Injuries have been a problem for the Blue Jackets all season long and, with news Fedor Tyutin will miss at least the next four weeks, Jarmo Kekalainen has decided to look elsewhere for help.
Today Columbus acquired veteran defensemen Jordan Leopold from the Blues in exchange for a 5th round draft pick.
Leopold's best days are behind him, but he's still a serviceable defensemen who can eat some minutes.
In 27 games played last season Leopold recorded six points and had a 53CF%. This year Leopold has been held pointless through seven games, but has fared very well in somewhat soft minutes by controlling 56% of the shot attempts.
He's not going to come in and set the league on fire, but he makes a good first pass and should be able to eat some minutes and be a reliable option on the backend for a Blue Jackets team that's been fighting injuries all year long.
**
Match-up - San Jose Sharks (9-7-2) @ Columbus Blue Jackets (5-10-1) Road/Home records - 7-4-2 -------------- 2-5-0 TV - CSN-CA, FS-O Puck drop - 7:00 p.m. ET Season series - 1-0 Jackets Last 10 - Sharks: 5-4-1 ------------ Blue Jackets: 1-8-1 Projected starting goalies - Antti Niemi vs Sergei Bobrovsky
Projected lines for the Sharks via DailyFaceoff.com:
Tomas Hertl - Joe Thornton - Joe Pavelski Patrick Marleau - Logan Couture - Matthew Nieto Barclay Goodrow - James Sheppard - Tommy Wingels Tyler Kennedy - Andrew Desjardins - Tye McGinn
Mirco Mueller - Brent Burns Marc-Edouard Vlasic - Justin Braun Scott Hannan - Jason Demers
Injured: Raffi Torres, Alex Stalock.
Projected lines for the Blue Jackets:
Brian Gibbons - Ryan Johansen - Nick Foligno Scott Hartnell - Boone Jenner - Cam Atkinson Alex Wennberg - Artem Anisimov - Adam Cracknell Dana Tyrell - Michael Chaput - Jared Boll
Jack Johnson - David Savard Tim Erixon - James Wisniewski Jordan Leopold - Dalton Prout
Injured: Brandon Dubinsky, Nathan Horton, Matt Calvert, Mark Letestu, Ryan Murray, Cody Goloubef.
Game notes:
- After going pointless in two of three games, Ryan Johansen bounced back in a big way Friday night in Philadelphia. He tallied four assists and posted excellent possession numbers in what was a 4-3 win. He had a pair of goals in a win against San Jose earlier this season, and if he can replicate that performance it will probably go a long way towards another win for Columbus.
- Sergei Bobrovsky is expected to return to the lineup after missing the last eight games with a finger injury. Columbus allowed 33 goals in that span (4.125 goals per game) so his presence was certainly missed. With a ton of players still out of the lineup with injuries, they'll need him to be their stabilizing force.
- Nick Foligno continues to go as Johansen goes. Foligno had a pair of goals and an assist in Philadelphia, and now has nine points in his last six games for 18 points in 15 games overall. He's an unrestricted free agent at years end and is playing himself into a nice pay day.
- Brent Burns quietly leads the Sharks in scoring with 17 points in 18 games despite moving back to defense this year. He's a big threat from the backend, has a booming shot and is certainly a guy the Jackets need to pay special attention to.
- San Jose's power play is really, really good and is not something you want to mess around with. If Columbus parades to the penalty box they probably won't have much of a chance, so they'll need to stay disciplined.
- Now that the Blue Jackets snapped their abysmal nine-game losing streak, it's time to start picking up some points and moving up the standings. They need to consistently pick up points the rest of the way if they want to make the playoffs, because there are seven teams ahead of them for a playoff spot and they're seven points out. They have a lot of work to do.
Recent posts