It is the first matchup between the Blue Jackets and Jets since they swung the blockbuster Laine/Dubois trade eleven months ago. While it won’t be quite as big an event without Patrik Laine playing due to injury having 2015 1st rounder Jack Roslovic along with former Jets assistant/Moose head coach Pascal Vincent should make for good storylines.
The biggest question mark remains the status of veteran forward Paul Stastny although it seems unlikely he plays tonight since he hasn’t gotten into a practice with the team. Paul Maurice did say on Tuesday “I think we’re going to see him at some point on this trip in the lineup”.
Will update once morning skate gets underway.
Morning skate:
Not unexpectedly Paul Stastny is not taking part in line rushes according to Ken Wiebe of Sportsnet. Ken also provides the lines from Columbus.
Jets projected lines & D pairs:
Connor-Dubois-Wheeler
Copp-Scheifele-Ehlers
Harkins-Lowry-Svechnikov
Toninato-Nash-Vesalainen
Morrissey-Schmidt
Dillon-Pionk
Stanley-DeMelo
Hellebuyck
Comrie
Players media availability:
Coach media availability:
Topics:
1) Update on Paul Stastny
2) Thoughts on the Blue Jackets (:35)
3) Any pre-game conversation with Pierre-Luc Dubois? (1:31)
4) His expectations on how Pierre-Luc Dubois will handle the atmosphere (1:59)
5) Would he consider returning to an 11/7 configuration? (2:45)
6) Thoughts on his former assistant coach Pascal Vincent (3:58)
7) What’s it like from a mentorship standpoint seeing Pascal having success? (5:29)
Up Next:
Puck drop is at 6 pm CDT. Be sure to head over to illegalcurve.com following the game for a recap of the action which includes post-game interviews from Jets players as well as from head coach Paul Maurice. You can also join us afterwards for our post-game show here (be sure to smash that like/subscribe button).
