COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Adversity has taken up residence and seems to have a stall in the dressing room. The latest curveball thrown at the Blue Jackets is the revelation by head coach Todd Richards that Brandon Dubinsky is out indefinitely with a lower-body injury that will likely lead to him not playing in the season opener in Buffalo on Thursday. He was also placed on Injured Reserve.
"He's day-to-day right now," said Todd Richards before the club release stated he was out indefinitely. "He's got a lower-body injury that might keep him out of the game, probably will keep him out of the game on Thursday. And then, he'll be reassessed and we'll go forward from there."
Asked if this was more serious than he thought on Monday, Richards said, "Yeah, a little bit more."
In regards to defenseman Ryan Murray (knee), who was a long shot to play in Buffalo, Richards said: "He won't be in the lineup on Thursday."
This comes one day after the Blue Jackets and Ryan Johansen agreed to a contract. Johansen is expected to arrive in Columbus at some point Tuesday with the hope that he'll be ready to go for the season opener.
This means that, once again, Richards has to reshuffle his lines. You could safely assume that he's gone through almost every permutation of his forward lines in the last week or so, with no sign that he'll get any respite.
Release the Cracknell
The Blue Jackets claimed forward Adam Cracknell off waivers from the Los Angeles Kings today. Cracknell, 29, is 6-10-16 in 65 career games with the St. Louis Blues.
"He's a big, right-hand shot," said Richards of the 6-foot-1-inch tall, 216 pound winger. "My understanding is that he can play either center or wing. It gives us some versatility. He's a big guy that moves well out on the ice. We're bringing in another guy to help our team."
Addressing adversity
One thing not seen within the room is a feeling of "doom and gloom." Although they have not seen this much adversity thrown at them in such a short time, the players are still looking at everyone to seize this opportunity to step up their game.
Todd Richards acknowledged that this has been one of the more eventful training camps, adversity-wise, that he's gone through.
"There were just a lot of things that happened during this training camp," he said. "You had injuries over the summer and then there were questions of whether guys would be ready for training camp. There's obviously the story with Joey (Ryan Johansen). Then you're dealing with injuries as you go through camp.
"We have lots of young guys, there's a story there. There were lots of things going on this training camp that make it unique compared to other years."
