Blue Jackets Facing Familiar Challenge of Overcoming Big Injuries

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Just four games into the new season, the Columbus Blue Jackets are already facing a familiar challenge. It’s one that they can’t seem to shake.

Not only are injuries happening in bulk, they’re big injuries taking out some of their most important players. The latest example was a freak play that happened Thursday night in the Blue Jackets’ 6-4 win over the Buffalo Sabres.

Kent Johnson had to leave Thursday’s game after getting into a collision with James van Riemsdyk. The news on him is not good as the Blue Jackets prepare for their game Saturday night against the Minnesota Wild.

Johnson Out Long Term

The Blue Jackets do not give specifics out when it comes to injuries. However head coach Dean Evason conceded on Saturday morning that Johnson’s injury is “not short-term.”

That’s yet another devastating blow to a team that’s had to endure several setbacks in the early going. As of this writing, Johnson hasn’t been placed on IR yet. But the expectation is that will happen when the team shares any kind of official update.

“Don (Waddell) and I talked about it this morning,” Evason said. “Don doesn’t like to give timelines. I’m not giving timelines, but it’s not short term.”

Kent Johnson Columbus Blue Jackets
Kent Johnson’s injury is not short term according to head coach Dean Evason. (Jess Starr/The Hockey Writers)

Johnson was off to a tremendous start in the new season with five points in his first four games while recording at least a point in every game he played in. As for who will take his place to the right of Adam Fantilli, the expectation is that it will be Justin Danforth.

Danforth Back and Promoted

Danforth returned Thursday after having offseason wrist surgery. He said the injury itself occurred at the end of last season against the Carolina Hurricanes. He says he felt good in his first game of the new season.

“I felt pretty good actually,” Danforth said. “We got a great staff here to get me ready to get me in shape and get me ready to play. So I felt pretty good.”

Danforth’s final hurdle was to show he could handle some of the physical elements of the game. Once he could go through stuff with the hand, it was all systems go.

“The final part of it was the puck battles, 1-on-1’s using the top hand so using it more,” Danforth said. “We just did a couple of practices where I had (Jared Boll) leaning on me, going against guys 1-on-1 down low and it felt ready to go.”

Danforth has played with Fantilli in the past so joining his line won’t be new for him. He knows he has one job when they’re on the ice together.

“I got a good feel for him,” Danforth said of Fantilli. “He wants the puck on his stick as much as possible. I think my job when I get to play with him is just get him the puck and make sure I can be on forechecks and turn pucks over so he can have the puck on his stick more. I feel like when he has the puck on his stick, good things happen.”

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Coach Evason liked what he saw out of Danforth on Thursday night. It’s part of the reason why he gets the bump to the second line given the rash of injuries.

“Really loved his energy, loved his competitiveness, his puck battles,” Evason said. “He actually stated to me a couple days ago that’s one of his concerns when he was coming back is that he wasn’t able to win those puck battles when he had that competition. He’s worried about the injury. I told him by all accounts that the coaches said it has nothing to do with your hands. It has everything to do with your will and your desire. And he has both of those, killed penalties for us. Played a lot especially when (Johnson) went down. We had to slip him into a different role possibly. (He) played a lot of minutes. (He will) be a big part of our our team obviously tonight and moving forward.”

As for what to expect lines wise Saturday, Evason confirmed it would likely be an 11-7 setup as David Jiricek will be making his season debut. As it was an optional morning skate, here is what the projected lines look like for the Blue Jackets.

  • Yegor Chinakhov-Sean Monahan-Kirill Marchenko
  • Zach Aston-Reese-Adam Fantilli-Justin Danforth
  • Mikael Pyyhtia-Cole Sillinger-Mathieu Olivier
  • James van Riemsdyk-Sean Kuraly
  • Zach Werenski-Ivan Provorov
  • Jake Christiansen-Damon Severson
  • Jack Johnson-Jordan Harris
  • David Jiricek
  • Daniil Tarasov starts. Jet Greaves backs up.

Side Dishes

  • As stated, Jiricek is making his season debut. He admitted it was tough being out but his teammates helped him through that. His practice and preparation was good in Evason’s sight where this opportunity was earned.
  • Chinakhov will play Saturday after missing practice Friday due to a lower-body injury.
  • Kevin Labanc started on the second line but now will be a healthy scratch for the second straight game. Evason has had to switch things up due to the injuries. But it’s also a competition for more ice time. “So there’s a healthy competition within our room. Hopefully, everybody wants to step up and play a a bigger role on the hockey club.”
  • Evason says 11-7 can be a useful strategy. “I think there’s some strategic stuff. Then you can get other people involved and you can double up some guys that you feel as a group that are playing well. There’s positives and negatives. But if we use it as a positive and hopefully get everybody involved, then it’ll work out to our advantage.”
  • Elvis Merzlikins remains out with an upper-body injury. He did not skate with the main group on Saturday.
  • Erik Gudbranson will be out long term. The team hasn’t given any additional detail. He was seen in a sling on Thursday night.
  • We’ll end with some good injury news. Seriously. Both Dmitri Voronkov and Cayden Lindstrom skated on their own on Saturday. Voronkov’s upper-body injury didn’t require surgery so his timeline to return is within the foreseeable future. As for Lindstrom, the Blue Jackets have been cautious with him. The fact he’s getting on the ice is a good sign things are progressing in the right direction. He will go to junior when he’s ready. 
  • For these Blue Jackets, it will be a next-man up mentality when it comes to their injury situation. While they are certainly all too familiar with this, the only thing they can do is move forward with who is available. They have no other choice.