The Blue Jackets got some ill-timed injury news this morning, with defenseman Ivan Provorov heading to injured reserve (IR) for the first time in his career. Yes, you read that correctly.
There is no good time to get injured, but for the Blue Jackets and their own "Mr Reliable", the timing of this one is really unfortunate. Provorov was injured on a blocked shot in their final preseason game, which went off of his left ankle.
Tonight will be the first time in Ivan's 10-year NHL career that he will miss a game due to injury. In 781 eligible games, he's missed only three; and those were due to a positive COVID test. He's played in 778 of those games, including all 246 games the Blue Jackets have played since acquiring him.
Whether you're a fan of his or not, that's pretty remarkable. For a guy who plays on the blue line to show up each and every night, avoiding injury for that long is wild. Through the rigors of an NHL schedule, you would figure he would get banged up here and there; but he simply seemed indestructible.
Until now. It's a brutal stroke of bad luck, which leaves the Blue Jackets without another of their top-6 defensemen. They will begin the year missing one player from each of their top three pairings, with Damon Severson and Dante Fabbro also both on the IR. All three are listed week-to-week.
Next man (men) up?
With those three out, the Blue Jackets are digging deep into their blue line depth. Entering the lineup tonight are newcomers Emil Andrae and Carson Soucy; along with returning 7th man Jake Christiansen.
The team only has six healthy defensemen on its roster at this moment, and all of them will have to play tonight. I would not be surprised to see a recall at some point, but there isn't an obvious name that would be ideal to put in the press box.
The Cleveland Monsters need players too, and the only guy that makes sense in a recall, may be better suited on their top pairing. Guillaume Richard could come up without requiring waivers, but I would argue that he needs to play games.
The same can be said for Charlie Elick, who is only 20 years old. Colton White may be the obvious choice here, as the 29-year-old veteran has already cleared waivers once this fall. I suppose that depends on how long the three veterans are going to be out of the lineup.
Severson seems to be the closest, but Rick Bowness noted that he won't be available for at least the first three games. Feels like they need another body here, but again, we'll see.
It's a real bummer for Ivan Provorov that he's unable to keep his ironman streak alive. We hope he has a full and speedy recovery. This team needs him on the ice.
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