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Blue Jackets Sunday Gathering: Jakub Voracek may have played his last NHL game

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A collection of notes, insights, ruminations, and did-you-knows gathered throughout the week that was for the Blue Jackets:

Item no. 1: Concern for Voracek

At first, Blue Jackets right winger Jakub Voracek was coming by Nationwide Arena every morning to watch practice, even though he was out of the lineup and fighting the effects of a concussion suffered during the NHL Global Series in Finland.

He’d sit on the other side of the rink away from the media, up about 10 rows behind the Blue Jackets bench, easily within chirping distance of his teammates.

But as the symptoms lingered, Voracek stopped watching practice and his visits to the rink became less frequent.

Now there is great concern that Voracek, one of the most beloved players in Columbus and across the NHL, may have played his last game.

The Blue Jackets released an ominous statement on Friday saying that doctors have advised Voracek not to play until his “ongoing symptoms subside,” while adding that they “don’t expect a resolution in the near future.”

Voracek, 33, will hold a press conference on Monday in Nationwide Arena to provide further clarity.

It’s unclear how many concussions Voracek has had during his 15-year career spent with the Blue Jackets and Philadelphia.

It’s believed that Voracek suffered at least one concussion earlier this season, even before the club traveled to Finland to play two games against the Avalanche. On Nov. 4, Voracek took a high stick from Colorado’s Dryden Hunt early in the third period of a 6-3 Avs win.

Hunt, who was given a double minor for high-sticking, struck Voracek in the face, right below the nose, setting off debilitating symptoms.

Voracek has exchanged brief text messages with The Athletic but has declined comment until his press conference.

GM Jarmo Kekalainen acknowledged that Voracek may be looking at premature retirement.

“But I’m more worried about him having a normal life,” Kekalainen said. “He has a young family. The most important thing is that he lives a normal life.

“There are a lot of guys who have had this happen, and one’s working in our front office right now, with his jersey number hanging in the rafters.”

Kekalainen was referring, of course, to former Blue Jackets player Rick Nash, now the club’s director of player development. Nash was 34 years old when he retired in 2019 due to lingering concussion symptoms.

Nash and Voracek, who spent three seasons as teammates with the Blue Jackets (2008-09 to 2010-11), have remained friends. When Nash was suffering through his symptoms late in his career, he and Voracek had several conversations, Nash said.

They haven’t connected since Voracek was hurt early last month, but Nash can empathize with what Voracek is going through.

“At the time, I felt that I could play and still could have battled through certain things,” Nash said. “I can only speak to my situation, but I just made the decision that my family was more important to me than the game.

“The game gave me a special life, but if I can’t live comfortably after that, what was the point of all those years?” I wanted to watch my kids grow up more. I have no regrets. The further I get away from my playing days, I know I made the right decision.”

Nash would have signed a contract to return to the Blue Jackets had his concussion symptoms cleared and doctors allowed him to play again. Instead, he’s been working for the organization since a few months after he retired.

“At the odd time (the old symptoms) will still creep up,” Nash said. “But it gets better and better.”

Item no. 2: A needed reset

The Blue Jackets welcomed Patrik Laine back into the lineup on Friday in Winnipeg, his first game since suffering an ankle injury at the end of an overtime loss to the New York Islanders on Nov. 12. The next triumphant return will probably be that of goaltender Elvis Merzlikins, who has been out since he left a Nov. 15 starts vs. Philadelphia midway through the second with a hip injury.

Obviously, Merzlikins getting hurt is not positive, but there could be a silver lining to his two-week break. Merzlikins has really struggled this season, winning only two of his eight starts and recording a goals-against average (4.64) and save percentage (.864) that are both last in the NHL among 57 qualified goaltenders.

Pick your advanced metric, and Merzlikins is near the bottom of the league in that category, too. These are courtesy of MoneyPuck: Goals saved above expected? (-12.9, 57th) Save percentage on unblocked shots? (.924, 56th)

It all works together, right? There were games early this season where it was clear Merzlikins didn’t (couldn’t?) trust the play in front of him, and there were other games where the players in front of Merzlikins turned fragile due to their lack of trust in him. .

When it reaches that point, it’s been to take some time away. Merzlikins, like Sergei Bobrovsky before him, has taken time in-season to step away from regular playing time and work with the goaltending coach — in this case, Manny Legace — on specific aspects of the game, including the mental approach.

“You reflect and you train the muscles between your ears,” Kekalainen said. “Elvis is a good goalkeeper. We’ve seen it for long stretches. He’s struggled along with the rest of the team, and now he’s got to get out of it. That’s what a lot of guys on our team have done, and that’s what we expect from everybody.

“You work your way through it. We have a coaching staff to help you, management to help you, we have other people who can help you with your struggles. But it’s the hardest part of being a professional athlete, getting through those periods where you struggle with your confidence and struggle with your performance.”

Merzlikins, 28, is in the first year of a five-year, $27 million contract signed in 2021. He has a 10-team no-trade provision throughout the life of the contract.


Elvis Merzlikins. (Aaron Doster/USA Today)

Item no. 3: Snacks

• Since Nov. 6, the Blue Jackets have recalled five defensemen from AHL Cleveland — Jake Christiansen, Marcus Bjork, Gavin Bayreuther, Billy Sweezey and Tim Berni. The wave of injuries on the blue line in Columbus has challenged the organization’s depth like no previous season. But it’s worth noting the one defenseman who has remained in Cleveland during this recent wave: David Jiricek, the Blue Jackets’ No. 6 pick in last summer’s draft. Kekalainen said that Jiricek was sick when a couple of the call-ups were made, but the organization clearly believes that Jiricek is best served, at least for now, by staying in the AHL. “He played a couple of games early this season (in the NHL),” Kekalainen said. “We were struggling then, and he struggled a little bit. He’s a young guy. We want to make sure he’s successful. He can play 22 minutes a game (in Cleveland) and he can play in every situation.” One other thing to consider with Jiricek is that the first year of his entry-level contract will slide to next season if he plays fewer than 10 games in Columbus this season.

• One part of Jiricek’s in-season development could include a trip to the IIHF World Junior Championship for Czechia. Jiricek would be less certain to go if he were holding a regular spot in Columbus, but it’s almost certain the Jackets would give him a two-week pass from AHL Cleveland. The tournament runs from Dec. 26 to Jan. 5 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and Moncton, New Brunswick.

• Nash was with the Blue Jackets in Winnipeg on Friday, but he did not return home with the club after the game. He’s continuing on to Western Canada, where he’ll check in on Blue Jackets prospect defensemen Denton Mateychuk (who plays for Moose Jaw in the Western Hockey League) and Stanislav Svozil (who plays for Regina in the WHL). Nash isn’t an amateur scout, per se, but his trip to Regina to see Svozil will give him a chance to watch Regina center Connor Bedard, who is considered the likely No. 1 pick next summer. Bedard has 26-33-59 in only 27 games this season.

• Boone Jenner’s assist on a Patrik Laine second-period goal in Winnipeg on Friday was his 300th career point (153-147-300), and it was a beauty. Jenner, coming through the slot, found Laine in the lower left circle with a gorgeous backhand pass that Laine was able to one-time past Jets goaltender David Rittich. You could argue that Jenner deserved an assist on Laine’s first-period goal, too, given that his diving swat on the puck sent it to Johnny Gaudreau before Gaudreau found Laine on the right side of the net. Either way, Jenner’s assist made him just the fifth player to generate 300 or more points in a Blue Jackets sweater. The others: Rick Nash (547), Cam Atkinson (402), Nick Foligno (334) and David Vyborny (317). Incidentally, Jenner’s assist — no. 147 — moved him into 10th place on the franchise’s all-time list, ahead of Fedor Tyutin (146) and just six assists behind Brandon Dubinsky (153).

• Kekalainen spent the weekend in Switzerland with Alexandre Texier, but it won’t be his last long trip of the season. Kekalainen plans to spend considerable time scouting amateurs in advance of next summer’s draft with the increasing likelihood that the Blue Jackets will once again be a lottery team. “I want to see enough games so that I can question and challenge (our amateur scouts) a little bit on something if I see something differently,” Kekalainen said. “They’re the ones who do all the work and see these players over and over and over again. You don’t want to interfere unless you can say ‘I’ve seen them more than you did!’ That’s how I’ve run the draft, too. If I saw a guy more than the area guy, I’d overrule him if I thought I should. Other than that, I didn’t do it very often.”

• Blue Jackets defenseman Jake Bean and Zach Werenski both suffered torn shoulder labrums, although it sounds like Werenski’s damage was more extensive. Bean had surgery on Nov. 23, eight days after the injury, and is expected to miss four-to-six months. Werenski had surgery on Nov. 29, more than two weeks after he was injured, because there was considerable swelling and bleeding in the area. Werenski’s recovery, per the club’s release, will take six months. He’s been placed on long-term injured reserve.

• One way to measure the Blue Jackets’ devastating wave of injuries: Before Laine and Merzlikins were activated from the injured list on Thursday, the Blue Jackets had $38.7 million (salary cap figures) worth of players out of the lineup, or roughly half the total value of their player contracts. The NHL’s salary cap is $82.5 million.

• Three things that go up and down: the temperature, an elevator, the sun. That wasn’t difficult, right? Window shades, a drawbridge, the stock market. Why does former Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella, now with Philadelphia, keep stepping in a urinal whenever he wants to describe a player’s inconsistent performance? In 2018, Tortorella irked Blue Jackets winger Matt Calvert by describing his regular-season play as “up and down, like a toilet seat.” Calvert, not typically one to step out with his words, fired back at the veteran coach: “The only thing that was up and down like a toilet seat was my ice time.” The two patched things up pretty quickly (at least publicly), but Calvert was gone the next summer, signing with Colorado. Incredibly, Tortorella went there again this week describing Philadelphia’s young center Morgan Frost: “You look at Frosty, I think he’s up and down like a toilet seat here,” he said. And just like that, scores of headlines were made, nicknames generated, etc. If you think that storyline will quickly be flushed in Philadelphia, your brain needs a plunger.

(Top photo of Jakub Voracek: Bruce Bennett / Getty Images)

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