Blue Jackets forward to miss four to six weeks with fractured ankle

Roslovic, 26, suffered the injury during Sunday’s game against the New York Rangers. He played the entirety of the game, and even took a shift in overtime, so it’s unclear what caused the injury, but he did play through the injury for some of the game. He finished the game with a hit and three shots on net in 16:17 of ice time as the Blue Jackets lost 4-3 in the shootout.

Roslovic’s current timeline for returning currently has him missing somewhere between 15 to 20 games, with the latest for a return being shortly before Christmas.

Roslovic was off to his usual pace so far this season, with two goals and six assists for eight points in 14 games. That pace would give him 46 points in a full season, which is one point higher than his career high.

Roslovic has become a solid playmaker since joining the Blue Jackets in 2021, as his 35 primary assists at 5v5 are tied for 77th in the league in that span, and his 0.77 primary assists per 60 rate is tied for 58th in the league among forwards with at least 2,500 minutes of ice time.

Roslovic was a former first-round pick of the Winnipeg Jets in the 2015 NHL Draft and spent his first four seasons in Winnipeg. He was then traded to the Blue Jackets in 2021 in the deal that sent Patrik Laine to Columbus and Pierre-Luc Dubois to the Jets and has since spent the past four seasons with the Blue Jackets.

Roslovic is in the final year of a two-year contract with a $4 million cap hit and is set to become an unrestricted free agent in the upcoming offseason.

The Blue Jackets also announced that they had called up 2022 sixth-overall pick David Jiricek. He had played just one game in the AHL with the Cleveland Monsters before returning to the NHL roster. He has a goal and two assists for three points in 10 games so far this season with the Blue Jackets.