Joey is back. He will not play in his first appearance in Nationwide Arena since last January’s blockbuster trade that sent him to the Nashville Predators in exchange for defenseman Seth Jones, but he will be in the building, at the very least.
As the teams hit the ice tonight, the Blue Jackets will be playing their 4th exhibition of 8 of the preseason. Yesterday, the team announced several roster moves, including sending Vitaly Abramov to the QMJHL, Kole Sherwood to London, and announcing that Dillon Heatherington will miss six weeks after breaking his wrist in practice on Tuesday.
The rosters for the teams are as follows:
Nashville forwards: Colton Sissons, Craig Smith, Michael Liambas, Calle Jarnkrok, Harry Zolniercyzk, Frederick Gaudreau, Viktor Arvidsson, Pontus Aberg, Vladislov Kamenov, Austin Watson, Max Gortz, Felix Girard, Adam Payeri
Nashville defensemen: Anthony Bitetto, Yannick Weber, Petter Granberg, Matt Carle, Matt Irwin, Jack Dougherty, Alexandre Carrier, Trevor Murphy
Nashville goalies: Marek Mazanec, Juuse Saros
Columbus forwards: Gregory Campbell, Ryan Craig, Cam Atkinson, Brandon Dubinsky, Pierre-Luc Dubois, William Karlsson, Josh Anderson, Boone Jenner, Aaron Palushaj, Scott Hartnell, Paul Bittner, Nick Foligno
Columbus defensemen: Jack Johnson, Zach Werenski, Ryan Murray, David Savard, Markus Nutivaara, Blake Siebenaler
Columbus goalies: Curtis McElhinney, Joonas Korpisalo
The Blue Jackets are inching their way closer toward the regular season. With the players returning from the World Cup of Hockey (Sergei Bobrovsky has made his return to the practice ice after Russia’s elimination), we draw ever nearer to meaningful hockey.
Two weeks to go.