Welcome to February. Didn’t January feel like it lasted for two months? They call that the dogs days of the NHL season for a reason. As usual for the Columbus Blue Jackets, there is a lot to talk about.
The Blue Jackets will host the Utah Hockey Club for the first time on Thursday night. The two teams played last Friday night in Utah. Zach Werenski scored in overtime to give the Blue Jackets a big 3-2 win.
Werenski is where we’ll start with this week’s news portion. Will he be available Thursday night?
Werenski Update
After scoring the game winner in Utah, things got tricky for Werenski. He briefly left the game Sunday in Dallas before playing in the third period. He then missed the game in Buffalo.
With the Blue Jackets having Wednesday off, the earliest we would get something of substance was at the morning skate Thursday. Werenski made his appearance there 15 minutes before the scheduled 10 A.M. eastern start.
Werenski did everything we would expect him to during the skate. He skated with Ivan Provorov on the top pair. He took part in all of the drills. However, coach Dean Evason stopped short of officially confirming Werenski would play.
“I haven’t talked with (Mike Vogt) yet, but yeah it’s possible.”
Werenski told reporters after the skate that he’ll see how he feels when he gets home. Then he added “I think I’m going to play for sure, but we’ll see.”
Utah expects Werenski to play. Unless some sort of setback came up in the afternoon, all indications point to the defenseman suiting up. That would be welcomed news given the overall injury situation.
As for the 4-Nations, Werenski told reporters that he wouldn’t go there if he felt the injury would get worse. Then he said he doesn’t think that’s the case. Expect him to head to the 4-Nations as he said.
Check back at pregame warmups for official confirmation of Werenski’s status. But there is plenty of optimism.
Olivier’s Fight in Buffalo
Something was going to happen at the beginning of Tuesday night’s game against the Sabres. It wasn’t a matter of if but a matter of when and what. Mathieu Olivier was prepared for whatever the Sabres were going to do.
Olivier spoke after the morning skate about his side of the fight that took place three seconds into Tuesday night’s game. He and Sabres’ Dennis Gilbert were each in the starting lineup.
According to Olivier, there was no conversation beforehand. But he wanted to prove a point not only to the Sabres, but to the rest of the NHL.
“I don’t live under rocks, so I saw what happened there,” Olivier said. “I was trying to put myself in their shoes. What would I do in that situation? And funny enough, we’ve had a situation like this. I don’t remember if it was last year or a couple years ago where we had to address it as a team. I didn’t get the chance to play the next game after that, but I know that I was thinking we have to send a message. I was expecting some type of message. I don’t know what it was gonna be, who, what, but I know that’s what I would have done at least, try to send a message. Maybe not that way, but that’s what I would’ve done. My mindset was we’re not gonna accept that. It didn’t happen against us, and we’re not gonna have teams start sending messages against us. So it was about standing up for ourselves, for the team, and sending a message that we’re not the team to do that against. Go do that against someone else.”
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Olivier has elevated himself and is widely known as one of the toughest players in the NHL. Not only that, he does things in such a way that has earned him respect around the league.
“He isn’t dirty and he is an honest player,” Utah’s Lawson Crouse said.
Cameras showed Olivier looking at the Sabres’ bench as he skated to the penalty box. We can only imagine what he was thinking in the moment. In the end, the message was sent loud and clear. The Blue Jackets won’t be pushed around nor have messages sent to them.
Blue Jackets Want to Extend Fabbro
According to a report from Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, the Blue Jackets want to try to extend defenseman Dante Fabbro. He’s currently out of the lineup and won’t play Thursday against Utah. He took an elbow from Dallas’ Mason Marchment.
There is no current indication how long Fabbro will be out.
Ever since Fabbro was claimed off waivers from the Nashville Predators, he’s done everything asked of him and then some. He’s played on the top pair next to Werenski. He’s elevated Werenski’s game while being a steadying presence. He’s also been a good fit in the locker room.
The question now becomes what does a potential extension look like? While it’s not exactly apples to apples, one must wonder if the recent Will Borgen and Marcus Pettersson contracts will influence what Fabbro’s looks like. Borgen got 5 X $4.1 million while Pettersson got 6 X $5.5 million.
It wouldn’t surprise me to see Fabbro perhaps fall in the middle of Borgen and Pettersson based on career production. $4.5-$5 million seems reasonable on a longer term deal for a potential top-four defenseman. We’ll see if they can find common ground on an extension.
Side Dishes
- As for Thursday night’s game, the top line will include Kent Johnson playing with Adam Fantilli and Dmitri Voronkov. Cole Sillinger will play with Luca Del Bel Belluz and James van Riemsdyk.
- Elvis Merzlikins will get the start for the Blue Jackets. Connor Ingram starts for Utah.
- Assuming that Werenski plays, it appears the Blue Jackets will play 12 forwards and six defensemen. Kevin Labanc would play and Jack Johnson would be out if so.
- Utah got Dylan Guenther back last game and he was a terror against the Flyers. He scored two goals and an assist which included the game winner in overtime. He didn’t play in Friday’s game at Delta Center. The Blue Jackets must account for him especially with Logan Cooley out.
- Evason said that he wants his team to clean up mistakes from the Buffalo game. They addressed it in their morning team meeting. “We gave up three goals because of what we did, not because of what they did.”