Blue Jackets’ multiple health issues have team ‘scrambling’
Things have gone from bad to worse for the Blue Jackets.
Alexandre Texier has been ruled out with an illness that isn’t COVID-19, canceling out the return of forward Oliver Bjorkstrand from the COVID protocols list, and defenseman Zach Werenski was added to the team’s protocols list after a retest confirmed Monday’s positive result.
As for goaltending, Elvis Merzlikins and Daniil Tarasov have lower-body injuries that prompted a pair of minorleague additions Tuesday to compensate. Jean-francois Berube was called up from the Cleveland Monsters of the American Hockey League, joining the NHL roster, and Cam Johnson was recalled from the ECHL’S Florida Everblades to join the taxi squad.
Johnson has played 10 games for the Everblades, and the last his name was heard around Columbus was after Larsen dismissed him from training camp for failing a physical conditioning assessment.
“This has been a little bit of a scramble here the last 24 hours with our goalie situation, so I haven’t done a lot of digging there (on Johnson),” Larsen said.
It’s a fine mess the Jackets have stumbled into by no fault of their own.
All 32 NHL teams are dealing with a COVID-19 outbreak that continues to send infected players to the protocols list daily, giving coaches a challenge to ice a competitive lineup.
Bjorkstrand missed one game in quarantine plus the Jackets’ 7-4 loss Saturday to the Carolina Hurricanes, which was played the same day he tested out of the league’s COVID protocols. Eric Robinson missed one game in isolation and five other Blue Jackets were quarantined during a weeklong stretch that included the league’s scheduled holiday pause.
Now they’re without Werenski, the team’s top two-way defenseman, for at least two games.
“Everybody knows what Zach brings to our team,” Larsen said. “It’s his offense, his defending, it’s everything. There’s no replacing him and we know that. It’s just the ‘next-man-up’ mentality and we’re going to have to do this by committee, there’s no question.”
Dean Kukan will be part of that committee for the first time since fracturing a wrist Oct. 25 against the Dallas Stars. The puck-moving defenseman has practiced since the Jackets returned from the NHL’S extended holiday break, but didn’t gain clearance to take contact until recently.
Larsen said Vladislav Gavrikov would
also get a bump in ice time.
“We’re taking out a guy (in Werenski) who plays a lot of minutes and plays a lot of good minutes for us, so it will be a chance for guys to step up here and play some more minutes than they’re used to,” defenseman Jake Bean said. “It’s not unique to us, so we’re just going to make the best of it.”
The same challenge is facing the Blue Jackets’ forward group without Texier, Gregory Hofmann and Justin Danforth. Hofmann is away from the team for a personal reason, Danforth is expected to miss six weeks with an MCL sprain and Texier — who’s been red hot the past 10 games — is now the third Blue Jackets player who’s missed a game with NONCOVID illness.
And that’s on top of the COVID-19 infections continuing to subtract guys from the lineup.
“In this situation, when COVID (happens), you’ve just got to do what you can do,” defenseman Adam Boqvist said. “It’s the same for everyone, the same (COVID) protocol for everyone. Even before the season, not a lot of (people) believed in us, but we believe in us, in the locker room. So, we’ve just got to go out there and do what we do best — just play with high speed and compete out there.” bhedger@dispatch.com @Brianhedger