The Blue Jackets officially activated Sergei Bobrovsky off of the IR today. He is the likely starter for Friday’s game against the Penguins.
Kekalainen said the plan is for Bobrovsky to start Friday vs. the #Pens. #CBJ
— Rob Mixer (@RobMixer) March 9, 2016
With Bob back, Joonas Korpisalo has been sent down to Lake Erie. I speculated this would happen yesterday. There is no need to carry three goalies, and Korpisalo needs to be playing. Joonas was great in the 26 games he played with the Jackets. He kept the team in plenty of games they had no business being in. He also had a few clunkers which every goalie has. Overall he finished with a respectable .918 save percentage. Among goalies who have made at least 20 starts, that ranked 23rd in the league, right around goalies like Martin Jones, Tuuka Rask and Jonathan Quick.
On performance, Korpisalo didn’t deserve to be sent down, but I think it’s a good move for him and the organization. The Lake Erie Monsters are currently 5th in their conference and are going to make the playoffs. Korpisalo is going to be the goalie that leads them in playoffs so this is a good chance for him to get readjusted to the AHL, and readjusted to the team.
So what does this mean for the rest of the season? Well Bobrovsky was playing very well prior to going down as you see in the following tweet.
Bob was not good in Oct. Bob in Nov/Dec was insanely better than Korp, which is crazy #CBJ https://t.co/7T7J13Idkg pic.twitter.com/wW1mRH4f9m
— Matt (@zekebud) March 9, 2016
If that is the Bobrovsky the Jackets are getting they are primed for another late season draft pick ruining run. While unlikely, the Jackets need to ease Bob back into this regardless of he plays. There is no reason for him to have a heavy workload, and risk re-aggravating his injury. Curtis McElhinney should be starting every other game or close to it.
As far as the future goes, I think the tandem should be Korpi and Bob as early as next season. It would be nice to have two goalies that can go out and win you games. The workload could be easily spilt 60-40 which would hopefully help Bob stays healthy. As for Mac, the team is not going to be able to trade him, so the best move is just put him waivers and send him down. He would be veteran presence in Lake Erie and could help mentor Anton Forsberg.
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