Columbus Blue Jackets’ forward Sean Kuraly is expected to miss Wednesday’s game against the New Jersey Devils with an abdominal injury, the Blue Jackets announced on Wednesday.
The injury stems from an incident last Saturday night in a game between the Blue Jackets and the Toronto Maple Leafs. Late in the first period, Kuraly took a combined hit from two Maple Leafs, Jake McCabe and Auston Matthews. After getting up from the hit, a puck struck Kuraly in the chest, causing him to go down and immediately head to the dressing room.
The team would announce on Sunday that Kuraly was evaluated at Grant Medical Center in Columbus, Ohio. All tests were negative and that he was home resting.
Kuraly was off to a solid start to the season, with six goals and five assists for 11 points in 34 games this season. It puts him on pace for 26 points in a full 82-game season, which would just be the second time in his career that he’s surpassed the 25-point mark.
Kuraly was a former fifth-round pick of the San Jose Sharks in the 2011 NHL Draft, although he never played a game with the organization as he was dealt to the Boston Bruins in the 2015 offseason, along with a first round pick, for goaltender Martin Jones.
He played five seasons with the Bruins before signing a four-year, $10 million contract before the 2021-22 season, which he’s currently in the third year of.
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