A pretty impressive and exciting preseason was up-ended last night when Sergei Federov was slew-footed into the boards, injuring his shoulder. The AP is reporting that Sergei will miss up to six weeks.
Drew over at EOB calculates that, because of a relatively sparse schedule in October and early November, Federov could end up only missing four or five regular-season games.
Can’t the Jackets have a decent September, for once? These slow-starts in autumn are getting tiring. Last season it took until December before they were all healthy & started clicking.
On the positive side, the Jackets have been looking decent offensively, especially during power-plays. The talented Picard was finally able to get his first goal last weekend, and Anson Carter stepped up last night to cover for Sergei, against a very balanced Sabres team. I’m excited to see more of Carter, who should help to mitigate the disappointing loss of Zherdev.
Defensively, they’re still giving up a lot of shots, but goaltending has been exceptional. It’s hard to tell after just a couple of preseason games, but it looks like the CBJ is in good shape between the pipes, considering Denis’ departure. Even the rookie Popperle stopped 23 shots on Sunday.
Image credit & copyright: Mike Munden, The Columbus Dispatch.
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