Blue Jackets’ Monahan expected to be out an additional six-to-eight weeks
The Columbus Blue Jackets are going to be without centre Sean Monahan for longer than expected.
The Columbus Blue Jackets are going to be without centre Sean Monahan for longer than initially expected.
Columbus announced Saturday that Monahan is expected to be sidelined for an additional six to eight weeks with the wrist injury he suffered against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Jan. 7.
That timeline would keep him off the ice until mid-to-late March.
According to a report from The Athletic‘s Aaron Portzline, the Blue Jackets were hopeful that Monahan would only miss a few weeks with the injury, but a recent medical check showed that his wrist had made no significant improvement.
After signing a five-year, $27.5-million deal with the upstart Blue Jackets in the off-season, Monahan has been a key member of Columbus’s top line.
The 30-year-old has 14 goals, 41 points and a plus-17 rating over 41 games this season.
Portzline also wrote that Monahan has proven to be an important mentor for young Blue Jackets forwards Adam Fantili and Kent Johnson. That duo has “raved about Monahan’s steady influence, how he’s helped them learn to play with more patience and responsibility in the defensive zone and shown all of the Jackets’ young players how to prepare for games and practices.”
Columbus entered Saturday with a 23-19-7 record — good for the final wild-card spot in the crowded Eastern Conference race — and an 8-4 mark in the new year.
