The first preseason game is almost upon us
Saturday morning, the CBJ practice will be open to the public, and Jackets fans will most likely show up by the thousands because of course they will. There will be practices, scrimmages, and free t-shirts, so it should be a fun day.
But on the ice, there will be approximately 70 players fighting for jobs across different levels of hockey. For the most part, we know who will be playing for the Jackets, or at least we should know.
The goalie position will consist of Elvis Merzlikins and Daniil Tarasov. I was going to say their only job was to stay healthy but with Tarasov already injured, it’s up to Elvis now. It is worth noting that Tarasov isn't supposed to miss any regular season time. Aaron Dell, who is in Columbus on a PTO, needs to impress. The quote below from CBJ team reporter Jeff Svoboda is promising to some fans.
There have been a few players that have taken some lumps already. Captain Boone Jenner apparently took a puck up high on the first day, left the ice, and didn’t return. He was on the ice for day 2 however. It was reported that Yegor Chinakhov did not practice on Friday, there was no update on that, so hopefully it’s nothing serious, and will be available on Saturday. Between practices and scrimmages on Saturday, let’s hope all goes well and everyone stays healthy.
Daniil Tarasov, Mathieu Olivier, Kirill Marchenko and Jake Bean are all out as of now.
Sunday there will be a split-squad game against the Pittsburgh Penguins. At 1 p.m. half the team will be at PPG Arena in Pittsburgh, while the other half will be playing at home in Nationwide Arena at 7 p.m. We should know what the split rosters will look like late Saturday or early Sunday.
When the games start on Sunday, the preseason will go into hyperdrive and the regular season will be here before we know it.
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