Blue Jackets Place Erik Gudbranson On IR, Recall Jet Greaves On Emergency Basis

The Columbus Blue Jackets have made a pair of roster moves after placing forward Dylan Gambrell on waivers early this afternoon. The team announced they placed defenseman Erik Gudbranson on injured reserve while recalling goaltender Jet Greaves on an emergency basis.

There should be another corresponding roster move before the team’s game tomorrow night against the Buffalo Sabres to give more context to the method of today’s madness. Columbus is down to 12 healthy forwards, seven healthy defensemen, and three goaltenders. Brian Hedger of the Columbus Dispatch reported regular netminder Elvis Merzlikins is dealing with some early-season fatigue which better explains Greaves’ call-up in the crease.

Columbus already has a reasonable in-house candidate to replace the lost minutes of Gudbranson in the form of top prospect, David Jiříček. The young Czech defenseman hasn’t factored into any games yet this season for the Blue Jackets but did score one goal and 10 points in 43 games a year ago. He’s fared much better in the AHL up to this point in his career but consistent playing time at the NHL level could dramatically improve his development.

Aside from defense, nothing should change much in Columbus’ lineup without Gambrell. The organization has the benefit of being at Nationwide Arena for the next three games making a forward call-up from Cleveland that much easier. The team won’t have to travel outside of Ohio until October 26th when they take on the Nashville Predators so they could take a couple of days before they need to make another call-up from the AHL.