Columbus, Ohio - The injury situation with the Blue Jackets has moved past the catastrophic stage with the club placing center Artem Anisimov on Injured Reserve with a torn triceps muscle.
He was injured Saturday in the 2-1 loss in Nashville and will be out for two-to-three months. This is the second injury for Anisimov after seven games earlier this season with a concussion.
"Obviously, we're losing a good player," said bench boss Todd Richards as the hits keep coming. "I don't want to make it sound trivial, but we've been dealing with it all year. It's another one that we'll just have to try and fight through."
Anisimov went 2-4-6 in 16 games this season. He's just the latest in a long line of walking wounded in Columbus. The team has been decimated at the center position all year.
"Up front, it's the most important position. Just because there's so much demand on that position... you lose three guys that you really rely on to kill penalties, three guys for faceoffs. Losing another center... we'll have to deal with it."
This could be construed as demoralizing to the team, but at this point, it almost seems as if they've become desensitized to something like this happening. That's not to say that they don't care; they do. But, it reached the point where they have put those feeling into a box that will only be looked at later.
"I don't think we're demoralized," said Richards. "I thought in the morning skate we had good life today. I thought we had good life in the Nashville game, at least in the meetings leading up to the game. So, I don't think it's demoralizing. Maybe the players are getting a little immune to it, too, as far as the injuries because it's been constant and consistent."
Richards also put to rest the notion that center Brandon Dubinsky might make his season debut tonight against the Florida Panthers. "He's day-to-day. There's no chance he's paying tonight."
The same, but different
The Blue Jackets have found themselves looking up from the depths of the standings before. As it seems so often with them, there is no easy way to go about having a worry-free season. They've reminded themselves that they beat the odds before, although the odds this year grow taller by the minute.
"Absolutely, we do," said forward Nick Foligno. "And we know we can do it. It's just that you never want to put yourself in the position of having to play playoff hockey for four months. That's the part that we're disappointed in. We had expectations of coming out and having a real good start."
"But, that's not the reality. So now, it's making sure that we find our game. We know that we can crawl back into this thing. That's the attitude that we have to have."
Foligno knows that to do that, they have to keep their sights on the short-term things that they can control. "Our focus is on one game at a time. I think if you do that, it's less overwhelming. You can pick away at it piece-by-piece. That's our mentality right now."
Gallant on Columbus
Florida Panthers head coach Gerard Gallant is very familiar with the hallways coursing through Nationwide Arena after spending seven years in Columbus. He has returned before as an assistant coach with both Montreal and the New York Islanders.
"I liked it here," sad Gallant, "I had seven great years here. My family grew up here. My kids went to middle and high school here. I had a great time and a great experience here. Our team wasn't that good, being an expansion team, but I really had a lot of fun being part of it."
Blue Jackets projected lineup
Forwards: Hartnell / Johansen / Foligno
Atkinson / Jenner / Rychel
Calvert / Chaput / Skille
Boll / Cracknell / Gibbons
Defense: Johnson / Prout
Wisniewski / Connauton
Leopold / Savard
Goal: Bobrovsky with McElhinney as backup
