The Columbus Blue Jackets have further reduced their roster size as the regular season starts in a week.
Time to say good bye to some promising youngsters. The Columbus Blue Jackets have made one of their final cuts to the training camp roster sending seven players from the squad.
The Jackets are down to 18 forwards, nine defenseman and two goalies for the remaining two preseason games. There will be five more skaters that will be cut before the opening night roster is announced.
Included in the group were CBJ prospects Vitaly Abramov and Calvin Thurkauf. The two prospects that showed great promise at the Traverse City tournament just didn’t show enough in preseason to earn a spot. Abramov and Thurkauf both talked of making the team but that time is still to come.
Thurkauf will play in Cleveland this season for the Monsters and has a two way contract so there is still an outside chance he spends time in Columbus. The center still looks like he is a solid year in the AHL away though.
Columbus Blue Jackets
Abramov to Quebec? Finland?
Vitaly Abramov was assigned to his Quebec Major Junior Hockey team following the decision to cut him from the Blue Jackets. But Abramov has for months been stating that he will not return to junior hockey. That he had accomplished all he could in the QMJHL.
But due to the NHL-CHL agreement, players under 20 that don’t make the jump to the NHL must return to their CHL teams. This becomes a difficult situation now if Vitaly doesn’t return to Gatineau.
Abramov can’t really go to Finland to play in Liiga where the Jackets top 2017 draft pick Alexander Texier is playing. He will find himself in unprecedented waters if he does. How it affects the Columbus Blue Jackets remains to be seen.
Abramov will have to end up in Quebec next season which isn’t a great option. He has shown he can dominate that league, winning the MVP award last season. This preseason he showed that he needs to spend time against bigger and faster competition. He was just a shade slow and often overpowered this fall in Columbus.
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Hopefully someone smarter than me can figure out a way he ends up in Liiga in Finland. Then we are all going to have to learn to read Finnish to follow two of the Columbus Blue Jackets brightest prospects.