The Columbus Blue Jackets announced a pair of roster moves this morning, placing defenseman Nick Blankenburg on IR retroactive to October 23rd and in a related move, goaltender Joonas Korpisalo has been activated off of IR. Korpisalo will not immediately join Columbus, however, as he’s been assigned to the Cleveland Monsters of the AHL on a conditioning assignment. Columbus next plays tomorrow afternoon in Newark against the New Jersey Devils. Cleveland plays this evening, but doesn’t play again until next weekend.
Blankenburg, 24, suffered an upper-body injury last Sunday in a game against the New York Rangers, appearing to injure his left arm. The defenseman tried to play through the injury, but left early in the second period. Blankenburg is considered day-to-day, and was practicing today in a non-contact jersey, reports BlueJackets.com’s Jeff Svoboda. Undrafted by an NHL team, Blankenburg spent four seasons at the University of Michigan, capped off by a stellar senior season in which he scored 14 goals to go with 15 assists in just 38 games. After the season, he turned pro, signing with Columbus and making his NHL debut on April 13th of this year. To date, he has two goals and three assists in 11 career games, all with Columbus.
Korpisalo has yet to play this season while recovering from season-ending hip surgery on March 24th. The 28-year-old has made his mark with the Blue Jackets, establishing himself as one of the league’s best backup goaltenders. However, he did struggle last year, recording an .877 save-percentage and 4.10 goals-against average in 22 games. Despite the struggle, Columbus showed their faith in the veteran by signing him to a one-year $1.3MM contract extension this spring. Once healthy, Korpisalo can look to rebound from his poor performance and injury issues of 2021-22 while fighting for playing time alongside starting netminder Elvis Merzlikins, who has struggled himself to start this season.