What has already been an awful year for the Columbus Blue Jackets injury wise just got worse. The team announced early Wednesday that forward Cam Atkinson will be out 2-3 weeks with a sprained ankle. It appears Atkinson re-aggravated the same injury that caused him to miss 12 games earlier this season from December 21- January 14.
This is not what the Blue Jackets needed right now, especially with the news coming just a day after it was announced that defenceman Seth Jones will miss 8-10 weeks after undergoing ankle surgery. The injury trouble doesn't end there for the Blue Jackets, as they are currently without Brandon Dubinsky, Josh Anderson, Ryan Murray, Joonas Korpisalo, Alexandre Texier, Dean Kukan, and Alexander Wennberg all due to injury.
Despite having one of the worst injury riddled seasons a team could imagine, Columbus still finds themselves right in the race for a playoff spot. They currently maintain the first wildcard position in the Eastern Conference and sit just two points shy of the New York Islanders for third place in the Metropolitan Division.
A big part of this is due to the outstanding play of rookie goaltender Elvis Merzlikins. The 25-year-old Latvian has a 2.19 goals against average and a .930 save percentage along with five shutouts. If he is able to keep up this crazy run he is on, Columbus will certainly have a chance. However, given all their current injuries, if Merzlikins' play falls off, they could be in big trouble.
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