Sonny Milano’s Future with the Columbus Blue Jackets
By John Luke
Sonny Milano being sent down to the Cleveland Monsters from the Columbus Blue Jackets did not come as a huge surprise to many. As the team started to get healthy they had to start trimming back from the youth in the team and Milano has had a few healthy scratches so far this season.
Coach Tortorella has made it very clear that he did not want to send Sonny Milano back down but he had to make the cut somewhere. Of the new players this year for the Columbus Blue Jackets, many are making an impact at both ends of the ice while Sonny Milano has cooled since his red hot start. It was still a tough decision according to Torts but had to be done to give other players a chance at
On Monday, Coach Tortorella said “I’m not sure it’s fair. Sonny and I had a good talk. Our management talked to him, I talked to him. These are tough decisions, but with the makeup of our lines, I have a number of people that I think are struggling offensively that I’ve got to get them in better offensive positions.”
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Sonny started off red hot with the first goal of the season for the Columbus Blue Jackets. He followed up that scoring with another three goals in his next two games.
Unfortunately, that is where his hot streak ended. Tortorella called him out several times for lacking in his play away from the puck and he sat a few games as a healthy scratch while he worked on his play.
All of this leads me to think that Milano’s stay in Cleveland will be short lived as many players on the team are struggling offensively (and honestly, defensively). Outside of the PB&J (Pierre-Luc, Bread, Josh) Line there aren’t any contributors that are standing out and the coaching staff definitely sees it. Torts has tried to scramble the lines one more time to generate some offense and if they don’t produce quickly then I see the return of Milano on the horizon.
With Milano being in the top 10 point scorers on the team, I can’t imagine that a team can survive without his play but there is an important question to ask. What line does Milano fit on?
Tortorella has stated that putting Sonny on the fourth line is not doing him any good so he won’t go there. The first line is set in Panarin, Anderson, and Dubois but lines two and three are constantly in flux.
If the scoring deficit continues as it has been then I can see a line with Milano, Foligno, and Wenneberg in the near future. The puck handling in this line would be off the charts with Foligno bringing the muscle while Wennberg brings skill at passing and Milano brings skill at scoring. With that combination we might actually see a little bit of scoring out of a line with Wennberg and Foligno.
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While Milano is spending a little time in Cleveland, I wouldn’t consider it a permanent or even a long term thing. To be honest I wouldn’t be surprised if he wasn’t back to play Arizona on Saturday. The least we can do after he cut his hair for the team is to give him some playing time.