The Blue Jackets and their fans are hoping this isn't another year of countless injuries.
With the news yesterday that several players are injured and will be limited participants in training camp, CBJ fans let out a collective “Here we go again.”
The four players that are injured are supposed to be vital in the return to competitiveness for the Jackets, so this start isn’t good.
According to reports, both Daniil Tarasov and Kirill Marchenko should be available for the start of the regular season, as they are listed as day-to-day. This makes bringing in Aaron Dell on a PTO especially important. If Dell can impress enough, he should get a contract and be that third goalie that they need. Everyone seems to be rooting for Dell to be signed.
The injuries to Mathieu Olivier and Jake Bean sound a little worse, as they are listed as week-to-week. Bean, who has recovered from a shoulder injury and was expected to make a push to secure a top 6 spot on the blue line, has suffered an abductor strain. This is a blow to Bean’s chances.
Olivier had some issues with the leg injury he suffered last season and wasn’t expected to be ready for today’s start of camp.
What the injuries to Olivier and Bean do though, is give someone else a chance to make the team. This gives guys like Justin Danforth, Emil Bemstrom, Yegor Chinakhov, and Trey Fix-Wolansky, a chance to play some games in place of Olivier. My guess is that it would be Justin Danforth, who before he went down with his shoulder injury last year, was having a good start to the season.
Jake Bean's injury, most likely gives Nick Blankenburg the nod to start the season in Columbus. Many people think that he should probably start in Cleveland so that Bean and Boqvist can get the bulk of the playing time for their respective spots.
Ironically enough, THN Columbus wrote about both Bean and Olivier yesterday. Hopefully, we weren’t the jinx.
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