Coming through the wire this week for the Columbus Blue Jackets and many other players around the league today is the first major wave of players on the waiver wire for the purpose of player assignment to the American Hockey league. For the Blue Jackets, general manager Jarmo Kekalainen has waived forward Zac Rinaldo, who was just signed earlier this summer to join the Cleveland Mosnters.

As the NHLPA investigation continues, Rinaldo will join the minor league camp as he is an unvaccinated player on the roster, and appears to be the only one in Columbus. The Blue Jackets added Lefebvre and Rinaldo, both guys that were not vaccinated over the summer, and now are burying them in front of the league’s eyes to see and witness.

For former assistant coach Sylvain Lefebvre, the conflict spilt over social media over the claims of firing versus quitting; the NHLPA is defending Rinaldo as he is not being given a chance to make the pro roster, potentially costing him money.

Now being towards the weekend, Jarmo Kekalainen has unwelcomed Rinaldo to the Cleveland Monsters, and is letting him pursue international hockey as his career path, at his choice as he remains his pro-choice decision. Maybe soon he will be the team enforcer.

JF Berube Signs

The Columbus Blue Jackets have signed goaltender Jean-Francois Berube to a one year, two way contract for a veteran league minimum cap hit of $750K. The former Kings prospect has bounced around the league with the New York Islanders, Vegas Golden Knights, Chicago Blackhawks, and Philadelphia Flyers over his career. The veteran goaltender gives the Mosnters a strong tandem between him and Daniil Tarasov, while giving Columbus someone experienced to play games if one of Jonas Korpisalo or Elvis Merzlikins goes down with an injury.

Cuts

The Columbus Blue Jackets have announced their first series of roster cuts for the preseason. Columbus cut 10 players from the roster, going to 58 remaining players as of Thursday night. The cuts are majority the rookie invites from the Traverse City camp, but the biggest from the recent draft is center James Malatesta and defenseman Stanislav Svozil; ranked 10th and 6th on the top ten roster charts. The rest of the cuts were undrafted Peter Reynolds; Mark Woolley; Kaleb Lawerence; Gerard Keane; Emerik Despatie; Martin Rysavy; Ben Boyd; and Ole Bjorvik Holm.

St Louis Recap

Columbus upset the St. Louis Blues by the final score of 5-2 in regulation. Columbus scored the first three goals; coming from Boone Jenner; Dean Kukan; and Liam Foudy. For all three, it was their first of the preseason; Emil Bemstrom got the assist on Foudy’s goal.

Blues’ forward Hugh McGing concluded the shutout hopes in the late seconds of the second period; forwards Robert Thomas and Jordan Kyrou had the helpers.

Boone Jenner scored his second of the game in the final frame; wingers Jake Voracek and Patrik Laine had the assists.

Jake Walman scored a clapper on the power play after the hit from behind by Jenner; Ivan Barbashev and McGing had the assists.

The final goal came from an empty netter set up by Jenner’s rush pass to Euro-Canadian add Gregory Hoffman. Adam Boqvist had the secondary helper point.

After the game, the Blue Jackets and Blues held a shootout, allowing them to participate in the 2021 revisited voluntary rule to allow teams to compete in this activity concluding the regular game. In the shootout, the lone goal came from Blues forward Robert Thomas, juking out JF Berube.


Logan Brown was my player to watch for the Blues in his debut contest since the earlier trade in the week; being held pointless on the scoreboard but had a 45% success rate in the faceoff circle against his opposition.

Daniil Tarasov was my player to watch for Columbus, and he stole the show for the Union Blue in Nationwide. Tarasov saved 25 of 26 being an absolute star between the pipes for the CBJ.

JF Berube stopped 11 of 12 other CBJ shots last night; Jared Hoffer stopped 16 of 19 the Blues; and Charlie Lindgren stopped 13 of 14 for St. Louis.


CBJ 3 Stars

1. Boone Jenner — 2 goals (2), one assist (1)
2. Daniil Tarasov — 25/26 saves
3. Dean Kukan— GWG (1)


P4 — Detroit

The Blue Jackets return to the ice on Saturday to battle Traverse City foes in the Detroit Red Wings. The building Wings made a lot of adjustments to this team, but they face many issues already looming this team for the upcoming year.

Winger Tyler Bertuzzi is one of the few players in the league who remains unvaccinated, and is forfeiting money and games played in Canada by remaining his status. Also, winger Jakub Vrana, who was acquired last trade deadline in a blockbuster deal that sent Anthony Mantha to Washington, is getting surgery and is out for four months.

Detroit did make some sizable transactions this summer as well, acquiring defender Nick Leddy from the NY Islanders; two time cup winner Mitchell Stephens from Tampa Bay; and Calder Trophy finalist goalie Alex Nedeljkovic from the Carolina Hurricanes; and signed rookie Pius Suter; defenders Luke Witkowski, Jordan Osterle, Dan Renouf, and Ryan Murphy. Other veteran forwards signed and joining the Wings in training camp are Carter Rowney; Tuner Elson; Dennis Yan; and Bobby Ryan.

Detroit did lose a list of long term veterans off this roster, including goalies Jonathan Bernier (New Jersey) and Kevin Boyle; wingers Darren Helm (Colorado) , Luke Glendenning (Dallas), Richard Panik (NY Islanders), Val Flippula, Matt Brome, and Evgney Svechinkov (Winnipeg); and defensemen Dylan McIlrath (Washington), Alex Biega (Toronto), and Christian Djoos.


Columbus gets back into game action for the first time since Wednesday night after playing three games in a row, and with a different roster than previous nights. It has also been announced by the team that goaltender Cam Johnson has failed team fitness tests, and will join the Cleveland Monsters.

Rosters for tonight’s matchup


Detroit Red Wings via

TBD

Columbus Blue Jackets via Jeff Svoboda of NHL.com


Forwards

Gregory Hoffman
Justin Danforth
Tyler Sikura
Liam Foudy
Cole Cassels
Alex Texier
Emil Bemstrom
Carson Meyer
Jake Gaudet
Justin Scott
Jake Slaker
Jack Roslovic


Defensemen

Andrew Peeke
Scott Harrington
Jake Bean
Dillon Simpson
Gabriel Carlsson

Goaltenders

Jet Graves
Elvis Merzlikins

Players to Watch


DET — TBD —- update will come



CBJ— Alexandre Texier — his time is now on this team. New contract, new season, new Tex. Texier has to produce and contribute at both ends to get this team to compete this season, whether it’s points or faceoffs.


The top five prospects

The final five to conclude my series of Top 10 CBJ prospects will conclude this blog series, and they are all clear choices on talent, skill, and potential.

1. C Kent Johnson (Michigan —NCAA)

The American center was drafted 5th overall in the 2021 draft, and is joining a team that will go the distance with the Wolverines for the 2021-2022 season. He needs more time and grooming, but will be an absolute stud in the NHL.


2. RW Yegor Chinakov (Cleveland—AHL)

The Russian sniper is showing he is a steal as a first round selection, where many projected him in the final rounds of the draft or unranked. His speed and finesse is his biggest strength, where his defense is lackluster. Throughout the preseason and rookie camp, he is showing he could push a veteran off the roster.

3. C Cole Sillinger (Medicine Hat — WHL)

The 12th overall selection from 2021, the son of the NHL suitcase, Mike Sillinger, is showing he can play with pros in the preseason, and support a sniper like Chinakov in the tournaments. He has size and two way ability, still needs to bring everything together. Give it a few years of seasoning.

4. G Daniil Tarasov (Cleveland— AHL)

He is ready. He is here. Tarasov has shown to hold the fort for Columbus and Cleveland over his years, and could become the franchise number one goaltender in the very near future.

5. RD Carson Culeumans (USHL)

The 25th overall selection from 2021, the right handed shot defender has more size than others form his draft class, but will need at least 4 years before evening touching the Columbus ice full time.


To wrap up the series and list it all together:

1. Kent Johnson
2. Yegor Chinakov
3. Cole Sillinger
4. Daniil Tarasov
5. Carson Culeumans
6. Stanislav Svozil
7. Samuel Knazko
8. Kirill Marchenko
9. Eric Hjorth
10. James Malatesta


Thoughts on the series and the games and more?

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More to come...