Injuries Claim 2 More Victims: Columbus Blue Jackets Down 9

At this point, it’s more than insane. The Jackets have now lost three straight games in a row, but they have other losses to worry about. Their list of injured players added two last night, and now includes a total of nine players — nearly half of an NHL roster.

In the first half of the second period, during a Columbus power play, Artem Anisimov took a nasty hit from Senators’ defenseman Eric Gryba along the boards. As Anisimov went down, Scott Hartnell wasted no time in engaging Gryba in a fight. Gryba was given five minutes for fighting and a game misconduct on the hit.

Although he was given a misconduct and ejected from the game, it remains to be seen if the league will purse any other measures against Gryba for the hit last night.

Check out this video of the hit:

Unfortunately, Anisimov wasn’t the only Jacket to leave the game early last night. Early in the third period, James Wisniewski left the game, and it was later announced that he has suffered a broken finger and will be out 1-2 weeks.

For those of you keeping track at home, that makes two Blue Jackets out with broken fingers, and nine total injured players. In only nine games. Yes, that averages one injury per game. (That’s not exactly true, as some injuries were present before the season and some happened during practice, but it’s a scary thought.)

To review, we are now missing Nathan Horton ( who is out indefinitely), Boone Jenner (who we hope to see sometime in the next few weeks), Brandon Dubinsky (who we also hope comes back sometime soon), Matt Calvert (who is out for a week), Nick Foligno (who is day-to-day), Sergei Bobrovsky (broken finger #1, out 1-2 weeks), James Wisniewski (broken finger #2, also 1-2 weeks), Mark Letestu (whose groin injury has him out 2-4 weeks), and now Artem Anisimov (who has yet to be evaluated by team doctors, timetable uncertain).

Nine injured players only nine games into the season. It’s either really bad luck, or something just isn’t right. Some of the injuries the Jackets have faced have been the result of nasty plays, like Matt Calvert’s stick to the face, Nick Foligno’s collision with the official, and Anisimov’s dirty hit.

“Whether I’ve done something, or somebody’s done something to the hockey gods… I’ve never seen anything like this. It seems like every time we play a game somebody’s getting hurt. At least that’s what it feels like right now.” –Todd Richards

Some of the injuries, however, have happened in practice, and that makes them even harder to swallow. When you lose one of your top young forwards to a hand broken during practice, something isn’t right. Then you lose your starting goaltender to a broken finger, also suffered during practice, and someone has to be questioning this. According to the Columbus Dispatch, even Head Coach Todd Richards isn’t sure what’s going on with his team: “Whether I’ve done something, or somebody’s done something to the hockey gods… I’ve never seen anything like this. It seems like every time we play a game somebody’s getting hurt. At least that’s what it feels like right now.”

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I for one hope they figure it out, because if they lose anyone else to injury they’re going to start putting their season in jeopardy. It’s been said a lot the past few days that injuries aren’t a good excuse for losing games, but what do you expect when half your team can’t play? You end up with new line combinations every night, no line chemistry, and you start relying on AHL call-ups and rookies to carry every game. It’s not going to work. They’ll have to figure out a way to battle through the injuries they already have, but I sincerely hope they don’t lose anyone else any time soon and can get healthy again so they can get back to playing Blue Jackets hockey.

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