The Columbus Blue Jackets move west for the next couple of contests. First, they are in a series of back to back games with travel. First is the opening meeting of the season between the Jackets and Avalanche from Denver. Start time is 9p.

It is wild the league schedule has time this late in the season. The last time these teams played was in Finland after the Avs won the cup.

Colorado has a strong roster this season and is looking to win their second cup in 3 seasons. They are also riding a 7 game heater.

In the offseason, they added Ross Colton off the winning Bolts roster via trade. They got Gianni Fairbrother in a trade with Montreal and picks for Alex Newhook. Those picks were the return for Colton. Frederick Olofsson was acquired via trade from Dallas. Former Blue Jackets’ all star Ryan Johansen was acquired via trade from Nashville at half salary retained.

Miles Wood, Jonathan Drouin, and Tomas Tatar were free agent signings. Chris Wagner, Reilly Tufte, Corey Schueneman, Arvid Holm, Jack Achan were AHL depth. Ivan Prosvetov was a waiver claim.

Darren Helm retired from pro hockey.

Lars Eller and Matt Nieto moved to Pittsburgh in the open market. Erik Johnson signed for more money in Buffalo. JT Compher got his meal ticket in Detroit. Evan Rodrigues forced Anthony Duclair out of Florida. Depth in Denis Malgin and Ryan Merkley headed to Europe. Josh Jacobs, Mikhail Maltsev headed to new AHL cities.

Hungry at the deadline, they moved Caleb Jones to Carolina (opening night) Tatar to Seattle (Christmas); Johansen to Philadelphia with a first; Bowen Byram; Kurtis MacDermid to New Jersey; Jeremy Hanzal and a third to Nashville; and Ben Meyers to Anaheim.

They brought back Sean Walker; Casey Mittlestadt; Brandon Duhaime; Yakov Trenin; and middle prospects and picks.

Gabriel Landeskog, the Avalanche captain, hasn’t played since 21-22. He might make a return for the 23-24 postseason. They also have Logan O’Connor and Pavel Francouz out for the year.

Zach Werenski is a game time decision after his reported injury against Detroit. If he cannot be cleared, they have recalled David Jiricek. Get Jiricek in if he isn’t 100%. Best roster is a healthy roster. An 80% Werenski is not a 100% Jiricek.

Expect a Georgiev v Merzlikins battle.

Projected Lineups

Colorado Avalanche

Valeri Nichushkin -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Mikko Rantanen

Artturi Lehkonen -- Casey Mittelstadt -- Jonathan Drouin

Brandon Duhaime -- Ross Colton -- Zach Parise

Miles Wood -- Andrew Cogliano -- Yakov Trenin

Devon Toews -- Cale Makar

Samuel Girard -- Josh Manson

Jack Johnson -- Sean Walker

Alexandar Georgiev

Justus Annunen

Scratched: Caleb Jones, Joel Kiviranta

Injured: Gabriel Landeskog (knee), Logan O’Connor (hip surgery), Pavel Francouz (groin)

Columbus Blue Jackets

Johnny Gaudreau -- Boone Jenner -- Alex Nylander

Alexandre Texier -- Cole Sillinger -- Kirill Marchenko

Mikael Pyyhtia -- Dmitri Voronkov -- Trey Fix-Wolansky

Mathieu Olivier -- Brendan Gaunce -- Carson Meyer

Damon Severson -- Zach Werenski

Jake Bean -- Ivan Provorov

Jake Christiansen -- Erik Gudbranson

Elvis Merzlikins

Daniil Tarasov

Scratched: David Jiricek

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

Players to Watch

Colorado — Nathan MacKinnon — could mess around and win Denver a cup on his own. He has been out of this world this season on the ice.

Columbus — Alex Nylander — the second hottest player in the league. He keeps scoring. Somehow Dubas let him go.

Predicted Final Score

COL - 5

CBJ - 1

What’s Next?

Second half of the back to back takes the Union Blue to Sin City. Then a couple days off before college town.

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