The Columbus Blue Jackets have lost another forward and another potential trade chip. Boone Jenner has undergone surgery to repair a broken finger and will miss approximately six weeks. That effectively ends his season, unless the Blue Jackets make a run down the stretch and creep into a playoff spot in the Central Division.
Jenner, who has one year remaining on his contract and carries a cap hit of $3.75MM, could have been an interesting trade chip if the Blue Jackets decided to sell at the upcoming deadline. He’s the second name that is now out of that conversation after Riley Nash was placed on injured reserve with a lower-body injury yesterday.
While Nash was perhaps more likely to get dealt given he is on an expiring contract, Jenner is a more important player to the Blue Jackets, playing 18 minutes a night as the team’s most reliable center. He has just eight goals and 17 points this season, a far cry from the 30-goal performance he registered as a 22-year-old in 2014-15, but sees more short-handed ice time than any other player on the team and is also a contributor on the powerplay. Even if he hasn’t been exceptionally effective, taking a piece that involved out of the lineup certainly won’t help the Blue Jackets as they look to go on that stretch run.
It is still possible that a team could acquire Jenner for next season, but more than likely this means he’ll remain with Columbus through Monday’s deadline.
This might all work out for CBJ, since they played better with all their Monsters call ups last year.