During their game against the Pittsburgh Penguins this past Tuesday, the Columbus Blue Jackets lost one of their key players, Sean Monahan.
Early in the third period of the game, Monahan left the bench with an upper-body injury and did not return. He was placed on the injured reserve on Thursday morning ahead of the Blue Jackets game against the Seattle Kraken.
Sean Monahan going to IR will knock him out for the next three games at least.
— Mark Scheig (@mark_scheig) January 9, 2025
Tonight against Seattle.
Saturday in St. Louis.
Tuesday against Philadelphia. #CBJ
Monahan has been a big part of the reason that the Blue Jackets have massively exceeded expectations this season, and losing him for a significant amount of time seemed like it could drastically hurt their playoff chances, but that hasn’t been the case and there could even be a silver lining to an otherwise unfortunate situation.
Injury History
Monahan has missed a considerable amount of time throughout his career due to injury. He’s always been a high-performing player, minus a couple of disappointing seasons at the end of his stint with the Calgary Flames, but he’s continuously struggled to stay healthy for a full season.
After a season-ending groin injury during the 2022-23 season, it seemed that Monahan’s durability had improved significantly. He played 83 games during the 2023-24 season after being traded from the Montreal Canadiens to the Winnipeg Jets. His health has held up well this season to this point as well, as he had played all 41 games prior to his current wrist injury.
Monahan’s Season-to-Date
In his first season with Columbus, Monahan has established himself as their top-line center alongside Dmitri Voronkov and Kirill Marchenko. All three were hovering around a point-per-game pace when Monahan went down with injury. The line has been a big part of the team’s offensive production, as they’re very close to leading the team in individual point production, trailing only star defenseman Zach Werenski.
Related: Blue Jackets’ Werenski Catapulting Into Norris Trophy Discussion
While the line has been heavily praised for its offensive capabilities, one thing that goes under the radar is the fact that it tends to draw some very difficult defensive responsibilities as well. Early in the season, when the Toronto Maple Leafs visited Nationwide Arena, Monahan was tasked with playing against Auston Matthews. As the season has progressed, head coach Dean Evason has started passing some of the top stars off to others though.
Against the Pittsburgh Penguins at home, for example, Monahan was the center tasked with defending Evgeni Malkin more often than not. The fourth line of Zach Aston-Reese, Sean Kuraly, and Kevin Labanc was matched up against Sidney Crosby. Against the New Jersey Devils, Monahan was given the task of shutting down an offensive line and spent most of his night against Jack Hughes, while the fourth line took care of the more defensive-minded Nico Hischier.
Moving Forward
The Blue Jackets had Adam Fantilli step into Monahan’s role with the veteran out of the lineup against the Kraken on Thursday night and again against the St. Louis Blues on Saturday night. He played well overall, and the opportunity seemed to give him a spark offensively. The second-year center, who entered Tuesday’s game with nine goals and 10 assists, recorded a helper on Werenski’s goal, which extended the Blue Jackets’ lead to 3-1. He then went on to open the scoring against the Blues, netting his tenth goal of the season.
Fantilli certainly hasn’t looked out of place on the top line, and the organization will certainly hope that this gives him a long-term bump. While the Blue Jackets would undoubtedly hope to have Monahan back in the lineup as soon as possible, if Fantilli can get his offensive production rolling consistently, there could be some good that comes out of an unfortunate situation.
Monahan is going to be out of the lineup for at least a week, and while there is the chance that his injury has a negative effect on the team’s playoff push, the Blue Jackets didn’t seem to have any issues against the Kraken or the Blues.
While it’s not easy to have their top center on the shelf, the Blue Jackets have made the most out of their games without him so far. He’ll also miss their next game against the Philadelphia Flyers, a matchup that could have major playoff implications in the long run.
The sooner the Blue Jackets can get Monahan back on their first line, the more realistic their fight for the postseason will be. Meanwhile, it’s up to those around him to step up and show their value to the team and Fantilli in particular has done just that.
