MEDIA CLIPS Columbus Blue Jackets vs. Ottawa Senators February 24, 2020 Columbus Blue Jackets Blue Jackets hang tough again, get a point — and another loss By Brian Hedger – The Columbus Dispatch – February 22, 2020 NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Blue Jackets will not change their style because of their injury glut, which now includes Oliver Bjorkstrand and Seth Jones out for the remainder of the regular season. John Tortorella, their tightly wound coach, made that abundantly clear in a pregame news conference Saturday night at Bridgestone Arena. "You’re asking me the same questions every (expletive) day," Tortorella said, when asked if his most inexperienced lineup to date might force a strategic change or two. "I have explained that already. I’ll say it one last time about this here. "We have changed our concentration right at the beginning of the year … so, are we changing? No. We are playing the way we have played for three months, and really, most of the year." No such guarantee, however, exists for results. And the Blue Jackets really needed some better results going into a game against the Nashville Predators, looking to end a seven-game losing streak (0-3-4) despite having yet another rookie, Calvin Thurkauf, make his NHL debut and icing a lineup with six of 18 skaters having American Hockey League experience this season. They didn’t get what the result they wanted, though, losing an eighth straight game with a 4-3 shootout loss decided by Rocco Grimaldi’s backhand shot in the bottom of the eighth round. It didn’t look good after the first 20 minutes, which the Predators dominated in almost all facets. They outshot had a 17-9 edge in shots, took a 2-0 lead on goals by Ryan Johansen and Markus Granlund and didn’t give up many good scoring chances in front of goalie Juuse Saros. Blue Jackets goalie Elvis Merzlikins meanwhile, was forced to scramble early and allowed Johansen’s goal off a big rebound just 33 seconds into the game. The Blue Jackets went into the first period looking disheveled and a bit discombobulated, which made it feel like Merzlikins might have a long night ahead. Instead, they did what they’ve done since their injury woes began in early December. They fought back. Boone Jenner cut it to 2-1 with a rebound goal in traffic just 1:00 into the second period, Eric Robinson tied it 2-2 off a beautiful backhand feed from Jakob Lilja 3:50 later, and rookie Emil Bemstrom capped a power play at 17:21 to put the Jackets in front, 3-2. It was a short-lived lead thanks to Colton Sissons, who tipped a shot past Merzlikins 1:36 later to knot it at 3. But the Jackets were at least even to start the third. Columbus Dispatch LOADED: 02.23.2020 Mounting injuries leave Zach Werenski as Columbus Blue Jackets’ top offensive weapon By Brian Hedger – The Columbus Dispatch – February 22, 2020 NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Oliver Bjorkstrand’s fractured and sprained left ankle did something other than hinder the Blue Jackets’ offense even further. It also made defenseman Zach Werenski the team’s leading available goal-scorer with 18 goals going into a game Saturday against the Nashville Predators at Bridgestone Arena. “In terms of goal scoring, I’ve found myself with more opportunities to score goals,” said Werenski, 22, who has already surpassed the franchise record for single-season goals by a defenseman that he and Seth Jones each set two seasons ago (16). “I think I’ve taken a step forward in that area, not just because of numbers but because I feel like I’m in more positions to score. That’s something I practiced this past summer quite a bit.” The Blue Jackets are fortunate he did. Prior to Bjorkstrand’s injury, which happened near the end of regulation Thursday in a 4-3 overtime loss to Philadelphia, he and Werenski shouldered the bulk of the Jackets’ recent scoring burden. Now, with Bjorkstrand on the shelf, the spotlight burns even hotter for Werenski, who is two goals shy of achieving an impressive career milestone. An NHL defenseman has scored 20 or more goals just 26 times in the past 20 seasons, accomplished by 17 players. San Jose’s Brent Burns has the two highest totals in the past 10 years, scoring 29 goals in 2016-17 and 27 in 2015-16, and Detroit’s Mike Green set the high mark for the past 20 years with 31 in 2008-09, when he was with the Washington Capitals. Widening the scope, the stats pages on the NHL’s website show that defensemen have scored 20-plus goals just 153 times since 1917-18, an average of roughly 1.5 times per season. Werenski leads all NHL defensemen in goals, three ahead of Washington’s John Carlson, and has 19 games left to join the exclusive group of 20-goal scoring defensemen. “There’s usually one or two guys a year who do it,” he said. “If I could score 20, it’d be pretty cool, but I’m just going to go out there and play, and shoot the puck.” Korpisalo starts rehab stint Goaltender Joonas Korpisalo, who is with the Cleveland Monsters on a conditioning stint, was slated to start Saturday night at Rochester. If so, it would be his first appearance of the conditioning stint and first game action since Dec. 29, when he suffered a torn a meniscus in his left knee against the Chicago Blackhawks. Korpisalo, who earned his first NHL All-Star invitation by going 17-10-4 with two shutouts, has missed the Blue Jackets’ past 24 games. It’s been a frustrating stretch, largely because the injury happened in a shootout that followed an officiating blunder involving a timekeeping error that needlessly extended the game past overtime. Winning a losing battle Going into the game against the Predators, the Blue Jackets led the NHL in injured players (nine regulars) and man-games lost (345). If you include veteran forward Brandon Dubinsky, who hasn’t played all season because of a wrist issue, the man-games lost was expected to jump to 355 after adding 10 more missed games to the heap against Nashville. Korpisalo is making his way back in his conditioning stint, but the rest of the injured players are either out multiple weeks or indefinitely. That means there’s a chance this team could top the 505 man-games lost of the 2014-15 Blue Jackets, who missed the playoffs but still finished with a respectable 87 points under former coach Todd Richards. A monetary perspective The total value of those salary-cap values of the 10 players sidelined, according to cap-tracking site CapFriendly.com, amounts to an astonishing $33.75 million, or 44.3% of the $76.2 million the Jackets are projected to spend against the NHL’s cap ceiling of $81.5 million. Five of the injured players have cap-hit values of $4.6 million per season or higher, led by Cam Atkinson ($5.875 million). Another way to look at it is by adding up the total cap value of the current roster and subtracting the $2.5 million cap charge for Bjorkstrand, who’s out eight to 10 weeks but hasn’t been placed on injured reserve. Without counting Bjorkstrand, the Blue Jackets’ 22 healthy players have a combined cap value of $42.9 million, or an average of $1.95 million per player. To put that in perspective, the league’s highest payroll belongs to the Toronto Maple Leafs, and their average cap value of $4.3 million per active player. The Jackets’ total current cap value, as a team, would also amount to just 52.6% of the NHL’s cap ceiling if used for an entire season. That wouldn’t be possible, however, because it’s also $17.3 million lower than the league’s $60.2 million cap floor. Columbus Dispatch LOADED: 02.23.2020 Columbus Blue Jackets’ best bet now? Play with what you’ve got By Michael Arace – The Columbus Dispatch – February 22, 2020 Blue Jackets history suggests that this 2019-20 team is in good shape with 73 points through 62 games. Blue Jackets history also says the last time the Jackets led the league in man-games lost to injury, in 2014-15, they finished 11th in the Eastern Conference. That is where they’re aimed now, backward, toward the middle of the pack. Their season hinged two weeks ago, when their best defenseman, Seth Jones, suffered an ankle injury, underwent surgery and was put in street clothes for the rest of the season. The Jackets have been on a winless streak (0-3-4) ever since. On Thursday night, the team’s leading goal scorer, forward Oliver Bjorkstrand, essentially suffered the same injury as Jones. This second gut punch has put the Jackets, who lead the league with 345 man- games lost to injury, down for a standing-eight count. General manager Jarmo Kekalainen could swing a deal before the trade deadline, Monday at 3 p.m., but to what end? With 10 players on the shelf — including forwards Josh Anderson, Cam Atkinson and Alexander Wennberg, and goaltender Joonas Korpisalo is the expense of buying at the deadline worth it? Can new help actually help? No, and probably not. Kekalainen arrived in Columbus in 2013. Since, there has been only one occasion when the Jackets had more points through 62 games than they do this year.