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A Win is a Win...back in Playoff Position

February 25, 2020, 12:25 PM ET [8 Comments]
Thomas Townsend
Columbus Blue Jackets Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
The trade deadline was quiet with only 2 minor moves:

Milano to the Ducks for Shore. I briefly touched on this in my last post and don't feel like it will have a huge impact, but a solid move regardless.

The second move was a minor league deal that saw Hannikainen leave Cleveland for a 7th round pick. Hannikainen has spent most of the season in the AHL and had other prospects that have moved ahead of him in the call up order.

This was about what I expected from a deadline in which the Jackets are on the cusp of a playoff position, but not exactly contenders.

Speaking of on the cusp of playoff position...

The only game scheduled last night was OTT @ CBJ. No locker room swaps happened with these teams yesterday as they did last season. But OTT did trade away many players and were shorthanded for the tilt with Columbus last night.

The second period saw the injury bug bite again with Elvis and Nash hurt and unable to return to the game. Korpi filled in nicely and didn't miss a beat. Next man up was Matteau tonight. He has 3 points in 3 NHL games. Not a bad start as the CBJ continue to plug-and-play with AHL prospects.

This win was not pretty. In fact the Jackets had to exert more effort than expected to beat a depleted and bottom dwelling OTT team. The Sens will be an up-and-coming team over the next few seasons, but they have been especially bad the past two seasons and Columbus should have dispatched them easily.

Losing streak over, a win is a win, and it still counts as 2 points in the standings. Columbus has once again leapfrogged the Canes and claimed playoff position. The Canes do have 3 games in hand with only a two point defect to make up.

Tonight the Jackets travel to MIN. The Wild made no moves yesterday however, they did move Zucker to PIT earlier in February. There were rumors of a deal that would have moved Parise but it never materialized. This is the start of a Tuesday/Saturday home-and-home series. To keep that playoff spot, the CBJ will need 3 of 4 possible points. Anything less will see them slide down the Wild Card standings.

Good Luck and Go Jackets!
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