The Columbus Blue Jackets conclude the 2023-2024 regular season the same way the regular season began for them 186 days ago - on home ice. The final game of the year is against the red hot Carolina Hurricanes.

With Carolina being playoff bound they have benched a chunk of their star power. Frederik Andersen, Brett Pesce, Jaccob Slavin, Brent Burns, Jake Guentzel, Sebastian Aho, Seth Jarvis, Jordan Staal, and Andrei Svechnikov are all sitting for load management reasons prior to their first round matchup with the New York Islanders. Rod the Bod v Patty Roy.

Brady Skeji returns after missing the last game with an injury two days after I cut him from my fantasy championship game. Maxime Comtois is making his Carolina debut. Dylan Coghlan is making his regular season debut. Jackson Blake and Bradly Nadeau are making their NHL debuts. Spencer Martin is starting for the first time since Leap Day. He was the starter the last time these teams met after Carolina claimed him off waivers from Columbus.

The Jackets have the return of Elvis as a backup for Jet Greaves. This could be the last time we see Merzlikins in a Columbus jersey. We also have the debut of Adam Fantilli’s best friend and Michigan freshman Gavin Brindley, dawning jersey number #45.

This could be the sunset of the group around as discussed yesterday. Let’s see how they play in front of the faithful for the farewell game of the calendar year.

Projected Lineups

Carolina Hurricanes

Teuvo Teravainen -- Jack Drury -- Martin Necas

Bradly Nadeau -- Evgeny Kuznetsov -- Jesper Fast

Max Comtois -- Jesperi Kotkaniemi -- Stefan Noesen

Brendan Lemieux -- Jordan Martinook -- Jackson Blake

Brady Skjei -- Dmitry Orlov

Jalen Chatfield -- Tony DeAngelo

Dylan Coghlan -- Scott Morrow

Spencer Martin

Pyotr Kochetkov

Scratched: Frederik Andersen, Brett Pesce, Jaccob Slavin, Brent Burns, Jake Guentzel, Sebastian Aho, Seth Jarvis, Jordan Staal, Andrei Svechnikov

Injured: None

Columbus Blue Jackets

Johnny Gaudreau -- Dmitri Voronkov -- Alex Nylander

Alexandre Texier -- Cole Sillinger -- Kirill Marchenko

Mikael Pyyhtia -- Sean Kuraly -- Mathieu Olivier

James Malatesta -- Justin Danforth -- Gavin Brindley

Zach Werenski -- Damon Severson

Ivan Provorov -- Erik Gudbranson

Nick Blankenburg -- David Jiricek

Jet Greaves

Elvis Merzlikins

Scratched: None

Injured: Carson Meyer (upper body), Adam Fantilli (calf laceration), Yegor Chinakhov (upper body), Adam Boqvist (upper body), Jake Bean (broken hand), Daniil Tarasov (upper body), Brendan Gaunce (upper body), Boone Jenner (personal)

Players to Watch

Carolina — Jesperi Kotkaniemi — down year on a long term deal. Needed to step up for cup run

Columbus — Gavin Brindley — first game

Predicted Final Score

CAR - 2

CBJ - 3

OT/SO

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