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CBJ G54 v New Jersey Devils — Naughty Valentine; Gavrikov Boston Move? |
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BREAKING 6:45pm
Vladislav Gavrikov and the Boston Bruins are the leading match into pregame warmups with the Devils.
May factor in the low cap and the lack of need of main roster players interest from Columbus, and it just being draft capital.
BREAKING — 11:15am
Vladislav Gavrikov is a healthy scratch for trade related purposes.
This comes less than 24 hours after my player profile blog of him.
If this is it, he has served greatly as the top left handed defenseman this season for the Union Blue. Drafted in 2015, thank you for almost 5 years of service Gavy!
On tonight…
The Columbus Blue Jackets return home after a back to back with Toronto and two days off to do battle with the New Jersey Devils for the second time of three in the 2022-23 NHL regular season.
Columbus has only won twice at home this calendar year: January 7 v Carolina; and January 21 v San Jose. This is the only time that Columbus and New Jersey will be at Nationwide Arena.
The Union Blue with a win and a Blackhawks regulation loss would escape 32nd overall in the league standings.
The two teams last played on October 30, in game number 10 on the season; the final score of the game was 7-1 for New Jersey.
The Devils are coming into this game off a recent shootout loss to the Minnesota Wild.
They have been holding strong despite their top star, Jack Hughes, going down with an upper body injury.
The young guns in Newark have been in sync all season, and propelled them to a top 5 team in the league.
Is it overachieving? Maybe?
The New Jersey Devils are expected to start Vitek Vancek in their goal crease. Brendan Smith remains out with Jonathan Bernier.
The Blue Jackets are going with Elvis Merzlikins as their starter; amongst the defensive pair changes.
Projected Lineups
New Jersey Devils
Ondrej Palat—Nico Hischer—Dawson Mercer
Yegor Sharangovich—Erik Haula—Jesper Bratt
Tomas Tatar—Jesper Boqvist—Fabian Zetterlund
Miles Wood—Michael McLeod—Nathan Bastian
Jonas Sigenthaler—Dougie Hamilton
Ryan Graves—Damon Severson
Kevin Bahl—John Marino
Vitek Vanacek
Mackenzie Blackwood
Scratched —
Injured — Jonathan Bernier, Brendan Smith, Jack Hughes
Columbus Blue Jackets
Johnny Gaudreau—Boone Jenner—Patrik Laine
Kent Johnson—Cole Sillinger—Kirill Marchenko
Liam Foudy—Jack Roslovic—Emil Bemstrom
Eric Robinson—Sean Kuraly—Mathieu Olivier
Gavin Bayreuther—Adam Boqvist
Tim Breni—Erik Gudbranson
Nick Blankenburg—Andrew Peeke
Elvis Merzlikins
Joonas Korpisalo
Scratched — Lane Pederson, Vladislav Gavrikov
Injured — Zach Werenski, Jakub Voracek, Jake Bean, Justin Danforth, Gustav Nyquist, Yegor Chinakov
Players to Watch
New Jersey — Nico Hischer — the top C in Newark
Columbus — Adam Boqvist — bro v bro matchups are great.
Predicted Final Score
NJD - 6
CBJ - 2
Thoughts? More to come…
Columbus Blue Jackets Blogger • 
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