With Derick Brassard already on IR, the Jackets have placed forward Derek Dorsett on injured reserve as well. With Ethan Moreau ready to go, that still leaves the Jackets with just 12 healthy forwards. The move we all expected was for the Jackets to call up a forward- maybe Nikita Filatov, or the ever-improving Maksim Mayorov. Heck, even Tomas Kubalik would have made sense, he’s having a fantastic rookie pro season.
It came as a bit of a surprise when the player called up to fill Dorsett’s roster spot was none other than blueliner John Moore, he of the recent stint in the Columbus pressbox.
As I mentioned, the Jackets are at 12 forwards. One of which, R.J. Umberger, is no doubt still a little banged up after missing part of the last game with an injury. With the call up of Moore, there are now seven healthy defensemen, with Rostislav Klesla still out. The argument can be made that the Jackets want some depth on the blueline while they are on the road, but going with only 12 forwards has me wondering if there is something else afoot.
I don’t tend to get too excited around deadline time, over-analyzing callups and the like, but this one smells a little different. Could this be a pre-cursor to a deal? There has been plenty of talk regarding the Montreal Canadiens having interest in some of Columbus’ players.
Perhaps a forward is on his way to Columbus, with a blueliner heading to Montreal in return.
Or maybe I am in fact, over-analyzing a simple call up. Let’s wait and see!