Injuries Continue To Define Columbus Blue Jackets Season
By Clint Linn
Hockey is a contact sport, injuries are going to happen it is only inevitable, however what has happened to the Columbus Blue Jackets early on this season is just extraordinary. It seems like after every game fans have to hold their breath in hopes that another Blue Jacket hasn’t been injured. It started in the off-season, continued through the preseason and has only gotten worse with the day in and day out grind of the regular season. It has caused the Columbus Blue Jackets front office to take action and pull the trigger on a trade.
Oct 31, 2014; Columbus, OH, USA; Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman
Fedor Tyutin(51) against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Nationwide Arena. The Leafs won 4-1. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports
Columbus acquired Jordan Leopold from the St. Louis Blues in exchange for a 2016 5th round draft pick. They did this not for veteran leadership in the locker room, but because Fedor Tyutin has been place on IR and is likely out 4-6 weeks with a sprained knee. Ryan Murray is listed as week to week, after coming back just a few games ago from another injury. It has become overwhelming for fans to take, I can only imagine what the players in the locker room, coaches and even the front office personnel have to be feeling when player after player keeps getting injured.
The Columbus Blue Jackets limped through a nine game losing streak, which saw them grab one of a possible eighteen points. They slipped, stumbled and finally free fell in the standings to where they currently sit in 14th out of 16 teams in the Eastern Conference, that includes their current two game win streak. Nathan Horton is considering career ending back surgery, yes the same Nathan Horton who signed a 6 year 37.1 million dollar deal in the summer of 2013.
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Not all is lost in Blue Jacket land, a gentleman and a scholar who goes by the name of Sergei Bobrovsky (maybe you have heard of him) returned on Saturday night and made a defense that has looked like swiss cheese of late look like the defense of 2013-2014. Brandon Dubinsky should be making his season debut sooner rather than later, Artem Anisimov returned from a concussion on Saturday as well. The team still has injuries, but they are starting to get back some key pieces that can help them win games and with the cyclical nature of things hopefully this plague of injuries will be over. If/when this team gets healthy watch out, they are going to be a team to be reckoned with.
The season is far from over, the Columbus Blue Jackets are going to have to put together a couple impressive winning/point streaks to get back into this thing. If they can get healthy and stay healthy I can tell you one thing, I will enjoy watching this team try to get back on track and start climbing up the standings.