Columbus Blue Jackets Are Absolutely Decimated By Injury

As bad as they are, you really have to give this Columbus Blue Jackets team some credit.

This is a team that has undergone several changes in the past several months. Rick Nash is gone. Scott Howson is (thankfully) gone. And they have a new team president at the top, in John Davidson, who appears to have this team heading in the right direction. Oh yeah, and they’ve demonstrated an incredible inability to stay healthy.

Despite all of this, the Blue Jackets have continued to come out and play, and play hard. It’s hard to find moral victories when you’re as poor a team as the Jackets are, but give them some serious credit.

This team has been decimated by injuries, almost to the absolute maximum. They’ve only had six players play in all 21 games this season. Most of those are some of their key guys, but they’ve also been without some important players. And those guys that have played in all 21 have essentially had an AHL squad as their supporting cast.

The injuries to this team have come specifically on the blue line. James Wisniewski has played in just 15 games this year. He’s now out four to six weeks with a foot injury sustained after he took a shot off of it. Joining him on injured reserve is Jack Johnson, who is out with a shoulder injury.

That doesn’t mean that the injuries are limited to the defensive side. Artem Anisimov missed time with a head injury, just returning on Friday night. Brandon Dubinsky is in injured reserve with a knee injury.

This club has been absolutely ravaged by injury. Even if they were going to be competitive this year, as unlikely as that seemed, it would be impossible to do so with some of these names that are missing time. But you have to tip your cap to this club just for showing up and still coming to play on a nightly basis.