The Blue Jackets placed center Patrik Laine, listed as day-to-day with an upper-body injury, on injured reserve, retroactive to Oct. 20, and recalled forward Dmitri Voronkov from the AHL's Cleveland Monsters.
Laine suffered an upper-body injury in the waning seconds of Friday night's 3-1 win over the Flames when he received an illegal hit by Calgary's Rasmus Andersson.
#CBJ announced that Patrik Laine will not play today and is day-to-day with an upper-body injury he suffered from this hit he took from Rasmus Andersson in Fridays 3-1 win over Calgary. Andersson will have a hearing with @NHLPlayerSafety today. pic.twitter.com/138d9LsHry
— Coby Maeir (@CobyMaeir) October 21, 2023
Andersson has since received a four-game suspension without pay, but is currently appealing that ruling.
Since he was placed on IR retroactive to Oct. 20, Laine will miss at least the next two Blue Jackets games: Tuesday vs. Anaheim and Thursday at Montreal, in addition to last Saturday's win over Minnesota.
Laine, who has scored 1-1--2 in four games, has now missed 54 games since the start of the 2021-22 season and hasn't played a full NHL season since 2018-19, which is also the last time he scored 30 goals in a single campaign.
Voronkov, a 23-year-old forward whom the Blue Jackets selected 114th overall in 2019, has recorded one assist in four games for the Cleveland Monsters in his first season in North America.
His two-year entry-level contract contains a European Assignment Clause that applies to the 2023-24 season. Typically, an assignment clause gives a player options when coming to the NHL from Europe or Russia. According to The Athletic’s Aaron Portzline, Voronkov’s clause is triggered if he’s not on the Blue Jackets roster at the end of December 2023.
The Blue Jackets will look to win their third-straight game when they host the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. ET on Bally Sports Ohio.
