Jones could make season debut Tuesday
Nobody’s putting a specific date on it, but Seth Jones hasn’t ruled out making his season debut for the Blue Jackets on Tuesday against the Arizona Coyotes.
That day will be four weeks since Jones suffered a Grade 2 MCL tear in his right knee during the NHL’s Kraft Hockeyville USA exhibition game Sept. 25 in Clinton, New York. He was expected to be out four to six weeks.
“It’s just day-byday right now,” said Jones, who skated for a sixth straight day in the Jackets’ optional morning skate Saturday. “I can’t really give you a specific date, nor can the trainers, I don’t think. I don’t know how it’s going to do on Monday at practice. We’ll just see.”
Jones missed a game Saturday against the Chicago Blackhawks, his seventh. He’s wearing a brace for the first time in his career, but feels good overall.
“The first couple times I skated, I felt like I was playing hockey for the first time,” Jones said. “You’ve got to trust it again, when it’s a ligament like that. You have to find a way to realize it’s fine now. That’s kind of the main thing. My mobility’s pretty good, and we’ll see where it goes from here.” The Blue Jackets’ Cam Atkinson, left, fights for the puck with the Blackhawks’ Brent Seabrook as goaltender Corey Crawford keeps an eye on things.
Jones, who set NHL career highs last season with 16 goals, 41 assists and 57 points, has watched every game and attended every
team meeting held at Nationwide Arena.
“I wanted to see how the team’s doing, so when I come into a meeting the next day, I have some sort of idea how the meeting’s going to go and not go just by the score of the game,” Jones said. “Just trying to stay engaged, you know?”
Nice knowing you
After being traded to Chicago on Jan. 10 last season, forward Anthony Duclair played 23 games for the Blackhawks before a high ankle sprain ended his season prematurely.
He missed the final 13 games and wasn’t tendered a qualifying offer as a restricted free agent, which made him an unrestricted free agent. Duclair signed with the Blue Jackets on a one-year contract worth $650,000, not much more than the NHL minimum.
The game Saturday was his first against the Blackhawks since their decision to let him walk.
“No, I wasn’t surprised,” said Duclair, who had two goals and two assists heading into the game. “I knew that I didn’t perform as well as I (could have) when I was there. I played (23) games and didn’t live up to the standards. As soon as I didn’t hear from my agent, I was like, ‘OK, sort of got the message,’ but it was just time to move on.”