As the Blue Jackets prepare for the second half of their back to back this weekend in Minnesota, the team has made three roster moves to prepare for the game.
Jared Boll, who “tweaked” his back in Stockholm during a fight in the first premier game, is officially now on IR, and the team will use the space created by his roster spot to call up defenseman Nate Guenin, who met the team in Minneapolis after leaving the Falcons’ road trip in Portland, ME last night.
The choice of a d-man, rather than another forward, has lead to speculation that another CBJ defenseman may have been injured last night. According to Aaron Portzline, who traveled with the team for the Dispatch, Anton Stralman missed today’s morning skate, and did not play for much of the third period last night. It doesn’t take a rocket surgeon to figure out that Stralman is probably on the shelf for at least tonight, and possibly a few more games depending on his condition. If can’t go, that’s a big hit to offense from the blue line, but Guenin had more than a few good opportunities from the point in the pre-season. Hopefully he can step up – through four games in Springfield he’s got 0/0/0 and a +1 rating.
In somewhat happier news, the team also announced that Tomas Kana, who had been recovering from a broken hand sustained in the pre-season, has been activated off IR and assigned to Springfield, where he will hopefully be able to give the Falcons a bit more offensive jump.
With the team carrying an extra forward at the moment, I’m not expecting them to make any forward callups for today, but should the team decide to make any shuffles, keep an eye on Mike Blunden, who has gotten off to a hot pace for the Falcons with an AHL leading four goals in four games.