now made nine straight appearances, however, and had logged over 20 minutes in each of his last three contests. Since his last healthy scratch on November 18 against the Capitals, Boqvist had three assists, a +7 rating and 11 shots on goal.
The 2018 eighth-overall selection by the Blackhawks had a strong showing despite dealing with injuries in Columbus last year, logging 24 points in 46 games (a 43-point pace) and leading qualified Blue Jackets defenders with a 48.7% Corsi share at even strength. It’s fair to claim he was misused out of the gate by head coach Pascal Vincent, likely costing the struggling Blue Jackets a handful of points in the standings. Boqvist’s possession numbers have once again been strong this season, posting a relative Corsi share of 2.1%.
His spot on the active roster is assumed by Blankenburg, who figures to make his season debut tomorrow with Erik Gudbranson out sick. The 25-year-old made his NHL debut for the Blue Jackets at the tail end of the 2021-22 campaign after signing as a free agent out of the University of Michigan and has made a strong offensive impact despite standing at just 5-foot-9 – quite a diminutive frame for an NHL defender. His play at the minor-league level has been excellent, notching three goals, eight assists and a +9 rating in 18 games with Cleveland.
Meanwhile, Merzlikins is expected to miss one week with an illness after making 35 saves on 39 shots last night. He will miss the team’s next three games and can return on December 14 against the Maple Leafs. Backup Spencer Martin will likely start two of them, with Greaves potentially making his season debut Friday against the Blues in the second half of a back-to-back. Martin, who has a 3.02 GAA and .902 SV% after being claimed off waivers from the Canucks in September, now has an extended chance to make his case to stay on the roster with Tarasov nearing a return to NHL play.
Bemström comes back up to the NHL roster after being demoted to Cleveland on November 16, clearing waivers in the process. To say the 24-year-old took his demotion well is an understatement – he lit up the minors with ten goals and four assists in eight games, including five multi-point efforts. After showing he absolutely does not belong at a second-tier level, it’s not surprising to see him back in Columbus today after depth winger Eric Robinson was dealt to the Sabres.
There is no change in Sillinger’s status, and he remains listed as day-to-day. It’s unclear when he’ll return to the lineup, although he’s eligible for activation at any time, given the existing length of his absence.
West Notes: Burakovsky, Byram, Makar, Athanasiou
Kraken winger André Burakovsky is close to returning from an upper-body injury, head coach Dave Hakstol told reporters Wednesday (via Alison Lukan of Root Sports Northwest). Burakovsky sustained the injury on October 21 during a game against the Rangers, taking a hard hit from maligned defenseman Jacob Trouba. The Kraken announced Burakovsky would miss six to eight weeks shortly thereafter, putting him within the originally projected return window.
Burakovsky, who’s now missed 20 games with the injury, played just six contests this season after a groin tear kept him out for the back half of the 2022-23 regular season and the playoffs, during which the Kraken defeated the Avalanche for their first-ever series win and took the Stars to seven games in the Second Round. The missed time showed in his play to start the season, going without a point and recording a -4 rating through his first four contests. He showed signs of life in his fifth game, though, notching two assists and a +1 rating in nearly 18 minutes of ice time against the Hurricanes two days before sustaining his upper-body injury.
With such a rich recent injury history, Hakstol signaled the Kraken are being cautious with Burakovsky’s return. He’s been skating in a non-contact jersey for nearly two weeks. Since signing a five-year, $27.5MM deal with the Kraken in the summer of 2022 after hoisting the Stanley Cup as a member of the Avalanche, Burakovsky has 13 goals and 41 points in 55 contests. If he can return to the lineup Thursday against the Devils, he’s projected to play a second-line role alongside Jared McCann and Alexander Wennberg.
More from the Western Conference in this mid-week update:
- Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar informed media today that defenseman Bowen Byram is “hopefully” healthy enough to play tomorrow after leaving yesterday’s win over the Ducks with an upper-body injury. Bednar had confirmed earlier that Byram’s injury is not head-related, a sigh of relief considering his well-documented history of concussions at just 22 years old. Even if Byram can’t play, Bednar said superstar blueliner Cale Makar is an option to return tomorrow against the Jets after missing the last two games with a lower-body injury. Overall, it’s positive news for an Avalanche defense that remains without Samuel Girard for the foreseeable future as he undergoes treatment in the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program. Byram has played in all 25 Avalanche contests this season, logging five goals, three assists, and a -3 rating in 20:09 of average ice time.
- Injured Blackhawks forward Andreas Athanasiou aims to return to practice by the end of this week as he recovers from a groin injury, head coach Luke Richardson tells NBC Sports Chicago’s Charlie Roumeliotis. The 29-year-old has missed 12 games with a groin injury sustained on November 9 against the Lightning and is listed as week-to-week. Athanasiou recorded 20 goals for the second time in his career last season in Chicago, but offense had been harder to come by through 11 games this year, recording four assists, no goals, and seeing his ice time drop to under 13 minutes per game. He signed a two-year, $8.5MM extension last summer to remain in the Windy City.
Buffalo Sabres Acquire Eric Robinson From Columbus
4:48 p.m.: The draft pick included in the deal will only be transferred to the Blue Jackets if Robinson plays 45 NHL games this season, per CapFriendly. He’s already logged seven appearances with Columbus.
3:27 p.m.: The Sabres have made the news official, sending a 2025 seventh-round pick (originally belonging to the Predators) to Columbus in return for Robinson’s services. In a corresponding transaction, forward Brandon Biro was returned to AHL Rochester.
1:32 p.m.: The Buffalo News’ Lance Lysowski has confirmed that the Buffalo Sabres have acquired Eric Robinson from the Columbus Blue Jackets. This was originally reported by Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. Robinson, 28, is in his seventh season of NHL play, after signing with the Blue Jackets as an undrafted free agent in 2018. He’s since totaled 266 career NHL games and 82 career points. The details of the trade are not yet certain, although Lysowski reports that Robinson won’t join Buffalo for their Thursday matchup against the Boston Bruins.
Robinson has appeared in seven games with the Blue Jackets this season, scoring one goal and recording a -3. He has also played in nine AHL games and scored four points. It was Robinson’s first appearance in the AHL since 2019-20, as the veteran winger has been a fixture of Columbus’ lineup over the last four seasons. He recorded a career year in the 2021-22 campaign, scoring 10 goals and 27 points in 67 games. He followed it up with 12 goals and 24 points in 72 games last year.
Robinson is a New Jersey native who played four seasons at Princeton University from 2014 to 2018. The Nashville Predators invited Robinson to their training camp ahead of the 2015-16 season and signed a professional try-out contract with the team ahead of the 2016-17 season. He also briefly signed with Nashville’s AHL affiliate, before opting to return for his senior season, where he set a collegiate-career high of 31 points in 36 games and earned an NHL contract with Columbus.
He is set to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1st and carries a $1.6MM cap hit this season.
Snapshots: Kane, Dahlin, Durzi
The Detroit Red Wings have announced that legendary winger Patrick Kane will make his debut with the club in their Thursday night matchup against the San Jose Sharks. The game will also mark Kane’s return from the hip resurfacing surgery that he underwent on June 1st.
Kane will look to become the third NHL player to return from a hip resurfacing surgery, with top centerman Nicklas Backstrom representing the second to ever return. Backstrom made it back for the second half of the 2022-23 season, and eight games this season, but is currently on a leave of absence from the Washington Capitals due to complications with his injury.
Thursday night will mark only the 20th regular-season game that Kane has played outside of the Chicago Blackhawks organization. He joined the New York Rangers at last season’s trade deadline, appearing in 19 games and scoring 12 points with the club. These performances brought his career totals to 1180 games, 451 goals, and 1237 points. Kane was originally the first-overall selection in the 2007 NHL Draft.
Other notes from around the league:
- The Buffalo Sabres have announced that Rasmus Dahlin is dealing with a lower-body injury and is questionable for the team’s Thursday game against the Boston Bruins. The Buffalo News’ Lance Lysowski shared that the team is still evaluating his status and what next steps may need to be taken. Dahlin has 21 points in 26 games this season, ranking seventh among all NHL defenders. Lysowski’s colleague, Mike Harrington, shared that Dahlin will travel to Boston with the team, but Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen is dealing with illness and will not.
- Arizona Coyotes defenseman Sean Durzi is day-to-day and doubtful for the team’s upcoming Thursday game. However, Coyotes insider Craig Morgan shared that Durzi is expected to join the team on their upcoming three-game road trip.
John Klingberg To Have Hip Surgery, Done For The Season
The Hockey News’ David Alter shared an update from Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Brad Treliving, who said that John Klingberg is set to undergo hip surgery at the end of the month. This surgery will end the 31-year-old defenseman’s season.
Klingberg was moved to long-term injured reserve at the end of November without disclosing the injury at the time. He will now miss the remainder of his first season with the Maple Leafs, after signing a one-year, $4.2MM contract with the team on July 1st. He appeared in 14 games with Toronto this season, recording five assists, eight penalty minutes, and a -7.
The veteran Klingberg was originally drafted in the fifth round of the 2010 NHL Draft by the Dallas Stars. He continued playing in Sweden and Finland’s top leagues until the end of the 2013-14 season when he joined the AHL’s Texas Stars – earning his NHL debut in 2014-15. Klingberg would go on to play in eight seasons with Dallas, totaling 552 games and 374 points with the club. Klingberg signed a one-year, $7MM contract with the Anaheim Ducks ahead of the 2022-23 season. He played 50 games and scored 24 points in Anaheim, before being traded to the Minnesota Wild at that year’s trade deadline.
After 17 games in Minnesota, Klingberg joined his fourth NHL club this summer. He’s totaled 412 points, 255 penalty minutes, and a -40 in 633 career NHL games. Klingberg ranks 24th in games played amongst the 2010 NHL Draft class. He also ranks second in career scoring among defenders in that class, behind Cam Fowler‘s 426 career points.
Arizona Coyotes Recall Patrik Koch
The Arizona Coyotes have recalled defenseman Patrik Koch from their AHL affiliate, the Tucson Roadrunners.
The move puts the 26-year-old Slovak defenseman in a position to make his NHL debut, a debut that would come just a few short months removed from the start of his North American professional career. An undrafted veteran of the Czech and Slovak leagues, Koch was signed by Arizona this past summer after a solid season in Czechia.
Playing for HC Vítkovice, Koch scored 12 points in 46 games and helped the club reach the Czech semifinals. He also earned a spot on Slovakia’s team for the 2023 IIHF Men’s World Championship, where his country would only narrowly miss out on advancement to the playoffs.
So far this season Koch has played entirely in the AHL with the Roadrunners. He has most recently been listed on the team’s third pairing alongside Montana Onyebuchi, usage that does not indicate that he would be a prime call-up candidate. That being said, Koch provides quite a bit of bite and physicality, something other call-up candidates such as Victor Söderström or Maksymilian Szuber don’t offer as readily.
With the Coyotes preparing to play a tough Philadelphia Flyers squad that boasts fearsome forwards such as Nicolas Deslauriers and Garnet Hathaway, recalling Koch adds a bruising defenseman to an Arizona defense that is currently not overflowing with overwhelmingly physical players outside veteran Josh Brown.
Snapshots: Tinordi, Jones, Walman
According to NBC Sports Chicago’s Charlie Roumeliotis, Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Jarred Tinordi will not practice with the Blackhawks today, as he has been placed in concussion protocol. Tinordi has already missed time this season due to an oblique injury, and has in total played in just 12 games this season.
The hope for Tinordi has to be that being in concussion protocol ends up being a precaution, and that Tinordi does not have a head injury. Not only would that be the ideal outcome for Tinordi’s health, it would also allow him to get back onto the ice sooner in what is a season of high personal importance. A pending unrestricted free agent, the physical 31-year-old will want to have the best possible season in order to set himself up for his next contract.
Some other notes from the rest of the NHL:
- The Toronto Maple Leafs have recalled netminder Martin Jones from their AHL affiliate, the Toronto Marlies, once again on an emergency basis. The team had originally sent Jones back down to the AHL, but with regular netminder Ilya Samsonov still not well enough to back up Joseph Woll it appears Toronto will need Jones’ services in the NHL for a little while longer. Jones has a .870 save percentage through five games with the Marlies so far this season.
- The NHL Department of Player Safety fined Detroit Red Wings defenseman Jake Walman $2,500 for high-sticking Buffalo Sabres forward Jeff Skinner in last night’s game. The play in question appears to be more of a cross-check than a natural high-sticking, though the cross-check did appear to be unleashed on Skinner’s head. Seeing as Walman made contact with Skinner’s head, the Red Wings are likely relieved that Walman did not receive any suspension from a Department of Player Safety that often has a very low tolerance for checks to the head. Walman has emerged as a top-pairing defenseman in Detroit, so losing him for even a game would represent a significant loss.
Ilya Kovalchuk Signs In KHL
Former NHL superstar Ilya Kovalchuk has decided to return to the game after a two-year absence, signing a one-year contract with the KHL’s Spartak Moscow.
Kovalchuk, 40, has not played at all since his playoff run with Avangard Omsk in 2020-21 that ended in a Gagarin Cup championship. Before that short stint in Omsk, Kovalchuk had not been a fixture in the KHL since 2017-18, the final year of his time in the KHL that began with his highly controversial exit from the New Jersey Devils.
The 2001 first-round pick returned to the KHL in 2020-21 after two seasons in the NHL split between three teams: the Los Angeles Kings, Montreal Canadiens, and Washington Capitals. That raised the overall total of NHL franchises he’s played for to five, adding on the Devils and Atlanta Thrashers, teams he spent the bulk of his career weith.
Now, Kovalchuk will represent Spartak, a team that currently sits at the top of the KHL’s Western Conference. They rank first in the KHL in goals scored by a wide margin, so their addition of Kovalchuk is not one based on desperation to add offensive reinforcements. Instead, Kovalchuk will join an already-talented side that includes star Nikolay Goldobin, a former NHLer who currently has 53 points in just 40 KHL games.
While there is surely no possibility that this signing will result in Kovalchuk looking to once again return to North American pro hockey, this contract does extend the playing career of a forward who was once one of the NHL’s most electric offensive talents.
Ottawa Senators Hire Jacques Martin As Senior Advisor To Coaching Staff
The Ottawa Senators have made a change to their coaching staff — but it’s an addition, not a subtraction. They’ve turned to a familiar face, hiring Jacques Martin as a senior advisor to their coaching staff.
This move is a highly intriguing one, on multiple levels. First and foremost, the Senators are adding an extremely experienced former head coach to their staff, someone with a reputation as a strong defensive mind.
The Senators have actually surrendered the seventh-fewest goals in the entire NHL, which does not indicate an immediate need for the club to patch up its defense. That being said, the added experience definitely can’t hurt the Senators’ coaching efforts.
Experience is something Martin most definitely has, as he won a Jack Adams award all the way back in 1998-99 and first became an NHL head coach in 1986, coaching the Doug Gilmour and Bernie Federko-led St. Louis Blues.
Martin only kept that job for two seasons but he got a second chance to become a head coach when the Senators hired him in 1995-96.
Martin stayed in Ottawa until after 2003-04, embarking on a run of success that had been wholly foreign to the relatively young expansion franchise.
He reached the postseason in just his second campaign in the Canadian capital, and then eventually made it all the way to the Eastern Conference Final with star players such as Daniel Alfredsson, Jason Spezza, Marian Hossa, and Zdeno Chara.
Martin would then take charge of the Florida Panthers, and while he never managed to reach the playoffs there he kept the Panthers above a .500 points percentage in each of his campaigns in Florida.
After that, he became the head coach of the Montreal Canadiens. His well-drilled defensive side rode excellent goaltending from Jaroslav Halak to the Eastern Conference Final, taking out two heavyweight teams in the top-seeded Washington Capitals and defending champion Pittsburgh Penguins along the way.
That stint in Montreal was Martin’s most recent as a head coach, though he did go on to have success as an assistant coach. He worked on Mike Sullivan‘s staff with the Penguins as the club won the 2016-17 Stanley Cup, and then spent one year assisting David Quinn and the New York Rangers.
Martin’s appointment in Ottawa appears to come with a decent bit of intrigue. On the face of it, the Senators are simply adding a familiar face to help out a club currently struggling to build momentum in the standings. But looking at it a little bit deeper, this Senators coaching staff is currently highly embattled with a significant portion of the fanbase appearing to prefer the head coach, D.J. Smith, be dismissed.
Senators management in Steve Staios and new owner Michael Andlauer have thus far resisted firing Smith, reportedly due to a desire to maintain as much stability in the organization as possible. But in a campaign where the Senators are under so much pressure to make the playoffs, one has to wonder if the Senators can afford to retain Smith much longer, considering he is in his fifth year as the team’s head coach and has only once delivered a points percentage above .500.
By hiring Martin, the Senators have now brought a highly experienced, highly respected former head coach into their organization, someone who could now theoretically step in and serve as an interim head coach on short notice. That’s not to say this hiring is some sort of sign that a Smith firing is anything certain, of course, as the Senators’ ownership appears to remain committed to supporting Smith and prioritizing stability.
But in the case that the Senators endure another run of bad results, the type of run that would make retaining their fifth-year coach completely impossible, they now have an in-house replacement ready to take over in Martin. He’s someone with not only extensive experience in Ottawa but also extensive experience bringing out the best of the talent on his roster.
Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Evening Notes: Olympics, Smith, Laine
On TSN’s Insider Trading today, Pierre LeBrun relayed some of the reservations the NHL might be having about a potential NHL return to Olympic hockey participation in 2026. The NHL hasn’t taken part in the Olympics since the 2014 Sochi Olympics in Russia, a tournament in which Canada took gold. The league did not participate in the events in 2018 and opted not to return in 2022 due to COVID concerns as well as concerns surrounding travel.
LeBrun told viewers that NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman spoke to the NHL board of governors and had concerns about the Olympic arena in Milan, Italy which is not built yet and has a projected timeline that would see construction conclude just six to eight weeks before the Olympics begin.
On top of that, there remains no agreement on many important details such as families travelling to the Olympics as well as an agreement on the players’ insurance.
Lebrun added that he believes this is the most negative he has heard the NHL talk about 2026 Olympic participation but he does add that NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly is not pessimistic towards NHL players returning to the Olympics.
In other evening notes:
- The Nashville Predators announced that forward Cole Smith missed tonight’s game against the Chicago Blackhawks with an apparent illness. The 28-year-old is currently listed as day-to-day, and it is unknown whether he will be able to suit up on Thursday when the Predators take on the Tampa Bay Lightning. Smith has just one full NHL season under his belt and has started this year at a solid pace with four goals and five assists in 24 games while averaging nearly three hits a game.
- Aaron Portzline of The Athletic is reporting that Columbus Blue Jackets forward Patrik Laine was a scratch tonight due to an illness. No word yet on any timeline for Laine to return as the news came out just before the start of the Blue Jackets’ game against the Los Angeles Kings. Mathieu Olivier was expected to be scratched for the game but took Laine’s place in the lineup and scored his first goal of the season in the 4-3 loss. Laine has struggled out of the game this season and has been a healthy scratch at times, he has just five goals and two assists in 16 games thus far which is well short of the numbers he has put up in recent years where he has been a point-a-game player.