The Columbus Blue Jackets return home for the first after Thanksgiving to faceoff with the Boston Bruins for their first meeting of three for the season.
Boston came out of the season piping hot despite the retirements of centers Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci. After the most successful regular season in league recorded history, they have reset the team.
OUT
Former captain Nick Foligno and forward Taylor Hall were traded to Chicago to build the depth of the defense and recover cap space.
They also moved Shane Bowers to New Jersey for defensive adds.
Dmitry Orlov walked to Carolina.
Garnet Hathaway signed with Philadelphia.
Jack Achan and Chris Wagner signed with Colorado.
Connor Clifton inked a deal with Buffalo.
Vinni Letteri joined Minnesota.
Tyler Bertuzzi moved to Toronto.
Tomas Nosek signed with New Jersey.
Anton Stralman headed home to Sweden.
AJ Greer was claimed off waivers by Calgary.
Bergeron and Krejci retired.
Mike Reilly (NYI) was bought out and signed with Florida.
IN
Milan Lucic returned.
James van Riemsdyk signed short term.
Kevin Shattenkirk joined the hometown team.
Forwards Jesper Boqvist, Patrick Brown, and Jayson Megna signed as depth.
Defenders Reilly Walsh, Alec Regula, and Ian Mitchell came back in the trades from the forwards.
Boston and Columbus are both coming into tonight cold, as they’ve both been losing recently.
The Bruins have dropped their last two, where the Blue Jackets lost to Carolina.
Columbus does have Alexandre Texier back, but there are rumors that Dmitry Vokornov may leave the team to return back to Russia as he is feeling extremely homesick.
Vokornov is a rookie that had his summer shortened due to the development camps in North America. This is the longest he has been away from family. Additionally, the Russian political climate may be a personal and mental issue for him and other players around the league. It is not easy to be him right now.
Sitting at 9 points in 16 games is productive for the rookie, and will be a sore spot for the Blue Jackets’ offense and he will be truly missed.
There is also a young productive Kent Johnson that Kek won’t touch for some reason.
Expect a Merzlikins v Swayman battle tonight.
Projected Lineups
Boston Bruins
Brad Marchand—Pavel Zacha—David Pasternak
James van Riemsdyk—Charlie Coyle—Trent Frederic
Danton Heinen—Matthew Poitras—Jake DeBrusk
Jakub Lukko—John Beecher—Morgan Geekie
Matt Grzelyck—Charlie McAvoy
Hampus Lindholm—Brandon Carlo
Derek Forbort—Ian Mitchell
Jeremy Swayman
Linus Ullmark
Scratched - Oskar Steen, Kevin Shattenkirk
Out - Milan Lucic
Columbus Blue Jackets
Johnny Gaudreau—Boone Jenner—Kirill Marchenko
Dmitry Vokornov—Adam Fantilli—Patrik Laine
Alexandre Texier—Cole Sillinger—Yegor Chinakov
Eric Robinson—Sean Kuraly—Justin Danforth
Zach Werenski—Adam Boqvist
Ivan Provorov—David Jiricek
Jake Bean—Erik Gudbranson
Elvis Merzlikins
Spencer Martin
Scratched — Mathieu Olivier, Andrew Peeke
Injured — Damon Severson, Daniil Tarasov, Jack Roslovic
Players to Watch
Boston — David Pasternak — the franchise
Columbus — Alexandre Texier — second game back, needs to get in the production department
Predicted Final Scores
BOS - 2
CBJ - 1
Columbus Blue Jackets Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»