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Columbus Blue Jackets Loan Anderson, Assign Nutivaara to Cleveland

By Preston Byers

COLUMBUS, OH - MARCH 28: Jake McCabe #29 of the Buffalo Sabres and Josh Anderson #34 of the Columbus Blue Jackets battle for position while chasing after a loose puck on March 28, 2017 at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio. Columbus defeated Buffalo 3-1. (Photo by Jamie Sabau/NHLI via Getty Images)
COLUMBUS, OH - MARCH 28: Jake McCabe #29 of the Buffalo Sabres and Josh Anderson #34 of the Columbus Blue Jackets battle for position while chasing after a loose puck on March 28, 2017 at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio. Columbus defeated Buffalo 3-1. (Photo by Jamie Sabau/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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Josh Anderson and Markus Nutivaara will both begin the year with the Columbus Blue Jackets’ AHL affiliate, the Cleveland Monsters.

The Columbus Blue Jackets announced today via their website that forward Josh Anderson has been loaned to Cleveland for the purpose of conditioning while defenseman Markus Nutivaara has been assigned to the Monsters.

Both players were announced as part of the 23-man opening night roster on Tuesday, but with the timing of Anderson’s contract signing and the depth of the blue liners in Columbus, it’s no shock to see either player sent to Cleveland.

Related Story: Cleveland Monsters Roster Breakdown

After a summer of negotiations, Josh Anderson and the Blue Jackets reached a three-year deal on Oct. 2. Due to how late the signing came, Anderson missed the entirety of training camp and all eight preseason games. Once he’s conditioned up to John Tortorella’s standards, we can expect to see #77 in union blue.

Despite playing the majority of the season in Columbus last year and even playing three playoff games, Markus Nutivaara finds himself assigned to the Monsters to begin the 2017-18 season. With the third defensive pairing projected to be Ryan Murray and Gabriel Carlsson, Nutivaara–along with Scott Harrington–is on the outside looking in.

Nutivaara and fans know, however, that Ryan Murray has been quite injury prone through his career with the Blue Jackets. So Nutty may get his shot in the lineup sooner rather than later if Murray goes down with another ailment. Another way he could get on the starting roster is if Gabriel Carlsson fails to live up to the high expectations that many have for the former 29th overall draft pick. Carlsson, 20, has yet to face the rigors of a NHL season, only having played in two regular season games in his career.

Don’t expect either Anderson or Nutivaara to stay in Cleveland for very long. With the Blue Jackets opening the season with a back-to-back, an injury or just flat out poor play on the NHL roster is more likely than not.

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