Item No. 2: Reinforcements
Blue Jackets coach Dean Evason said there are two whiteboards hanging side by side in the coaches’ office. The one on the right shows the current makeshift lineup, and the one on the left projects what the Blue Jackets might look like when play resumes following the 4 Nations Face-Off.
Jenner, who has missed the entire season to this point after a shoulder injury late in training camp, will return to the lineup on Feb. 22 vs. Chicago. It’s expected that Fabbro, out with a concussion since Feb. 2, will be ready to resume play, too.
“He’s doing much better,” Waddell said.
Fabbro will slot right back in next to Werenski. Where Jenner fits into the lineup remains to be seen, and Evason wasn’t saying.
During training camp, Jenner played left winger after spending several seasons at center. But with Monahan out, and the Blue Jackets struggling on faceoffs, Jenner could return to the middle, at least for the time being.
“We’ve talked (as coaches) about (Jenner’s) play, his game, and just him as a human being, and those guys (the coaches) are very close with him,” Evason said. “(Assistant coach Jared Boll), in particular, played with him plus coached him.
“So I’ve been given some firsthand accounts of who he is as a person and who he is as a player. So, am I excited about calling his name and having him jump over the boards? 100 percent.”
Beyond Jenner and Fabbro, the reinforcements get murky.
Marchenko did not require his broken jaw to be wired shut, which means he could return sooner than the typical 6 to 8 weeks required for a jaw to heal. He was in Nationwide Arena on Saturday, working with the training staff on a protective mask that could allow him to play sooner than expected.
The Blue Jackets expect Monahan and defenseman Erik Gudbranson to return by the middle or end of March, but Monahan may return in a limited capacity. He had surgery late last month to repair sprained ligaments in his right wrist, so it’s unclear if he’ll be able to step right back into his role as the Blue Jackets’ top faceoff man.
The biggest wild card of all is Yegor Chinakhov, who hasn’t played since Nov. 27 (35 games) due to a lower-back injury that he can’t seem to shake.
Chinakhov was in New York last week to see another specialist and a surgeon, and was told again that there’s nothing structurally wrong with his back and nothing that could be fixed with a surgical procedure, Waddell said.
“It’s all on him right now, when he feels like he can go,” Waddell said. “He’s seen all the doctors he can see. Everything is good in that way, he just keeps feeling some tightness (when he skates).
“You know how these things work. Doctors can say what they say and say what they see, but the individual has to feel as if he’s ready to go.”