Blue Jackets’ Conor Garland out indefinitely with upper-body injury

Some unwanted news for a team already experiencing enough struggles this season.

When speaking to the media, Columbus Blue Jackets head coach Rick Bowness announced that forward Conor Garland will not be in the lineup on Tuesday night, when the Blue Jackets take on the Florida Panthers. Bowness said Garland is battling back from an upper-body injury but didn’t provide a timeline for his return.

It isn’t quite clear when or where Garland was hurt. He played the entirety of Columbus’ last contest, a 5-2 loss to the Buffalo Sabres this past Friday night. The 30-year-old was a -2 while logging a little over 13 minutes of ice time, not too far from his average for the year.

Garland had appeared in each of the Jackets’ first 15 games of the 2026-27 season, but has definitely looked far from the offensive threat he was earlier in his career. He has just one assist to his name to go along with his plus/minus of -5 while averaging 13:33 of ice time per game.

This is the Scituate, Mass. native’s first full season in Columbus. He was traded to the Blue Jackets ahead of last year’s trade deadline from the Vancouver Canucks, as he was expected to provide an offensive boost as they battled to stay in the Wild Card race. He scored five goals and seven points in the remaining 21 games, but the Jackets came short of clinching a playoff berth.

With Garland out, expect to see Ryan Lomberg back in the lineup, joining Steven Lorentz and Jack Williams on the fourth line during practice on Monday.

The Blue Jackets (7-8-0) sit sixth in the Metropolitan Division, six points back of the last Wild Card position in the Eastern Conference.