Hope the holidays are going well for everyone. The Blue Jackets entered the holiday break tied for second in the Metro division with 46 points. They are tied with Washington and just one point back of New Jersey for the division lead, though the Devils do have two games in hand. Coming out of the break things have got more difficult as the Blue Jackets learned on Christmas day that Cam Atkinson would be out 4-6 weeks with a broken foot.
The Athletic: Another tough break | Cam Atkinson latest to join #CBJ injured list — broken foot, out 4 to 6 weeks after surgery later this week https://t.co/K4yLvMzkIS pic.twitter.com/PYqIrQlICP
— Aaron Portzline (@Aportzline) December 26, 2017
Atkinson broke his foot early in the Flyers game, after getting hit by a Seth Jones shot. Atkinson has had a very poor season but things were finally start to look up for him these past few games. He had four points in his last six games and had 16 shots on net. There is never a good time for injuries but this one hurts, just as it looked like Atkinson’s season might get back on track it gets derailed again.
It’s getting close to the point where this season is just a write-off for Atkinson. Between the injuries and the poor play, nothings gone right. Ideally once Atkinson is back and healthy again he will be a big boost for the team down the stretch and into the playoffs.
The injuries are starting to pile up for the Blue Jackets and are starting to hit significant players. Portzline in his piece notes that Alexander Wennberg will be out a while with a back injury. Mark Scheig had a good tweet highlighting the recent injuries.
A quick #CBJ timeline.
— Mark Scheig (@markscheig) December 26, 2017
12/2: Murray to IR, day-to-day, hasn’t played since 11/27.
12/13: Dubinsky to IR out 6-8 weeks.
12/20: Werenski day-to-day, missed last 3 games.
12/23: Wennberg out longer than day-to-day. Back injury per @Aportzline.
12/27: Atkinson out 4-6 weeks.
That’s your top defencemen in Werenski, two middle six centres and a top winger out. This is a tough situation for any team, but especially in this division where everyone is so close. The Jackets can’t afford a bad stretch or they will find themselves out of the playoffs very quickly.
If there is a silver lining to this it’s that the Blue Jackets upcoming schedule looks like a bit of a soft spot. They end December with tough games in Pittsburgh and home to Tampa Bay, but between those they face a dysfunctional Ottawa team. January starts off with a tough road game in Dallas, but then the Jackets face Colorado and Florida, two teams out of the playoffs. They also face Buffalo, Vancouver, and Arizona this month. Those are five teams out of the playoffs and near the bottom of the standings. No games in this league are easy, but these are the teams you want to face when you have a depleted line-up.
The Jackets need to stay afloat through this stretch and not fall out of the race. If they can do that, once everyone is healthy they can make a big push down the stretch and into the playoffs.
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