The Columbus Blue Jackets released a statement saying that two time Vezina winning goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky will not be with the team for tonight’s game against Nashville.
When Columbus Blue Jackets fans woke up today they thought that the big roster shakeup would be the return of Nick Foligno and the loss of Brandon Dubinsky and Markus Hannikainen.
On top of those moves the Jackets will be without two time Vezina winning goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky after an “incident” according to general manager Jarmo Kekelainen. Jarmo, in a statement said,
"“There are certain expectations and values that we have established for our players that define our culture. An incident occurred in which Sergei failed to meet those expectations and values, so we made the decision that he would not be with the team for tonight’s game. This is an internal matter and we will have no further comment at this time.”"
This news comes after an embarrassing 4-0 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning in which Bobrovsky allowed four goals on 19 shots. Bob was pulled from net in the middle of the third period.
Although no one called the move a suspension, I don’t know how else one would categorize Bob not being with the team for a game. This move comes at an awkward time to say the least as the Jackets mull over the future of both Bobrovsky and Artemi Panarin ahead of the trade deadline.
The Jackets have since called up Jean-Francois Berube from the Cleveland Monsters who was apparently told that he would be coming to Columbus late last night. Joonas Korpisalo will get the start in net against the Central Division leading Nashville Predators.
It’s no secret that Bob and Torts haven’t seen eye to eye all year long. No details were given by either Jarmo or Torts so we may not know for a while what actually happened but either way, it isn’t good for the long term future of either Bob or the Jackets.
More on this as details are discovered.