Prior to tonight’s game against the New York Islanders the Blue Jackets have assigned Markus Nutivaara and loaned Josh Anderson to Cleveland.
#CBJ send two players to @monstershockey prior to Opening Night.https://t.co/F1bqNR0oQg
— ColumbusBlueJackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) October 5, 2017
Anderson was sent down on a conditioning stint as he needs some game action after missing all of camp and the pre-season. The team had already announced that he wouldn’t be playing tonight so it’s best for him to play in Cleveland as opposed to sitting on the bench. This also gives the club a few games to evaluate some of their new players. Remember last season, Oliver Bjorkstrand made the opening night roster. He played three games in October and it was clear he wasn’t quite ready for the NHL. He was sent back down and was much better after his recall in February. If someone in the next few games looks clearly out of the place, the Jackets can send that player down without any worry as they have an in house replacement in Anderson waiting in the wings.
Nutivaara fell victim to the numbers game. The Jackets have a very strong and deep defence unit and Nutivaara is a big part of that. He showed last season that he is an NHL defencemen, but right now the team wants to get a look at Gabriel Carlsson and see if he can be as effective in the season as he was in the playoffs. Nutivaara is going to get a ton of minutes in the AHL which is really going to help his development. It’s also quite possible Nutivaara is still recovering from his hip injury. He had surgery in the off-season and may need some more time to shake the rust off. The Jackets also don’t need him up right now as they have Scott Harrington firmly in place as the seventh defencemen. The Jackets are in a good spot here, if someone is to get hurt, is ineffective or even traded away they have an NHL player ready to step in.
Three things to watch for
1.Artemi Panarin
Panarin makes his Blue Jackets debut and after what Brandon Saad did against the Penguins, everyone will be honed in on Panarin to see if he can do the same. It would be great to see him score in his debut but the Jackets don’t lose this trade if he doesn’t. I am quite interested to see how he does alongside Alexander Wennberg, if they have chemistry and if they can recreate some of the magic that Panarin had with Patrick Kane.
2.The second line
The second line tonight has Milano on the left side, Bjorkstrand on the right and Nick Foligno down the middle. This is going to be a really fun line to watch. The speed and skill level with these players is off the charts. The issue though is the lack of a true centre. Foligno played centre in junior but that was a long time ago. I’m curious to see how he plays as he is going to be relied upon as the defensive presence on that line, while playing an unfamiliar position. It will also be interesting to see if Milano’s skill translates. He has some slick hands and can do some incredible things with the puck, let’s see if he can do that against NHL players.
3.Sergei Bobrovsky
The Vezina trophy defence starts now. Bobrovksy is notoriously a slow starter with a career .906 save percentage in October. Last year Bobrovsky had an earlier start to the season playing in the World Cup. He was very good in the tournament with a .930 save percentage, and carried that success into the start of the season putting up a .940 save percentage in seven October games. Bobrovsky had a slow pre-season with a .901 in four games. Hopefully he can get off to a good start, since when he's off to a good start the team gets off to a good start and helps set the tone for the season ahead.
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