The Columbus Blue Jackets are on a March weekender home stand. The first game of two for the Saturday night is against the San Jose Sharks in their second and final meeting of the year.

The Sharks are continuing their sell off amidst the rebuild. They made the sell off of the deadline with moving superstar Tomas Hertl to Vegas for their last first round and their 2025 first round pick. They also moved Kappo Kakkonen for Vitek Vanacek. Nikita Okhotiuk was dealt to Calgary. Radek Smiek was dealt to Detroit for Klim Kostin. Anthony Duclair was dealt to Tampa Bay.

Devin Cooley, prospects and picks came back to San Jose beside Vanacek and Kostin.

The Sharks were mathematically eliminated from playoff contention this week, and the Blue Jackets are on pace to join in the coming days or week.

Columbus is looking to snap their three game losing skid. They are fully in on the holiday spirit and are looking to get healthy. After losing Kuraly, Chinakov, and Danforth recently to injury, we have seen the Monsters’ depth return to the main roster.

Expect a Vanacek v Tarasov baffle in the crease.

Projected Lineups

San Jose Sharks

Alexander Barbanov - - Mikael Granlund - - Fabian Zetterlund

Filip Zadina - - William Eklund - - Luke Kunin

Thomas Bordeleau - - Nico Sturm - - Klim Kostin

Givanni Smith - - Ryan Carpenter - - Justin Bailey

Mario Ferraro - - Kyle Burroughs
Henry Thrun - - Marc Edouard-Vlasic
Kelvin LaBanc - - Calen Addison

Magnus Chrona
Devin Cooley

Scratched —

Injured — Oskar Lindblom, Logan Couture, Matt Benning, Mackenzie Blackwood, Vitek Vanecek, Mike Hoffman, Jacob MacDonald, Jan Rutta



Columbus Blue Jackets

Johnny Gaudreau -- Boone Jenner -- Alex Nylander

Trey Fix-Wolansky -- Dmitri Voronkov -- Kirill Marchenko

Alexandre Texier -- Cole Sillinger -- Mikael Pyyhtia

Carson Meyer -- Brendan Gaunce -- Mathieu Olivier

Zach Werenski -- Adam Boqvist

Ivan Provorov -- Damon Severson

Jake Bean -- Erik Gudbranson

Elvis Merzlikins

Daniil Tarasov

Scratched: None

Injured: Adam Fantilli (calf), Patrik Laine (upper body), Justin Danforth (concussion), Sean Kuraly (lower body), Yegor Chinakhov (upper body)

Players to Watch

San Jose — Klim Kostin — healthiest newcomer from pickups at the deadline.

Columbus — Johnny Gaudreau — three points away from another 50 point season.

Predicted Final Score

SJS — 2

CBJ — 3

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