The Columbus Blue Jackets announced today that one of their core good young players, Kent Johnson, will miss the remainder of 2023-24 with an injury. Johnson has a torn labrum in his left shoulder and will have surgery to repair it this week coming. Also, they mentioned that goaltender Elvis Merzlikins is day-to-day with an injury as well.
#CBJ have placed F Kent Johnson on IR and added G Jet Greaves to the roster on emergency recall from @monstershockey.
Johnson is expected to have left shoulder surgery later this week and will miss the rest of the season.
Merzlikins (upper body) is day-to-day.…— CBJ Public Relations (@BlueJacketsPR) March 3, 2024
Kent Johnson Is Out with a Shoulder Injury
Kent Johnson has had a bit of a dip this year before this injury that will shut him down for the conclusion of the season. Last year, Johnson had 16 goals and 24 assists for 40 points in 79 games. Conversely, this year saw him experience a bit of a sophomore slump, and saw him need some time down with the Cleveland Monsters of the AHL. Through 42 games for the Blue Jackets, he had only amassed six goals and added 10 assists. His ice time was down almost a minute at night from last year, clocking in at 13:33 per game in 2023-24. However, his CORSI numbers have been decent when he does get the opportunity. This year his CF% Rel was at 7.6, not a bad rating for a young forward in the league.
What Does This Mean for the Columbus Blue Jackets
Johnson, much like the entire Blue Jacket team, came into 2023-24 with high expectations. For instance, Johnny Gaudreau was targeting a bounce-back year, that saw his production slip by 41 points from 2021-22 to 2022-23. However, that was not to be, as he only has 43 points with nine goals in 60 games thus far. Now, that’s not to say there haven’t been some surprises in Columbus like Kirill Marchenko or Dmitri Voronkov. But overall, their top-six forward group was supposed to lead them, and it just hasn’t been strong or deep enough. Players like Johnson and Gaudreau are hoping that coming into 2024-25, they can find their grove. Based on this year’s performances the collective group needs a fresh start, and maybe their forwards will benefit immensely from the one more year of additional NHL experience.
Main photo: Russell LaBounty-USA TODAY Sports
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