BREAKING - 12:20pm EST
Columbus PR has announced that goaltender Elvis Merzlikins will not be in the crease due to illness.
As a result, rookie forward Kent Johnson has been sent to Cleveland and goalie Jet Graves has been recalled from Cleveland to backup Daniil Tarasov, who will now start against Carolina.
Merzlikins’ time away is unknown, questionable for Friday in the home opener against the Tampa Bay Lightning
Full coverage:
Opening night is here for the Columbus Blue Jackets, where they do battle in the storm surge with a road visit against the Carolina Hurricanes at PNC Arena.
Carolina handed Columbus their worst loss of the preseason, with a 8-1 whooping. Since their last game, the preseason has completed and both teams have announced their opening night rosters.
For Carolina, enforcer Jordan Martinook was cut due to the cap and is with Chicago; Jake Gardiner has been placed on LTIR; and forward Ryan Suzuki and defenseman Cavan Fitzgerald have been placed on season opening injured reserve (SOIR). Carolina is also finalizing a one year, $750K contract with forward Derek Stepan after finalizing a one year, $850K contract with defenseman Calvin De Haan. Both former Hurricanes made the team out of camp on PTOs.
As for Columbus, and with my extended time away, we will rewind to what has happened since the Carolina loss.
1. After losing 8-1, Columbus shut out the St. Louis Blues 7-0 with goals from Patrik Laine; Yegor Chinakov; Jack Roslovic; Zach Werenski; Jakub Voracek; Cole Sillinger; and Justin Danforth against Thomas Greiss. Greiss had 24 saves for a 0.774 save percentage; Daniil Tarasov stopped all 24 Blues’ shots on net.
2. 39 seconds of overtime concluded Columbus’ preseason efforts, in a 4-3 loss to the Washington Capitals.
Anthony Mantha and Alexander Ovechkin had first period goals for Washington, with a second period goal from Nic Dowd. Newcomer Dylan Strome had the game winner.
Patrik Laine and Yegor Chinakov had the first period goals for the Jackets; Sean Kuraly had the second period goal.
Darcy Kuemper had 36 saves on 39 shots for a 0.923 save percentage; Elvis Merzlikins had 28 saves on 32 shots for a 0.875 save percentage.
3. Final Cuts - Emil Bemstrom was waived and assigned to the Monsters. Kirill Marchenko failed to make the team out of camp, and is with Cleveland. Instead of going to Europe or to juniors, David Jiricek is also going to Cleveland. Joonas Korpisalo has been placed on the IR with his hip; Joona Luoto has been placed on SOIR with an undisclosed injury.
4. The full roster— a full 23 man roster, with 2 spare forwards and one spare defenseman remain on the Columbus roster. The top 6 forwards and defensemen aren’t the surprise, it is the depth. After 6 preseason goals, Yegor Chinakov remained up, along with newcomer Mathieu Oliver and Masterton nominee Justin Danforth. First round pick Liam Foudy also made the opening roster. Kent Johnson made the roster as well. Michigan defenseman Nick Blankenburg edged out Gavin Bayreuther as the seventh defenseman.
Remaining roster for training camp
Forwards
7 — Sean Kuraly
13 — Johnny Gaudreau
14 — Gustav Nyquist
16 — Brendan Gaunce
17 — Justin Danforth
19 — Liam Foudy
24 — Mathieu Oliver
29 — Patrik Laine
34 — Cole Sillinger
38 — Boone Jenner
46 — Joona Luoto (SOIR)
50 — Eric Robinson
59 — Yegor Chinakov
91 — Kent Johnson
93 — Jakub Voracek
96 — Jack Roslovic
Defensemen
2 — Andrew Peeke
4 — Vladislav Gavrikov
8 — Zach Werenski
22 — Jake Bean
27 — Adam Boqvist
44 — Eric Gubdranson
77 — Nick Blankenburg
Goaltenders
40 — Daniil Tarasov
70 — Joonas Korpisalo (IR)
90 — Elvis Merzlikins
With the full roster, here is the projected lineup for game one:
Carolina Hurricanes (from Walt Ruff of NHL.com)
Teravainen - Aho - Jarvis
Svechnikov - Kotkaniemi - Necas
Stastny - Staal - Fast
Martinook - Stepan - Kase
Slavin - Burns
Skjei - Pesce
de Haan - Chatfield
Andersen
Raanta
Scratched: Bear, Coghlan, Kochetkov
Injured: Pacioretty, Gardiner, Suzuki, Fitzgerald
Columbus Blue Jackets (from Jeff Svoboda of NHL.com)
Gaudreau-Jenner-Laine
Chinakhov-Roslovic-Voracek
Nyquist-Sillinger-Danforth
Robinson-Kuraly-Olivier
Werenski-Boqvist
Gavrikov-Peeke
Bean-Gudbranson
Merzlikins
Tarasov
Scratched: Johnson, Foudy, Blankenburg
Injured: Luoto, Korpisalo
Players to Watch
Carolina — Brent Burns. The Sasquatch. The Chewbacca. The veteran leader on the backend after many years in San Jose was moved with salary retained to Raleigh for middling prospects and picks to help reset the Sharks organization. Burns had 54 points in 82 games, his best year since before the pandemic. 54 points was his lowest 82 game season number in a San Jose jersey. At 37, he has yet to win a cup, and has 3 years left on his current deal. This is his best chance since the 2016 loss to Pittsburgh.
Columbus — Johnny Gaudreau
Johnny Daddy. Johnny Jacket. Johnny Hockey. The prize of the summer free agent class and new father, Gaudreau is off his best offensive year with the Calgary Flames, having 115 points in 82 games with Calgary. Gaudreau is getting the spotlight and the best players to work with in Columbus, including Zach Werenski and Patrik Laine, while figuring out the best center to work with him.
Other Notes
1. Ian Cole. Former Blue Jackets’, Penguins, Blues, Hurricanes, and current Lightning defenseman Cole is under investigation by the NHL and has an in person interview today. The case is disgusting if true, it’s allegation at this point.
2. AHL Outdoor Classic. The Cleveland Monsters and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins are participating in the outdoor game for the AHL on March 4, 2023. This is the day after the Trade Deadline.
What say you? What is your prediction of game 1? More to come…
Columbus Blue Jackets Blogger • 
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