Boone Jenner will be out for a long time after having shoulder surgery, the Blue Jackets shared on Thursday. The team’s general manager, Don Waddell, mentioned that they hope he can come back before the season ends, but it’s uncertain if he’ll play in 2024-25. According to Michael Russo from The Athletic, Jenner won’t be back until at least March.
The injury happened during practice last week when Jenner lost his balance and hit the boards hard. Aaron Portzline from The Athletic had already hinted that Jenner might miss several months. Although this isn’t the worst-case scenario for him, it’s still not great news.
Jenner’s been dealing with injuries since COVID-19 stopped him from playing more than 70 games in a season. Even though he’s been super important to Columbus and has shown his best skills since becoming captain in 2021, past issues like a broken jaw and back problems have cut his seasons short at 59, 68, and 58 games. Fans might feel sad because he’s such an important player.
Impact on Team Dynamics:
Without Jenner leading them on the ice for most of this season, Columbus will struggle even more with their already thin lineup. He was supposed to switch positions this year from center to wing so players like Adam Fantilli and Sean Monahan won’t have much change in their roles. But now Kevin Labanc and James van Riemsdyk are expected to step up into bigger roles as they join Fantilli on the second line for tonight’s game.
In brighter news Dmitri Voronkov is also injured but doesn’t need surgery like Jenner does; he should be back by next month according to Jeff Svoboda’s report via Waddell.
What do you think about all these changes?
