Blue Jackets Injuries Leave Opening-Night Roster in Flux – Hockey Writers – Columbus Blue Jackets

The Columbus Blue Jackets finished the preseason at .500 with a 7-3 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday night. While it's time to look ahead to the start of the regular season, important questions remain as the roster deadline approaches.

Due to several injuries to key players, who exactly makes the 23-man roster is not cut and dried. There is a good chance that someone will start on the absentee list.

GM Don Waddell will be busy this weekend and into next week trying to make last-minute decisions about what the 23-man roster will look like. Let's reset the injury situation first.

Significant Injury

We'll start with a scary update. Dmitri Voronkov played one shift Thursday night before leaving the game. He was physically injured. On replay, it appeared he was favoring his shoulder after a catch with the Penguins' Sam Poulin. However, the team has not yet clarified the exact nature of the injury.

On Friday, the Blue Jackets placed Voronkov on injured reserve. You will be out forever. The team did not give us an expected time for his return. This leaves open the possibility that his absence could last a long time.

While practicing on Friday for the non-playing team, Boone Jenner scored goals. He left the snow and never came back. As of this writing, there is no official update from the team as to what his condition is.

#CBJ captain Boone Jenner recently caught a bad edge during a small field practice and crashed heavily into the boards.

He apparently stood up and left the practice.

Brian Hedger (@BrianHedger) October 4, 2024

With Voronkov on injured reserve and the possibility that Jenner should miss time, that could give other players a chance to make the roster that wasn't there before. That goes along with the Blue Jackets' desire to add another forward and you have a situation where the roster isn't settled.

Where the List Stands

The deadline for the Blue Jackets to set their first 23-man roster is Monday Oct 7 at 5 PM eastern. Due to a recent decision by the NHL and NHLPA, the team may not be at their peak that day. But they are expected to get there in the future at the right time.

Depending on who makes the plan and what moves can be made, there is a chance for the Blue Jackets to start the season on a high. If they find a player with a big enough cap hit, it's over.

We will start with the goal. This is easy to fix. Elvis Merzlikins and Daniil Tarasov were the scorers. Jet Greaves was assigned to Cleveland on Saturday morning. This is interesting because next season when Greaves needs to be released, the team will have three goalkeepers under contract who need to be released. Merzlikins is expected to be the opening night starter although that is not official as of this writing.

On defense, the big issue here is what to do with Denton Mateychuk. Given how well he's played throughout the preseason, it won't surprise anyone if he wins. Then conversely, going to Cleveland is not a bad idea either.

Here are the defensive players remaining in camp as of Saturday morning: Mateychuk, Jack Johnson, Zach Werenski, Ivan Provorov, Jake Christiansen, Erik Gudbranson, Jordan Harris, David Jiricek and Damon Severson. That's nine defenders. The most they would last was eight. In this group only Matyechuk and Jiricek do not need to be waived. Unless there's a surprise, it looks like Mateychuk will end up in Cleveland. We'll see though.

You May Love It Again

Now for the main ones. There are 13 players currently playing that could make the list. If you don't count Jenner, there are 12. By Cole Sillinger, Sean Kuraly, Adam Fantilli, James van Riemsdyk, Sean Monahan, Mathieu Olivier, Dylan Gambrell, Yegor Chinakhov, James Malatesta, Mikael Pyyhtia, Kirill Marchenko and Kent Johnson.

Especially if the Blue Jackets open on the road at Minnesota and then Colorado, they will need an extra striker if Jenner's injury prevents him from being available.

Regarding the potential for a move, Waddell told Blue Jackets radio on Friday that he has spoken with several teams and is watching the waiver wire. Equality should make sense to them. Watch at 2 PM Eastern for not only what's wanted, but the teams that show up on the phone.

The Blue Jackets can always move after Monday at 5 PM But that's when they need to have a consistent roster with no more than 23 players on it.

The Blue Jackets were already looking to add before the injuries to Voronkov and Jenner. Unless they choose to start the season with Malatesta, Gambrell and Pyyhtia as their 10-11-12 forwards, it's reasonable to expect one, maybe two more moves before Thursday's game at Minnesota.

Stay tuned and know where your F5 key is on your computer.