The injured list in Columbus has grown considerably this week already and today, another player has been added to it as the team announced (Twitter link) that center Boone Jenner has been placed on IR. He’s set to miss the next six weeks due to a fractured jaw suffered on Friday against St. Louis after being hit by a shot from teammate Ivan Provorov in the second period.
While the Blue Jackets have underachieved this season, Jenner is one of the few individual exceptions. He leads the team in goals with 13 while leading all forwards in points with 18 in 28 games. The captain had also gotten off to a nice start at the faceoff dot as his 55.6% success rate is the best of his career. Jenner also leads all Columbus forwards in ice time per game, logging 19:33 per night while playing in all situations.
Jenner joins defenseman Adam Boqvist (shoulder), goaltender Elvis Merzlikins (illness), and forward Cole Sillinger (upper body) as those who have been placed on injured reserve this week alone. Veteran blueliner Damon Severson and center Jack Roslovic are also on there as well. All told, they have nearly $23MM on IR now.
All of a sudden, Columbus’ center depth has taken another big hit. That should open up an even bigger role for Adam Fantilli who has done well since moving back to his natural spot down the middle. Head coach Pascal Vincent will need to decide if he wants to put Patrik Laine back at center (once he returns from an illness) to cover for Jenner to allow their younger centers to ease in on the wing. Alternatively, Kent Johnson and Dmitri Voronkov are both natural centers while Justin Danforth (who has briefly played there this season) could also shift over.
The Blue Jackets are back in action on Sunday against Florida. With Jenner’s placement, they have an open roster spot and it wouldn’t be surprising to see that spot filled in time for that game, either by a recall or someone activation from IR.
That team is cursed.