The Blue Jackets have made a series of roster moves in advance of Saturday night's game against Detroit. The team announced that center Boone Jenner, winger Eric Robinson and goaltender Daniil Tarasov have been all activated off injured reserve. To make room on the roster, defenseman Marcus Bjork was sent to AHL Cleveland. Meanwhile, goaltender Joonas Korpisalo is unavailable due to personal reasons.
While several veterans have struggled for Columbus this season, Jenner was one of the exceptions. Prior to fracturing his thumb last month, the 29-year-old had 11 goals and 11 assists in 30 games, a 30-goal and 30-assist pace over a full season. Additionally, Jenner is logging more than 20 minutes a night and is winning 55.9% of his faceoffs, a career high. In his absence, the Blue Jackets won fewer than 40% of their draws. Sophomore middleman Cole Sillinger will come out of the lineup to make room for Jenner.
As for Robinson, he had missed the last five games due to an upper-body injury he suffered earlier this month. After setting benchmarks offensively in 2021-22 with 10 goals and 17 assists, the 27-year-old has struggled on that side of the ice this season with just three goals and seven helpers in 38 games. His playing time is hovering near 14 minutes a night for the second year in a row. Blueliner Gavin Bayreuther will be a healthy scratch to open up a spot for Robinson to return as Columbus will go back to a standard alignment of a dozen forwards and six defensemen.
Tarasov, meanwhile, was injured in practice two weeks ago, causing him to miss the last seven games and delaying the Blue Jackets' decision on whether or not to carry three goaltenders a little longer. The 23-year-old has a .907 save percentage in a dozen appearances with the Blue Jackets. His save percentage is just a single point lower than Korpisalo’s.
There haven’t been many bright spots for Columbus this year, but Bjork has been one of them. After signing an entry-level deal back in May, the 25-year-old started the season in the minors before being brought up in November and scored in his NHL debut. Bjork has played in 26 games with the Blue Jackets this season, collecting 11 points while logging just over 19 minutes a game. However, having sat out the last game and the fact that he’s waiver-exempt, they’ve decided that he will be the one to lose his roster spot for the time being.
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