According to a team release, the Columbus Blue Jackets have recalled defenseman Gavin Bayreuther from the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters.
The move comes after rookie defenseman Nick Blankenburg left last night’s game with an upper-body injury, speculated to be an injury to his left arm. The 24-year-old undrafted free agent signing out of the University of Michigan had two points through his first four games this season and had even earned a look on the team’s top pairing alongside Zach Werenski. His brief emergence pushed another young defender, Adam Boqvist, out of the lineup. Boqvist had been held off the scoresheet in three games this season and averaged just a few ticks over 16 minutes per game, though.
Bayreuther comes up from Cleveland to serve as the team’s seventh defenseman, suggesting Blankenburg may miss some time. Blankenburg has not been placed on injured reserve, but there’s no pressing need to as the team was carrying 22 out of a maximum of 23 players anyways. The 28-year-old Bayreuther has three assists in his first three games in Cleveland and is in the second year of a two-year, $750,000 cap hit deal which is a one-way contract for 2022-23. Bayreuther spent the majority of the 2021-22 season on the Jackets’ active roster, usually as a healthy scratch, registering eight assists in 43 games.