Blue Jackets lose Riley Nash for 4-to-6 weeks

COLUMBUS — The last thing the Blue Jackets needed is their newest hurdle to clear.

Riley Nash has a sprained knee and is expected to miss four to six weeks, which could end the forward’s season. It’s also another blow to a team that was already dealing with depth issues at center, the position Nash has played most often in three seasons with the Blue Jackets.

It’s also a challenge for generalmanagerJarmoKekalainen and his staff with the April 12 trade deadline looming.

Nash, 31, is a pending unrestricted free agent who might have been a desirable trade target for a playoff-bound team looking to bolster its depth with an experienced veteran capable of playing all three forward positions.

That could still happen, given the recovery timeline ends around the start of the playoffs, but Nash’s trade value has now taken a hit. Does a potential return of a fourth or fifth round pick now drop to a sixth, seventh or no trade at all? Stay tuned as the deadline nears.

Nash’s absence takes a versatile player out of circulation for coach John Tortorella at a bad time. The Jackets went into the start of a two-game set against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday with flickering playoff hopes and a three-game losing skid coming off a brutal 1-5 record on a six-game road trip.

If there are any hopes of getting back into the chase for the final playoff spot in the Central Division, the Blue Jackets need an extended winning streak in the final 16 games of the season. It would have helped to have Nash, who has logged time with all four forward groups and was playing well Sunday before his injury during a collision with the Florida Panthers’ Noel Acciari.

Nash skated with Mikhail Grigorenko and Jack Roslovic, shifting from center to right wing, to make room for Roslovic’s return from a onegame absence as a healthy scratch. They put together four solid shifts in the first period, spent most of their time in the Panthers’ zone and were poised to build off it the rest of the game.

Roslovic and Grigorenko continued to work together the rest of the game, but Nash’s absence after the injury caused some issues as Tortorella was forced to mix-and-match players with them among his remaining 11 forwards.

The short-term answers Tuesday for filling the void were veteran Zac Dalpe and rookie Liam Foudy, who were activated off the taxi squad, but a longer-term solution is foggy. The Blue Jackets have a number of forwards looking for opportunities to prove themselves, including center Kevin Stenlund, but none can match Nash in terms of NHL experience.