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CBJ G12 @ San Jose Sharks — Return of the Mack || Personal Note |
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The Columbus Blue Jackets have made it out west, out where the wild things are. The Blue Jackets are on their second game of five in their road trip and take on the rebuilding San Jose Sharks from the SAP Center. The Jackets after dark series commences at 10:30p.m. EST on FDSNOH and NBCSCA; Radio on 97.1 The Fan.
The San Jose Sharks made franchise history over the summer drafting first overall for the first time in their existence. With that, they selected forward Macklin Celebrini, the son of the Golden State Warriors’ director of sports medicine and performance, Rick Celebrini.
Celebrini has not played since opening night, where he had a goal and assist against the Blues. Celebrini is also living this season with former Sharks’ captain and Hart Trophy winner, Joe Thornton.
Will Smith, the 2023 4th overall draft selection, also joined Celebrini as a rookie for the Sharks this season. He has also missed time this season, only skating in 10 of a possible 13 games. Smith is staying with the previous highest drafted Sharks’ veteran, Patrick Marleau.
San Jose also made some major adds to their veteran and talent pools, including winger Tyler Toffoli; center and former Blue Jackets’ forward Alexander Wennberg through free agency; veteran defensemen Jake Wallman and Cody Ceci via trade. They also claimed veteran and two time cup winner Barclay Goodrow off the waiver wire from the New York Rangers. The two time Shark was publicly not happy with the move, but has settled down his emotions.
The Sharks also made a trade last week with the Toronto Maple Leafs by adding blue liner Timothy Liljegren for the recently healthy Matt Benning and two draft picks. San Jose also acquired their goaltender of the future, Yaroslav Askarov, from the Nashville Predators for a goaltending prospect, and the original pieces from the Tomas Hertl trade (Vegas’ first in 2025 and Swedish forward David Edstrom).
The future of San Jose is teal. It’s here now, but still years away from being a legitimate playoff contender, then the cup questions can come back in.
Currently, the Sharks have a bottom five goals for and against with a 2.46 GFp60 and 3.77GAp60.
Columbus is looking for answers after back to back losses from Winnipeg and Washington over the weekend. Sour start to the November month. As fans are voting over the course of Election Day in the States, the Blue Jackets are looking for their first win of the month and to be a 0.500 hockey team on the road.
The Blue Jackets are 1-1-1 against the Western Conference with an even goal differential of 11-11.
Vitek Vanecek is 52nd of 71 goalies with a game this season for save percentage at a 0.879. Mackenzie Blackwood is 39th with a 0.894.
By the same metrics, Daniil Tarasov is 62nd with a 0.860. Elvis Merzlikins is 22nd with a 0.907.
For goals against, Elvis 34th at 2.86GAA; Tarasov is 59th at 4.02. With the same stat line, Blackwood is 54th at 3.52; and Vanecek is 57th at 3.59.
Columbus is keeping the same lineup they did against Washington, no JvR in the lineup for two straight games as Kevin Labanc gets his return for the only NHL club he has skated regular season games with.
Jake Walman is a healthy scratch due to coach decision. Ty Dellandra is a game time decision. Expected goalie duel is Merzlikins against Vanecek.
Projected Lineups
San Jose Sharks
Mikael Granlund—Macklin Celebrini—Tyler Toffoli
William Eklund—Alexander Wennberg—Fabian Zetterlund
Barclay Goodrow—Will Smith—Luke Kunin
Carl Grundstrom—Nico Sturm—Ty Dellandra
Mario Ferraro—Cody Ceci
Jack Thompson—Jan Rutta
Henry Thrun—Timothy Liljegren
Vitek Vanecek
Mackenzie Blackwood
Scratched: Jake Walman, Givanni Smith, Klim Kostin
Injured: Logan Couture, Thomas Bordeleau, Marc-Edouard Vlasic
Columbus Blue Jackets
Yegor Chinakov—Sean Monahan—Kirill Marchenko
Cole Sillinger—Adam Fantilli—Mikael Pyyhita
Dmitry Voronkov—Justin Danforth—Kevin Labanc
Zach Aston-Reese—Sean Kuraly—Mathieu Olivier
Zach Werenski—Ivan Provorov
Jake Christiansen—Damon Severson
Jack Johnson—David Jiricek
Elvis Merzlikins
Mackenzie Blackwood
Scratched — James van Riemsdyk, Jordan Harris
Injured — Erik Gubdranson, Boone Jenner, Kent Johnson, Gavin Brindley
Players to Watch
San Jose — Macklin Celebrini — no brainer? After missing the previous dozen games, the number one overall draft selection in 2024 makes his first ever return from injury, and is the first time Blue Jackets’ fans see the BU kid on NHL ice.
Columbus — Kevin Labanc — also, another No brainer? The former Sharks’ draft pick has 4 points in his last 5 games with the Jackets, including his first goal with the club in the last game against Washington.
Predicted Final Score
CBJ - 4
SJS - 2
Gambling Corner
NHL Draft Kings has the Blue Jackets as the favorite at a -130. San Jose is at a +110. If you want to make money, you’re a Sharks truther and are hoping for an upset. If you go by the bookers, they think the Jackets will edge the Sharks in a close call.
What are your thoughts about the rebuilding Jackets and Sharks on this Election Day 2024 game?
More to come…
Personal Note
I’m not usually one to do this on this platform, but after the recent announcements and departures from the Hockeybuzz world, I think it is time to speak out about the situation from a different perspective.
As noted by Jeremy Laura in his wonderful piece yesterday, Hockeybuzz has lost some wonderful folks over the past two months, including Chris DeGroat, Eric O’Dell, Mike Augello, and Bill Meltzer.
Meltzer and Augello both also wrote very touching departure columns as well.
Hockeybuzz has been home to me since 2021, but I have been involved in the fan column pieces and have been a passive listener to the Hockeybuzz Podcasts on YouTube since 2014.
Hockeybuzz was the first place I found where I could communicate with crazed hockey fans like myself in a move from Pennsylvania to Columbus where I felt alone and had no real hockey friends I could talk to.
As a high school student at the time, a new school was a tough place to fit in when you’re in grades 10 and 11, move states, and know nobody.
Hockeybuzz became a place where I could just write freely and write all Columbus all day long.
In the late 2010s, I was approached to come on board then and declined out of fear as a young full time college student balancing part time jobs and a personal life.
Then, the COVID pandemic hit and the opportunity presented itself once again, and this time I accepted with zero doubt and regret.
Eric was the driving force behind that reach out and support. Mike and his constant reporting on the podcast with Russ, Ek, and the panel of reporters that rotated in the show weekly was and is always a pleasure to watch.
Mike was a major reason I continued to come back to Hockeybuzz for over ten years now.
Bill Meltzer has been a force in the space since day one, covering my childhood team, those post lockout Flyers with Forsberg, Gagne, and Knuble. Those were my Flyers. Game 6, 2010, is always a headache. Jeff Carter and Mike Richards could’ve done it here, but won in Los Angeles instead.
Meltzer covering two teams between Philadelphia and Dallas without missing a beat inspired me recently after an unfortunate flash flood wrecked my home, and he easily managed to help me manage both Columbus and Ottawa on the Hockeybuzz platform.
Meltzer and Augello are both intelligent hockey minds and even better hockey people. Eric, the driving force behind the curtain. Thank you all for keeping Hockeybuzz the amazing platform it has been throughout the near two decades of existence.
I would love to be the first to openly praise Eklund for his belief in Hockeybuzz since its inception and continuing to dig all over for his findings and revelations.
I am Team HockeyBuzz all the way, and am eager to see the direction we go forward as I continue to wear the home jersey of Hockeybuzz!
More will be coming from me for both Columbus and Ottawa. There me some times ahead that there may be a delay from a normal posting as I am getting ready to move into a new home. Apologies in advance.
Let’s do that hockey!
Obituaries
https://www.danjolell.com/obituary/john-michael-gaudreau/?fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAaYM9fikwQbNkPlcwmTBaP2udJZw1oMBCmyXjp-GyttBpDhIoWnqY8lxQSQ_aem_zW3gpaArqsSO7D5ZI-Pdog
https://www.danjolell.com/obituary/matthew-ryan-gaudreau/?fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAaZ33XNOJYMaSDfXxs3NcH7AY99EWfo9ObneKgMrpds4HwrC3U6Gkj0igr0_aem_qqWUcGWcBFf0sebC0an4RQ
Want to support the Gaudreau family? Here’s several ways how:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-madeline-and-baby-tripp-after-tragedy - Donate to Gaudreau Family Fund. At the time of writing it is at $691K
https://youtu.be/7ax8zyd8nk0?si=xoI63iohdyn2vVvD - View Johnny B Goode Tribute - personal touch. Loved this slowed down clip by the voice of Calgary. Skip to the 25 second mark.
https://www.nationwidechildrens.org/giving - Nationwide Children's Hospital (Johnny's widow, Meredith's workplace) support the children today.
https://foundation.ohiohealth.com/ - Ohio Health Foundation (where donations from a joint mental health charity drive from Johnny Gaudreau and Patrik Laine went) Johnny joined the mission after Laine attended the NHLPA assistance club last season
https://www.childrenshospital.ab.ca/ways-to-help/donate/ - Alberta Children's Hospital for those in need and touched by the loss
https://kidsportcanada.ca/donate/ - Donate to the Youth Sporting Charity in Canada (Johnny Gaudreau donated for money each goal he scored to the Calgary chapter)
https://sniderhockey.org/support-snider/ - the Philadelphia Youth Hockey Charity (where Johnny and Matthew are from and started their youth hockey)
Support Hockeybuzz
https://www.facebook.com/HockeyBuzz
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