Columbus Blue Jackets News Clips July 18-20, 2020

Columbus Blue Jackets PAGE 02: Columbus Dispatch: Blue Jackets camp notes: Bjorkstrand scores again, scrimmage lineups and more PAGE 04: Columbus Dispatchbl: Blue Jackets begin holding scrimmages PAGE 06: Columbus Dispatch: Blue Jackets players Oliver Bjorkstrand, get competitive while rehabbing ankles PAGE 08: The Athletic: What the *&#% did he say? In quiet rinks, NHL games might have added color PAGE 11: Columbus Dispatch: Blue Jackets slowly turning attention toward Maple Leafs PAGE 13: Columbus Dispatch: Blue Jackets must maintain defensive edge PAGE 15: Columbus Dispatch: Josh Anderson added to Blue Jackets’ camp roster PAGE 16: Columbus Dispatch: Healthy Oliver Bjorkstrand shows scoring touch in first week of Columbus Blue Jackets’ camp PAGE 18: Columbus Dispatch: Columbus Blue Jackets’ elevates his game

Cleveland Monsters/Prospects

NHL/Websites PAGE 20: Sportsnet.ca: Quick Shifts: How Tortorella is preparing for Keefe's Leafs PAGE 25: Sportsnet.ca: Where the East's American play-in teams stand ahead of NHL restart

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Columbus Dispatch / Blue Jackets camp notes: Bjorkstrand scores again, scrimmage lineups and more By Brian Hedger – July 18, 2020

The fifth day of training camp for the Blue Jackets included practice, more work on special teams and a second straight scrimmage day. Here’s a rundown of what took place, including scrimmages lineups, -scorers and early power-play setups: Scrimmage After a 1-1 tie in the first scrimmage of camp Thursday, the Jackets got back to it Friday afternoon at the OhioHealth Ice Haus. Following a morning practice that lasted roughly 45 minutes, the ice was resurfaced and another scrimmage began. The white team defeated the blue team 2-1 on goals by Oliver Bjorkstrand and , while Elvis Merzlikins tended their net – allowing just one goal by veteran forward Nathan Gerbe. Bjorkstrand, who’s fully recovered from ankle surgery in March, appears to be in top form after scoring in both scrimmages. Gerbe, who’s trying to earn a spot in the main practice group, beat Merzlikins from close range with a nice wrist past the glove side, pulling the blue team to within 2-1. Jenner’s goal, scored with a backhand between the pads in front of the net, was the winner. Lineups White team Forwards Nick Foligno – Boone Jenner – Liam Foudy Alexandre Texier – Pierre-Luc Dubois – Oliver Bjorkstrand Kole Sherwood – Ryan MacInnis – Stephane Matteau Defensemen Zach Werenski – Seth Jones Ryan Murray – Markus Nutivaara Dean Kukan – Adam Clendening Goalie Elvis Merzlikins Blue team Forwards Gustav Nyquist – Alexander Wennberg – Cam Atkinson Eric Robinson – Riley Nash – Emil Bemstrom Devin Shore – Kevin Stenlund – Nathan Gerbe Defensemen Vladislav Gavrikov – David Savard Scott Harrington, Andrew Peeke and all working together and rotating shifts to also work with Gavrikov or Savard.

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Goalie Joonas Korpisalo Special teams Following the scrimmage, the Blue Jackets worked on their power play for the second straight day. The top unit currently includes Werenski running the point with Jones on the left-wing wall, Nyquist manning the middle of the 1-3-1 and Bjorkstrand on the right-wing wall. Dubois is a big body camped in front of the net. The second unit has Murray running the point with Bemstrom on the left side, Wennberg in the middle, Atkinson on the right and Foligno in front of the net. Tortorella said the experiment with Werenski and Jones in the same group, as opposed to being split up for each to quarterback a unit, is tied to the fact they’re preparing for a five-game series against the Maple Leafs in the qualifying round. "They read off one another so well, we wanted to try them on a power-play unit," he said. "And they’re going to be on the ice. This is a best-of-5 series. It’s going to be … I’m putting people on the ice and fill them with ice time if I think they can help us to win that particular game – because if you don’t win that particular game, you’re in trouble in a five-game series." The Blue Jackets have an off day Saturday and will return to the ice Sunday for another day of practice and scrimmaging – starting with practice at 11 a.m. Practices and scrimmages are not open to the public.

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Columbus Dispatch / Blue Jackets begin holding scrimmages By Brian Hedger – July 18, 2020

After a couple days of hard skates, the Blue Jackets’ training camp to prepare for the NHL’s 24-team return has shifted into its second phase. After a snappy half-hour practice Wednesday, without a conditioning skate, Thursday brought the first scrimmage of camp. That’s exactly the way it was planned by coach John Tortorella, director of player performance Nelson Ayotte and strength and conditioning coach Kevin Collins. "The first three days, I just wanted them to touch the puck and see where they were conditioning-wise," Tortorella said. "I don’t want to rush it. We still have plenty of days to do this, but after the first three days, you’re going to see more of the special teams (and scrimmages)." The transition began Wednesday, when Tortorella consulted with players and his performance staff. "I talked to the players, and it was the first time they skated two days in a row," Tortorella said, referring to the NHL pausing the season March 12 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. "They’re always looking for more. That’s just the way our athletes are built. But I had a much better conversation with Nelson and Kevin, who are in charge of all the physiology of it and numbers of it, as far as recovery. ... We felt it was time just to back off from the conditioning skate." It was also time to shift into scrimmages Thursday, which included a goalie competition between Elvis Merzlikins and Joonas Korpisalo picking up steam. "We got a ton of puck touches, and that’s what I wanted the first three days," Tortorella said. "We accomplished that, so now we’ll get into the grind and a little bit of the body work and start working on special teams." Desperation mode The Blue Jackets have a five-game series against the high-powered ahead in the qualifying round, so tough decisions will be made with expediency. "It’s a very tricky series because you can’t allow it to get away from you," Tortorella said. "There’s going to be some quick decisions made and there’s going to be some ice time laid onto people who we may have more of a trust (in) than some other guys in certain situations. We’re going to lay it out there, because it changes really quickly. You lose the first one, you are behind the eight-ball right away in a best-of-five." Elvis got hitched Those who follow Merzlikins on Instagram know that he recently posted engagement photos of him proposing to girlfriend Aleksandra Tyszliewicz during the NHL’s pause. Turns out, they also got married. After he popped the question during a visit with Blue Jackets goalie coach Manny Legace in suburban Detroit, Merzlikins and Tyszliewicz took the plunge when they returned to Columbus. "We got married, but I don’t think it was the right time to announce it, because it was the (pandemic) and then there was the protests, so I was kind of waiting (to) announce that a little bit later," said

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Merzlikins, who revealed the info Wednesday. "I almost got a second puppy (too), so there was a lot of new things." New look A few Blue Jackets defensemen took advantage of their time off to experiment with facial hair and, in one case, a new hairstyle. Ryan Murray has grown a mustache, David Savard’s beard is even bushier than normal, and then there’s Zach Werenski, who added a mullet-like hairstyle to a mustache he’d dabbled with during the regular season. Tortorella couldn’t help but take a couple of verbal jabs when asked this week about Werenski, who led all NHL defensemen with 20 goals. "About his mustache?" Tortorella said, laughing. "His mullet?" Classic ‘Torts’ Tortorella was also asked about playing games in arenas with no fans, where the acoustics might easily pick up some off-color language on TV. "I really don’t give a (expletive), quite honestly," Tortorella said. "I’ll put it to you that way. I’m not even thinking about it."

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Columbus Dispatch / Blue Jackets players Oliver Bjorkstrand, Seth Jones get competitive while rehabbing ankles By Adam Jardy – July 18, 2020

By nature, athletes are quick to compare. Be it a goal, a time or some other measure of competition, there’s always something to discuss or debate during the course of a career. The size of one’s ankle, though? That was a new one for Oliver Bjorkstrand and Seth Jones. With teammates scattered throughout the world as the NHL looked for a way to resume its paused 2019-20 season, the two Blue Jackets remained in Columbus, rehabilitating their respective high-ankle sprains after undergoing the same surgery roughly three weeks apart. Jones, who was the first to undergo what is known as "tightrope" surgery, said the two would compare their recoveries by examining each other’s ankles. Bjorkstrand said it verged on competition at a time when the sports world was shut down. "I guess it was seeing how swollen it was, when it started to go down and look like your regular ankle," Bjorkstrand said. "It was kind of fun comparing to see the steps of progress and who’s doing a better job." It was a needed piece of levity, especially for Jones, who underwent this specific procedure in part to help expedite his return to the ice. At the time of the surgery, Jones was hoping to be back in time for a playoff run with an expected recovery time of eight to 10 weeks. He underwent his surgery Feb. 11 after suffering a sprain and hairline fracture of his right ankle three days earlier in a game against Colorado. Bjorkstrand suffered the same injury to his left ankle in a Feb. 20 game against Philadelphia and underwent surgery March 3. As he got to week 10, Jones said things stagnated and he grew frustrated for a few weeks. That’s where Bjorkstrand came in, as the two broke up scar tissue together, strengthened their ankles and returned to the ice at roughly the same time. "The ankle wasn’t getting better as quickly as I wanted it to, so there were some tough days. But having him there was definitely a big help," Jones said. "As soon as week 15 hit, I felt like I was back to normal on the ice. You think you’re invincible with sports. It really was an eye-opener to watch this heal up slowly." Bjorkstrand referred to Jones as the test dummy, providing him insight into what his own recovery was going to look like. It helped, but it was no substitute for the work that would be required. "I could lean on him a little bit and see things he did maybe a little bit differently," Bjorkstrand said. "For me, it was nice to have him to ask a few questions what he could do. There’s only so much conversations can do, but having somebody there to talk to about it and share your thoughts on how your ankle is feeling (helps)." When the Blue Jackets opened their second training camp, both were full participants. Had the Jackets qualified for the postseason under the traditional schedule, it’s unlikely either would have been able to play. Jones is a four-time all-star, and Bjorkstrand led the team in goals at the time of his injury.

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"It’s been very well-talked about how well we’ve handled some of our injuries, but we were in a tough way there when Jonesy went down and Oliver went down," coach John Tortorella said. "You could see us sputtering there." Now it’s full-speed ahead for two players who will resume their significant roles in the opening-round series against Toronto. "I didn’t expect to be able to come back and play playoff hockey, so it’s exciting and I’m ready to go," Bjorkstrand said.

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The Athletic / What the *&#% did he say? In quiet rinks, NHL games might have added color By Aaron Portzline – July 18, 2020

COLUMBUS, — It didn’t take long for European soccer leagues to recognize the perils of playing in empty stadiums. In the first week of Germany’s Bundesliga, Rune Jarstein let loose an expletive-filled tirade heard ’round the world after getting blasted with a shot to his groin. Then, after the English Premier League got started, there were complaints from viewers when players’ “industrial” language made it onto broadcasts. The NHL has taken note. Because of the global COVID-19 pandemic, the 24 teams that get to resume the 2019-20 season will do so in empty arenas in Edmonton and Toronto, the two hub cities, beginning Aug. 1. To this point, the “sounds of the game” have been the “ping” of the puck off the post, the thud of a big hit in the corner and the deafening blare of the goal horn. But hockey fans may hear another side of the game without screaming fans to muffle the chatter, barks and yaps at ice level. We may also hear coaches shouting line changes and working officials, and defensemen shouting signals when tracking pucks in the defensive zone, the desperate pleas of out-of-position players and much more. “This could be very educational for some people,” Blue Jackets captain Nick Foligno said. “I’ve been thinking about how some kid — a young hockey player, maybe — might hear something he’s never heard before and get a better understanding of how the game is played at this level, that kind of stuff. “But, yeah, I’m sure some guys’ mouths are gonna get them in trouble, right? There are a few guys I’m thinking of right now who are in trouble, absolutely.” The NHL is planning to pump artificial crowd noise into its broadcasts, both at the national (Sportsnet and NBC) and regional sports network levels, two sources told The Athletic on Wednesday. (The fake crowd noise will not be heard in the arenas.) Broadcasters also will be able to run the games on a short delay — two, five or seven seconds — allowing them to “bleep” out any expletives. But with up to 10 “effect” microphones at ice level (one on each goal, one on each end of the two blue lines and one atop the glass in each corner), there’s a strong chance some tender ears listening from home will be offended. Minnesota winger Zach Parise (11) tangles with Ottawa center Colin White during a game in October. (Marc DesRosiers / USA Today) “I would imagine those words are still going to fly,” Minnesota Wild forward Zach Parise said. “I think once we start, as weird as it’s going to be with an empty arena, in our minds, we are still playing playoff hockey. There’s still going to be that intensity and that competitiveness between teams.

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“You might not see it in the first period because everybody is feeling it out. But then all of a sudden it’s going to get back to normal. And I don’t think guys are going to censor themselves out there.” It’s not just profanities, of course. “There’s a lot of chatter that happens on the ice that TV or fans don’t ever hear,” Blue Jackets forward Nathan Gerbe said. “It could be a really fun perspective for fans to hear. I mean, some of it is legitimately funny.” One of Gerbe’s former coaches remembered an opposing player shouting pregame at Gerbe to “stand for the national anthem, Gerbe! Stand up for it!” Gerbe, the shortest skater in NHL history, was already standing. Former Columbus enforcer Jared Boll was one of the pre-eminent yappers of his era. Once, when a rookie asked Boll to fight — “Hey, you wanna fuckin’ go, Boller?” — he backed out, acted disappointed and said sternly: “Ask me nicely!” “Will you please fight me, Boller?” “Sure thing.” These interactions have taken place for all the world to see. But the volume in the building has kept them mostly a secret, unless an NHL player is mic’d up in advance of a game. “There are going to be tons of incidents of guys talking too loud or saying certain things,” Wild forward Ryan Donato said. “It gets pretty intense, and sometimes the (expletives) fly. If fans could hear the full audio behind everything — it could be cool for some people, but for other people … “I hope they can figure it out so that not everything is out there. There are going to be some funny incidents, for sure.” NHL great Keith Tkachuk had a roaring laugh earlier this week thinking about some of his contemporaries playing in an empty building. Matthew Barnaby and Dallas Drake came to mind first, he said. Hall of Fame defenseman Chris Chelios, who played long enough to be a legend in two generations, was always a world-class smack talker, said longtime NHL enforcer Jody Shelley, now a broadcaster with the Blue Jackets. The on-ice conversations back then were far more profane, personal and outrageous, Tkachuk said. “The entertainment value back then would have been ridiculous,” Tkachuk said. “Back then, you could probably say a lot more than you can say now. There’s a whole lot of guys who don’t really say anything now. “You’re going to hear coaches, for sure. You’re going to hear players, and you’re going to hear a lot of things that you’re not used to hearing, especially on TV. I’m not sure how they’re going to do this, but, yeah, they’d better be on a delay. “Some of these rivalry games are going to be really fun.” Tkachuk’s son, Matthew, will be playing in the tournament with the Calgary Flames.

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“I’ll talk to Matthew and let him know that he should go about it like we can hear everything,” Tkachuk said. “That way he can keep it clean for his mum’s sake.” Shelley spends several games each season watching from ice level between the two benches for Fox Sports Ohio. “It’d be fun to have the crowd in for some of that banter, it really would,” he said. Shelley joked that the NHL could play only the early games with a delay but let everything go for the games that start later in the evening. Or they could simulcast the game on two channels — one for families, one for adults — much like ESPN did with “The Last Dance.” “Guys need to watch their mouths a little bit,” he said, “but when you’re in the heat of the battle, in pressure situations, there are going to be some moments where it’s beyond PG or PG-13. You’re definitely going to hear some stuff that might surprise you, even on cable TV.” The chirping before faceoffs can be intense. The trading of blows and “f— yous!” after a puck stoppage get nasty. The messages that coaches deliver to players can be eye-opening. Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella once berated winger Brandon Saad on the bench for his lackadaisical play during the playoffs, a one-way conversation that was caught on TV and easily understood. “When are you going to show up?” Tortorella barked. “I’ve been waiting for you to show up for two years!” Tortorella may have as much to worry about as any of the Blue Jackets. His temper often gets the best of him, and his voice often reverberates around an empty arena during difficult practices. And yet Tortorella seems less concerned than anybody that something he says in the heat of the moment might find its way to an unsuspecting living room during Columbus’ qualifying-round series versus Toronto. “I really don’t give a shit, quite honestly,” Tortorella said. “I’m not even thinking about it. I’m sure there are going to be moments where it’s really different at first, but I think once we get going, it’s going to be business as usual.” OK, parents and puritans, you’ve been warned. “This is going to be unique for everybody,” Tkachuk said. “The players will have to adjust. The fans at home will have to adjust. But that’s fine. We all just want to see hockey.”

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Columbus Dispatch / Blue Jackets slowly turning attention toward Maple Leafs By Adam Jardy – July 19, 2020

These days, the Blue Jackets have no shortage of issues demanding their attention. After a layoff of almost four months, Monday’s return to full training camp began the process of getting in game shape with the start of a qualifying-round playoff series against Toronto looming Aug. 2. In the interim, there are depth-chart battles to be waged, injuries to be monitored and systems and reflexes that need retuned. And all of that comes against the looming backdrop that is the COVID-19 pandemic, one that has forced NHL teams to adapt to ongoing procedures and quarantines designed to, hopefully, allow the league to safely resume action. So with so much to focus on already, when do the Maple Leafs enter the equation? "We’re thinking about them," coach John Tortorella said Tuesday after the second day of training camp. "We have video ready. We did a little bit of concept today within our warm-up and a couple other drills based on Toronto as far as what we’d like to do against them. We’re talking about that." Like many things, it will be a gradual build-up through camp. The first three days were geared primarily toward getting players back on the ice, getting some puck touches and easing into playing together. Two days of scrimmaging were set to follow, with an eye on recreating a full game-day experience — albeit one without fans, obviously — early during week two. Prior to the scrimmages, Tortorella said the coaching staff might start showing tape of the Maple Leafs to highlight some things the Blue Jackets might want to do when the series begins. "The most important thing is getting back our game, defending and stuff like that," defenseman David Savard said. Seth Jones, one of the team’s alternate captains, likened getting back to the team’s style of play after a lengthy layoff to riding a bike again. The Blue Jackets know how they have to play, he said, and realize that effort and defense have to lead the way against the high-powered offense Toronto will bring. Tortorella talked at length about doing the dirty work, playing above the puck and reiterating the staples that allowed the Jackets to overcome a lengthy list of injuries and remain in playoff contention. In a way, it’s not dissimilar to last year’s first-round challenge against Tampa Bay, although Jones declined to compare the two teams. The Blue Jackets had allowed the third-fewest goals when the season was paused, while Toronto had scored the third-most goals. "It’s just buying into how we play the game and being mentally sharp," he said. "We’re a team that prides itself on not cheating on that side of the puck or giving up plays defensively for the sake of creating offense." Jones’ point about being mentally sharp was shared by Tortorella, who said the focus regarding the Toronto series has to be more inward than external. "It’s got to be about how we play," he said. "We feel we have a system that the guys are comfortable with that gives us the best chance of winning hockey games. We’ll talk about tendencies for Toronto and

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Columbus Dispatch / Blue Jackets must maintain defensive edge By Brian Hedger – July 19, 2020

It took more than two months, but the Blue Jackets became one of the NHL’s stingiest teams after finding their top defensive gear in mid-December. They frustrated opponents with poke checks, blocked a lot of shots, got some great goaltending and shut down odd-man rushes by sticking to a mantra of "staying above the puck" in the offensive zone. The problem is the four months that have passed since the NHL froze the 2019-20 season March 12 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The league’s 24-team return format doesn’t include two months to shake off rust, providing just two weeks of training camp that started Monday to get ready. Is that enough time for the Blue Jackets to reach their defensive peak before facing the high-scoring Toronto Maple Leafs in Game 1 of the qualifying round Aug. 2 at Scotiabank Arena? They’re banking on it. "I don’t think it should take a whole lot of time," Blue Jackets defenseman Seth Jones said. "This is the identity we’ve had over the course of a few years now, and I think it’s just buying into how we play the game and being mentally sharp." The coach who helped forged that gritty identity agrees. "It’s a mindset," said Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella, whose smothering defensive setup sparked a first-round sweep of the heavily favored last season. "It’s a willingness to do it. You look at Toronto, they’re filled right through their lines, as far as offensive people, very similar as our first-round opponent last year in Tampa. We have got to decide to have the proper mindset and do the dirty work and just the mental part of it, as far as being above the puck all the time." If words are any indication, his team is on the same page. "We want to get right back to it," center Boone Jenner said of the Jackets’ defensive approach. "It just starts with our mindset, getting back to that mindset that we had and what makes us a successful team. The quicker we can find that game, the better off we are that way. So we’re just trying to find that as quick as we can here." Remembering it and executing it are different tasks, of course, but no team in the league mastered both this season like Columbus. The Jackets patrolled large amounts of ice by working as a contiguous unit. They stuck to a disciplined, selfless style in all three zones, and the result was an impressive rise from 11 points out of a playoff spot into postseason contention in a matter of weeks. And that was amid a slew of injuries that led to a league-high 420 man-games lost. In 70 games, the Jackets allowed 197 even-strength scoring chances — second in the NHL, according to The Point Hockey, an advanced stat-driven hockey site — and they ranked first with just 22 even- strength goals allowed. Columbus also held opponents to league-leading numbers in goals allowed per game (2.20) and rush-goals allowed per game (0.41).

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They’ll need to strive for numbers like those again in Toronto, because the Maple Leafs’ roster is filled with talent — including star forwards John Tavares, , Mitch Marner and . According to The Point Hockey’s series breakdown, Toronto finished fourth in the NHL by scoring 3.16 goals per game and led the league by averaging 6:54 per game in offensive-zone puck possession. "If we get lazy and cheat a little bit and stay under the puck and hope we get it back in the offensive zone and try to score those type of goals, we’re going to be in trouble, because this team is too good offensively," Tortorella said. "It’s not a physical skill. It’s a mental skill. That’s what (we) bought into against Tampa last year, and hopefully it’ll be back here this year." The challenge is doing it well in a hurry, because the qualifying round is a sprint. "We jump right into the fire," forward Cam Atkinson said. "It’s not a best-of-seven. It’s a best-of-five, so it’s whoever is really on top of their game is going to win — and whoever comes out with speed and is all on the same page. Everyone’s starting from zero, right?"

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Columbus Dispatch / Josh Anderson added to Blue Jackets’ camp roster By Brian Hedger – July 20, 2020

The power forward hasn’t played since Dec. 14 in Ottawa and is more than four months into recovery from shoulder surgery in March. He didn’t skate with either of the Blue Jackets’ practice groups Sunday, but Josh Anderson still provided a lift to those hoping to see him play in the postseason. The Blue Jackets added the fast-skating power forward to their roster, which increased the number of players in training camp to 34 (four goalies, 30 skaters). Anderson, 26, skated on his own prior to the first of two practice sessions and continues to rehab his surgically repaired left shoulder off the ice. He hasn’t played since injuring the shoulder in a fight Dec. 14 in Ottawa that ended his season after just 26 games. He had surgery March 2 to repair a posterior labral tear in the shoulder, began an estimated recovery of four to six months and is now continuing that effort in Columbus. "No information at all," said Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella, who was asked about Anderson after the practices. "I have no idea. I haven’t even talked to Josh. He’s in Phase 3 with us here and rehabbing. I have no idea where it’s at." Anderson reached the four-month point July 2 and will be five months out from the surgery Aug. 2, when the Jackets begin a five-game series in the qualifying round of the Toronto hub against the host Maple Leafs – his favorite team as a kid. It’s unclear whether he’ll be ready, since injury information is even more secretive than usual per league policy, but it could be a huge boost for the Jackets if Anderson plays in the postseason. His combination of size (6 feet 3, 222 pounds), speed, strength, skill and toughness is rare in the NHL, which has progressively gotten smaller and faster, and he’s a lot to handle when at the top of his game. Anderson wasn’t at the top of his game most of the season, though, partially due to an undisclosed upper-body injury that happened in the second game of the season and kept him out nearly two weeks (seven games). He finished a disappointing regular season with just one goal and three assists after setting career highs in 2018-19 with 27 goals, 20 assists, 47 points, a plus-25 plus/minus rating and 214 hits. If Anderson can return for the start of postseason, the Blue Jackets will have only veteran forward Brandon Dubinsky (wrist) left on injured reserve – a list that included as many as 11 names at one point this season. "The break, nobody wanted this to happen, but it certainly helped this team get some guys healthy," Tortorella said. "We’re really excited about that opportunity to play with a full team."

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Columbus Dispatch / Healthy Oliver Bjorkstrand shows scoring touch in first week of Columbus Blue Jackets’ camp By Brian Hedger – July 20, 2020

Oliver Bjorkstrand’s actions are backing up his words a week into the Blue Jackets’ playoff training camp. After recovering from March 3 ankle surgery, the 25-year-old forward has scored a goal in each of the camp’s first two scrimmages. He’s also scooting around like he did before suffering the left ankle injury near the end of regulation in a 4-3 overtime loss to the on Feb. 20. "We’re not really having problems with it," Bjorkstrand said Tuesday, the second day of camp. "I’m feeling good on the ankle, and I’m comfortable where I’m at right now out there on the ice and the way I’m feeling out there, so that’s just a positive." It’s especially encouraging as the Blue Jackets prepare for a five-game series against the high-scoring Toronto Maple Leafs in the qualifying round of the NHL’s 24-team return format to finish the season. Despite his injury, which caused Bjorkstrand to miss the Jackets’ final seven games prior to the league’s COVID-19 pause, he still led the team with 21 goals and was fourth in overall scoring with 36 points. Bjorkstrand had become a key member of the Jackets’ top-six forwards, skating at right wing on the top line. Starting this camp, he’s playing with rookie left winger Alexandre Texier and center Pierre-Luc Dubois on a line that could either be a dangerous checking group or a top-six offensive threat. The first two scrimmages showed why, as Bjorkstrand scored his team’s goal in a 1-1 tie Thursday and followed up by scoring the first goal in his group’s 2-1 victory Friday. Double trouble The Jackets are again experimenting with putting their top two defensemen on the top power-play unit. Zach Werenski and Seth Jones are going through power-play work together, only this time with Werenski quarterbacking things from the point and Jones taking his hard shot to the left-wing wall. That’s a change from previous experiments with both in the top group, when the roles were flipped. There are no guarantees that it will look this way going against Toronto, but it might, especially in a five- game series where the pressure to win is immediate. "We’re going to get them on the ice as much as we can," coach John Tortorella said of his top defensive duo. "We still haven’t made our final decisions as far as what our groups are going to look like, but we certainly want to take a look at it early in the camp." Local honor The NHL released its three finalists for the Willie O’Ree Community Hero Award on Friday, and one of them, John Haferman, is a familiar name around the Columbus hockey scene. Haferman is the executive director of the Columbus Club, which aims to help kids from some of the area’s more diverse and underserved populations learn life and leadership skills through hockey. Over the past three decades, the club has worked with more than 30,000 kids, and Haferman has overseen the dispersal of more than $300,000 in scholarships. The O’Ree award, named after the NHL’s

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first Black player, is given annually to "an individual who, through the sport of hockey, has positively impacted his or her community, culture or society." O’Ree, who has attended Blue Jackets games in the past, has worked with Haferman and the Columbus Ice Hockey Club in years past to promote diversity within the sport. Gerbe still pushing Nathan Gerbe scored the lone goal for the Blue team in the scrimmage Friday, which was his first of the camp and caught Tortorella’s attention. "That line had a really good scrimmage," Tortorella said. "I’ll never put a guy in because he’s a guy I’m pulling for. He’s going to have to earn it, but that guy … he’s an easy guy to watch and get excited about."

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Columbus Dispatch / Columbus Blue Jackets’ Zach Werenski elevates his game By Brian Hedger – July 20, 2020

The mustache, on its own, would have been a conversation starter. Zach Werenski had already grown one last fall for "Movember," so growing it back during the NHL’s pandemic pause would have been enough to prompt questions in the Blue Jackets’ first week of training camp in preparation for the conclusion of the 2019-20 season. Werenski, however, took it one step further and combined his ’stache with a full-on "business up front, party in the back" mullet hairstyle straight out of the 1980s. "What’s there to defend?" said Werenski, a star defenseman in the NHL who turns just 23 today. "I like it, I don’t know. During quarantine, I got kind of bored, so I got the mustache going. I also let my hair go, and probably about a month ago, maybe three weeks ago, my hair was really long … "So, I was just going to get it cut and I just said, ‘Screw it, I’m going to get a mullet.’ And, uh, here we are." Indeed, here we are. Along the pathway of an NHL career, we’re still on the first half of the front nine with Werenski, who has only played four seasons, all with the Blue Jackets. Despite marked improvement defensively and 20 goals to lead NHL defensemen this season, there are reminders that he’s still a young guy. One is shaved into the sides of his head, another lives under his nose, and the only ones he actually cares about happen on the ice. It’s an errant pass here, a missed shot there or a blown coverage that leads to an opponent goal. "I still think there’s a lot of room for me to grow defensively," Werenski said. "It’s not going to happen overnight. It’s not going to happen one season to the next. I think it’s just making progress every year, and I think I took a step forward this year." He’s not the only one who feels that way. "More and more, he’s becoming a complete player," said Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella, who plans to lean heavily on Werenski and fellow defenseman Seth Jones in a five-game series against the Toronto Maple Leafs during the NHL’s qualifying round for the playoffs. "I think he’s found himself comfortable now in understanding what’s expected of him away from the puck, but he’s also gotten more aggressive with the puck, so you know … that’s still a young guy we’re talking about here. He’s still developing as a player." Despite his early success, Werenski has yet to reach what he could become. There’s plenty of room to grow between the top of his mullet and the ceiling of his potential. Werenski has already twice set the franchise record for single-season goals by a defenseman. He and Jones, his All-Star defensive partner, each scored 16 goals in 2017-18, and Werenski shattered that mark in just 63 games this season. And if he’s able to score 20 goals during a pandemic-shortened season that included a shoulder injury which cost him seven games, what is he capable of doing in a full season without injuries?

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"There’s a lot more I think I could get to, a higher offensive ceiling I can get to," Werenski said. "It’s been a work in progress for me to be a 200-foot player. It doesn’t happen easily. It’s a lot of hard work. But I’m definitely working toward growing (as a player) and hopefully be really good on both sides of the puck." He made a lot of progress this season, helping the Blue Jackets overcome a mountain of injuries not to mention a raft of free-agent defections to stay in the playoff picture. After signing a three-year contract extension in September worth $5 million a season, Werenski showed that Columbus may have two Norris Trophy candidates in the years ahead and they happen to be defense partners. "I try to take things from him every day that can make me better," said Jones, who is a Norris candidate at age 25. "And he’s a few years younger than me, and I’m still doing that, whether it’s in practice or games,. "Some of the things he does offensively, he’s so gifted. Especially when we started getting injured this year, he was a guy that we leaned on offensively, and he delivered. … Without him, I don’t know if we’d be in the same position." As for the mullet/mustache combo? "I really don’t know what to tell you," Werenski said, laughing. "It’s just what I’ve got going on right now."

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Sportsnet.ca / Quick Shifts: How Tortorella is preparing for Keefe's Leafs By - Luke Fox – July 19, 2020

A quick mix of the things we gleaned from the week of hockey, serious and less so, and rolling four lines deep. Only 14 days till puck drop. 1. Way back in November, when secured his promotion and his world changed overnight, the Toronto Maple Leafs head coach received a nice text message from the man who’d coached him through two thirds of his own NHL playing career. At the turn of the century, John Tortorella made it tough for a young Keefe to earn minutes on the Tampa Bay Lightning, an emerging contender. Hard lessons and keen observations left enough of an imprint on Keefe, 39, that he referred to Tortorella as “the foundation” of his coaching methodology after his first NHL victory. “When I think back on the coaches I played for, I was very fortunate to be a part of the Tampa organization at a time when they were looking to rebuild and find an identity and grow,” Keefe said. “I didn’t get to play on that [2004] Stanley Cup championship team in Tampa, but I was there through the process of that team growing from one year to the next to the next, eventually to the point where it was too good for me to play on.” In the lead-up to a showdown against his former teacher, Keefe said this week that, aside from cribbing some of Torts’ infamous training camp habits, the greatest aspect he gleaned from the five-time Jack Adams finalist is how Tortorella handled young, elite talent. How he got the best out of Vincent Lecavalier and Brad Richards, players of Keefe’s age. “He was a big part of shaping their careers and having success with them,” Keefe said. Fitting. The Leafs’ success versus Tortorella’s Blue Jackets will swing much on how Keefe motivates and deploys his young, elite stars in Toronto. Tortorella — a proponent of doing the dirty work — seemingly rubbed off in Keefe’s approach to the pause. It only took the rookie coach one episode of Tiger King to conclude there were better ways to spend his time, and he returned to binge-watching his own club’s game footage. “We didn’t really take much time off,” Keefe says. “We were spending enough time with our families, but we had regular meetings with our coaching staff, two to three times a week through Zoom, and everybody had a lot of projects to get done. Just really impressed with how guys stayed focused and stayed hungry to find solutions and find answers and study opponents.” Those cram sessions focused primarily on Toronto’s defensive woes, and Keefe is ushering in a series of tweaks to the Leafs’ systems in all three zones during camp. Conversely, the veteran Tortorella took a long breather when the season halted on March 12. He left the video room dark. “They told us we’re not playing, and so I stopped thinking about it,” Tortorella says. “I kind of went about our business as a family. We have other interests in our family we did.

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“Everybody kept calling me: ‘You losing your mind?’ I said, ‘No. I have no control over this. I’m going to enjoy the part of our life that sometimes I miss when we’re playing hockey.’ But now that we’re back in it, when I saw the smoke, I could tell my mind changed right away and started getting a little itchy.” While Keefe will roll out some fresh tactics, Tortorella isn’t asking his players to treat the Leafs much differently from a strategic standpoint. In fact, Torts suggests he won’t even show his team video of the Leafs and discuss specific opponents until they get across the border. Most of his X’s and O’s will be scribbled between the ears. “You gotta be really careful. It’s not so much thinking about Toronto,” Tortorella cautions. “It’s going to be how we play. We’re not making a lot of adjustments into our play. We feel we have a system that the guys are comfortable with that gives us a best chance to win hockey games.” Tortorella believes victory will come from a mindset, a willingness, a commitment to defending the house. “You will you look at Toronto, they’re filled right through their lines as far as offensive people — very similar as our first-round opponent last year in Tampa. We have got to decide to have the proper mindset and do the dirty work and the mental part of it as far as being above the puck all the time. We talk about it every day,” Tortorella says. “If we get lazy and cheat a little bit, stay under the puck and hope we get it back in the offensive zone, start trying to score those type of goals, we’re going to be in trouble. Because this team is too good offensively that we’re playing against. “It’s not a physical skill; it’s a mental skill. And that’s what they bought into against Tampa last year.” So, we ask Keefe, are you ready for a chess match with Tortorella? “Yeah, I’m ready,” Keefe replied. “One thing with Torts is, he’s an ultimate competitor. I like to believe I’m a competitor at the same time. And I think the greatest way to show someone respect is to make sure you’re ready to compete. That will probably about all you’ll hear from me in terms of talking about Torts and our past.” 2. Some aggressive play-in round predictions, half of them sweeps: 3. Kyle Dubas let his feelings be known on Auston Matthews’ positive COVID-19 test being reported during the pause. “I feel that it’s a private situation, and Auston did not volunteer any information for public consumption,” Dubas told Donnovan Bennett on Tim and Sid. “And it wasn’t in competition, so he wasn’t missing time or games with us. And I didn’t really feel that it was something that needed to be publicly reported, respectfully. “I know in different sports, other athletes — and different walks of life, whether it’s actors or musicians — have come forward with their different diagnosis as positive or negative. My feeling is, it’s a personal, private thing, and it wasn’t impacting his ability to perform for our team. And if he wanted it private, it should’ve been left private, as it has for every other NHL player.” Of the 43 announced positive cases the NHL is aware of, Matthews had remained the only statistic with a face until Edmonton’s Caleb Jones offered up that info to reporters Friday. (Like Matthews, Jones said he’s unsure where he got the virus and that he was asymptomatic.)

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While it was important to the players’ union that test results remain anonymous if they were to return this summer, the level of speculation around those “not fit to play” is only about to rise. It’s one thing for Johnny Gaudreau to skate in a separate group during the first week of camp and watch (squashed) rumours zip around about his level of fitness or the organization’s happiness with the player. It’ll be another thing if a star player is conspicuously absent in the middle of a series. 4. The Maple Leafs’ projected Game 1 starting lines, barring injury or someone (*coughs* Nick Robertson) stealing a job through his performance in the final four intrasquad scrimmages: Regarding the defence pairings, Keefe says he likes the lefty-righty symmetry. Makes sense considering the aggressive nature of the Blue Jackets’ forecheck. You want the defenders hustling back to make puck retrievals on their comfortable side. Smooth breakouts will be critical. Keefe also noted that they also had training with Travis Dermott to his right during Phase 2 practices and that combination remains an option. 5. , ruled not fit to play at the outset of Phase 3, practiced alone on a separate sheet of ice at the Leafs’ practice facility Friday. With so little time before do-or-die action and conditioning at a premium, it’s nearly impossible to see how players already on the fringes of a roster can squeak into the starting lineup if they’ve already suffered a setback. 6. Some under-the-radar news from a busy week. Pavel Datsyuk, who was contemplating his future in the game, decided to re-up for another season with Yekaterinburg Automobilist of the KHL, reuniting with former Red Wings assistant coach Bill Peters. The Magic Man scored just five times in 2019-20, his lowest total as a pro. He turns 42 next week. Peters will have to find a new captain. Leading scorer and Winnipeg native Nigel Dawes, 35, left Automobilist as a free agent and signed with AK Bars Kazan this week. 7. Understandably, some of the finer points of the CBA have been glossed over in the jubilation that the document exits at all and we are less than two weeks from gorging our eyeballs on hockey TV’s version of a James Bond marathon. While undoubtedly the flat cap won’t do 2020’s unrestricted free agents any favours — “Whatever free agency looks like, it’s probably not going to be as good as it would have been,” Toronto’s Tyson Barrie acknowledges — the removal of the seven-day courting period should be seen as a win for the players (and their agents) more so than the executives. Under the 2013-to-2019 setup, if a nudge-wink deal with a desired UFA couldn’t be reached within the window, the GM could methodically make offers to his second or third target without fear of the player having already committing to the competition. “I’ve had teams offer five years, $20 million, and 10 minutes later say, ‘OK, six years, $28 million’ in the [pre-courting-period] days. Panic, desperation, a little bit of paranoia. These guys would be falling all over each other, one team outbidding another,” prominent player agent Allan Walsh once told me. The courting period had allowed GMs a breath of sanity. Outside of the elite UFA (see: the John Tavares pitch meetings of 2018), any panic shifted to the players’ side.

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“Teams [were] going into July 1 with their deals in hand,” Walsh said of the previous CBA. “The players are pretty much signed by the end of the interview period, and July 1 is pretty much a formality as opposed to a frenzy. And the word frenzy is a great description of what used to happen on July 1.” Yay. Frenzy should be what we witness on Oct. 9 (or seven days after the Stanley Cup is hoisted). 8. Marco Rossi is the prospect I’m predicting will go higher in hindsight artists’ 2020 redrafts than the actual 2020 NHL Draft. Back when the league was angling for a June draft, the 18-year-old Austrian announced he’d play professionally in 2020-21. If the NHL wouldn’t have him, he’d suit up in Europe. No more juniors. Well, in light of the draft getting postponed until fall, Rossi is playing the waiting game and won’t be signing a potential contract with the Swiss League’s Zurich Lions. “The risk of injury is too high,” Michael Rossi, Marco’s father, told the Vorarlberger Nachrichten. “For us, it is a matter of waiting.” That said, Rossi has been invited to start practising with the Lions, Matthews’ alma mater, beginning next month. 9. Hockey types get ripped for trotting out clichés, but the opening of camp gave us some nice one- liners: “We’re going to embrace the suck and dance in the rain.” — GM Julien BriseBois, on the Lightning mental approach to playoffs in a pandemic. “I would like to thank all the GMs for not choosing me in the draft because it allowed me to choose the team where I wanted to play, that played my style of hockey and allowed me to be successful to begin with.” — Ted Lindsay Award finalist Artemi Panarin, dropping the mic. “I’m going to come home with the Cup.” — Nick Foligno, to his children. “We plan on being in there for a while.” — Travis Dermott, on why he’s bringing his guitar and a gaming system into the bubble. “Sometimes you think it’s your paperboy walking down the hall.” — Travis Green, on Quinn Hughes. “I really don’t give a s— quite honestly.” —John Tortorella, on the possibility of mics picking up profanity in empty rinks. 10. We have been reminded of the power of the almighty dollar. Seven years ago, Washington NFL club owner Dan Snyder told USA Today he would “NEVER” change the team’s offensive nickname: “You can use caps.” Look how quickly the tune changed after influential sponsors like FedEx and Nike threatened to yank their support. Here’s hoping this is a wake-up call to responsible leaders of other wealthy corporations that they can create positive change by choosing with whom to align their logo. 11. For hockey nerds, it’s fascinating seeing the tweaks coaches have been making during what is anything but a typical training camp. With just one exhibition game on deck, mimicking the expected playoff atmosphere has become a priority for some.

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Expecting some NBC East Coast matinee puck drops at 4 p.m., Jack Adams finalist Bruce Cassidy has been holding practice first thing in the morning and is looking at some 4 p.m. scrimmages. The Canucks invited media to observe from the upper bowl Thursday night as they followed up a 10:30 morning skate with a 7 p.m. instrasquad game to get the players and coaches accustomed to competing in the echoes. And the Maple Leafs are waging an intrasquad best-of-five series — complete with goal horns and MVP ballots — over the course of camp, pitting their shutdown defenders and No. 1 goalie against their top six forwards. (No more refs, though.) 12. Paul Hendrick, one of the classiest hockey guys to grip a microphone, didn’t know me from dirt. Rub scrum shoulders with a man long enough, however, and you get to talking. About Leafs and hockey, of course. Which hotels are good and which restaurants are close. But family, too. I can’t count the number of times he’d mutter an interesting six-degrees-of-separation fact about two players or suggest a telling stat that might be worth digging into. Sometimes, post-scrum, he’d tap you on the arm with his omnipresent Manilla folder, all Sharpied up with questions and notes he wanted to use, and say, “Good question.” It felt like someone else opening a door for you. What’s special is that my little story is not special at all. Everyone who knows Henny improves in his presence. The last few seasons, my press-box seat at home games has been immediately to the left of Paul’s, blessing me with front-row access to all the dad puns and strawberry Twizzlers a guy can handle. He’d poke fun at my inability to resist the first-intermission ice cream bars and my bottomless cup of coffee. Reporters observe. As the games unfolded, we’d discuss smart plays and brutal mistakes. Who was on that night? We’d help each other out if one of us had his nose down in a screen and missed a significant injury or line juggle. (It was also nice having Henny as a buffer in case Bob McGill, to Henny’s right, got angry. McGill has 1,766 career PIMs, surely a stat Hendrick knows by heart.) Then after the horn, all the reporters would hustle down to the dressing room and listen to Henny pose the first question. Leaders bat leadoff. Sad at the news Paul was leaving the press box, I sent him a note. “Good days moving forward can’t be taken for granted,” he replied, forever choosing the positive. Godspeed, Henny. You’ll be missed.

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Sportsnet.ca / Where the East's American play-in teams stand ahead of NHL restart By Ryan Dixon – July 20, 2020

The cornucopia of NHL hockey that’s less than two weeks away from landing on your screen figures to be a viewing experience similar to the early stages of NCAA ’s March Madness, with staggered games filling entire days. And, best of all, we’re actually getting two ‘Sweet 16s.’ As is always the case, the official four-round NHL playoff format will feature eight teams per conference hitting the ice with one championship goal. Before we get there, though, our appetizer is a preliminary round featuring 16 squads all hoping to advance to the main draw. Six of those teams are based in Canada and Sportsnet correspondents throughout the country have been reporting on their every stop and start during training camp 2.0. But what about the 10 teams coming north from the United States to hub cities Toronto and Edmonton for best-of-five preliminary- round series? In case you’ve lost track, here’s a quick refresher on what was up with those clubs when the hiatus hit and what’s front of mind as they embark on their series. We’ll start with the Eastern Conference today and examine the Western clubs Monday. From the Stanley Cup Qualifiers to the Stanley Cup Final, livestream every game of the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs, blackout-free, on Sportsnet NOW. No. 5 seed: The Penguins were reeling when play halted, having posted just three wins in their final 11 outings. That allowed in-state rivals Philadelphia to leapfrog them and pushed the Pens down into this pesky preliminary business. The good news for Pittsburgh is the fact Jake Guentzel — who had shoulder surgery right after Christmas and did not expect to return this season — is back skating on Sidney Crosby’s line. Guentzel was on a 42- goal pace when he went under the knife, so his presence is a huge injection into the lineup. Speaking of which, don’t forget trade-deadline addition Jason Zucker had 12 points in 15 games with Pittsburgh after coming over from Minnesota. The big Black and Yellow question, though, remains whether playoff-tested Matt Murray or breakout star Tristan Jarry will get the Game 1 start versus Montreal. While Jarry was performing like a Vezina candidate in the 2019 portion of the schedule, his play flattened out in the New Year. Both goalies started 15 games in 2020, with Jarry posting a .901 save percentage and Murray coming in at .905. No. 6 seed: The Canes are another outfit returning a monster player from injury. Star defenceman Dougie Hamilton broke his leg in January, but he’s back on the top pair with all-world partner Jaccob Slavin. Hamilton might not be operating at 100 per cent, but it’s hard to imagine he can’t help this team score some goals.

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COVID-19 has a way of making everything that happened before early March disappear from our brains, but who could forget the image of 42-year-old emergency goalie David Ayres stepping in on a Saturday night in Toronto and guiding the Canes to a 3-2 win? That outrageous evening happened on Feb. 22 and came about because both members of teams’ battery — Petr Mrazek and — had been sidelined with injuries. Ayres was one of five goalies the Canes were forced to use in the weeks before the hiatus, but both Mrazek and Reimer are good to go versus the now. No. 7 seed: The Islanders are pretty much devoid of any ‘wow’ factor, but underestimate Barry Trotz’s bunch at your peril. For the second straight post-John Tavares year, the Isles — who swept the Penguins in the first round last year — were in the thick of the playoff hunt coming down the home stretch. The Islanders’ shot metrics aren’t pretty, though they manage to suppress high-danger scoring chances just fine. That effort will get a boost with the return of defenceman Adam Pelech, who sustained an Achilles’ tendon injury in January. New York struggles to find the net, so it really needs its top two centres — leading point-getting Mathew Barzal and top goal-scorer Brock Nelson — to come through versus the . No. 9 seed: Columbus Blue Jackets Anyone out there especially curious about this club? The Toronto Maple Leafs’ preliminary round opponent was quietly one of the best stories in the NHL this season, competing for a playoff spot all year and defying doomsday predictions after Artemi Panarin, and Matt Duchene all skated away as free agents from Columbus 12 months ago. On top of that, the Jackets endured serious injury blows in the second half of the season, as defenceman Seth Jones went out with a broken ankle in early February, just weeks before Oliver Bjorkstrand was felled by the same injury. The loss of those players contributed to a 3-6-6 mark in the lead up to the hiatus, but both Jones and Bjorkstrand are ready to go. Bjorkstrand scored at a 35-goal pace this year, so his return is a huge boost to a club that netted fewer goals-per-game (2.57) than every club still playing and all but three in the league. The key for Columbus against the Leafs will be playing a stingy structure under Jack Adams-nominated coach John Tortorella and getting big saves from Elvis Merzlikins or Joonas Korpisalo. No. 10 seed: Florida Panthers. This counts as a real playoff appearance, right? If Columbus was the sneaky good story of the year, on the sly, Florida had to be one of the worst. After poaching Bobrovsky on the open market, it was the same ol’ stinky stuff in South Florida for most of the year. The Cats went 7-10-3 in February and March, so it’s not like they were pouring it on in pursuit of a playoff spot. Still, Bobrovsky was a completely different goalie in the second season versus the regular season last year with the Jackets, improving his save percentage by 25 points to .925 in 10 games versus the Tampa Bay Lightning and . Whether it’s with better play from the crease or more attention to detail from the five-man units, the Panthers have to find a way to cut down on goals-against. Florida surrendered 3.25 goals per game this

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year, worse than all but three teams in the NHL. That completely undermined the work of studs Aleksander Barkov and Jonathan Huberdeau — and a pretty good forward crew top to bottom — up front. No. 11 seed: New York Rangers A lot of things went right for the Rangers this year. Panarin turned in an MVP-calibre debut season, Mika Zibanejad led the league in goals per game (I swear, look it up), Adam Fox showed all kinds of promise as a freshman blue-liner and two goalies — Igor Shesterkin and Alexandar Georgiev — demonstrated long- term promise. Of course, the Rangers also have a third goalie in the mix named Henrik Lundqvist. Had the season played out under normal circumstances, Lundqvist would have seen his share of the crease, even if he was the third-best goalie on the team. (Shesterkin also sustained a rib fracture stemming from a car accident right before the trade deadline, so there was some crease time up for grabs). As it stands, there’s a good chance we’ve seen Lundqvist make his last stop for New York. And if Shesterkin — who posted a .932 save percentage in the only 12 games of his NHL career this season — can pick up where he left off, the Blueshirts could be a real wild card.

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