Columbus Blue Jackets: Dubinsky Injury Hurts Player More Than Team

Brandon Dubinsky was working on a bounce-back season with the Columbus Blue Jackets before an injury in practice sidelined him.

Columbus Blue Jackets center Brandon Dubinsky is expected to miss more than a month with an injury he sustained in practice on Monday. With players like Lukas Sedlak hungry to make a statement and Dubinsky’s tough year last season, this couldn’t have happened at a worse time for Dubinsky.

Dubinsky’s play has been impressive to this point in the season, although it’s only been a couple of games for reference. Recording his first goal this early in the year seemed to be a shift in the Alaska native’s career momentum until the news came in that he’d be out of the lineup for 4-6 weeks.

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He had recorded two points in his first two games, one goal and one assist. A player in Dubinsky’s situation must be conflicted as although they wouldn’t want to lose their ice time upon return, they likely wouldn’t want to see the team fail either.

While this is very bad news for Brandon Dubinsky, this could be a great opportunity for players like Alexander Wennberg, Riley Nash and Lukas Sedlak who will have a much bigger role while Dubinsky is in the press box. Riley Nash has played decently through the first three games but hasn’t been very noticeable.

Lukas Sedlak only played nine minutes in his first game replacing Dubinsky this year despite being an NHL lineup regular last season prior to the Dubinsky injury. There reaches a point where a player gets hungry to take their role back and Brandon Dubinsky is the easiest target to move out of the way right now.

Alexander Wennberg had been tough to watch through the first two games. However he put up two assists last night against the Colorado Avalanche. He only has one shot in the first three games though. He needs to shoot the puck more often, otherwise it could be bad news for Columbus.

Brandon Dubinsky is a warrior on the ice. With a 4-6 week injury, his playing time on the line if his replacement play well. That could definitely play to his advantage as he will have to fight his way back, and Dubi has shown his fierce competitiveness not just this year, but throughout his career.