Blue Jackets’ Miles Wood, Denton Mateychuk to return to lineup against Flyers
The Columbus Blue Jackets are set to get some reinforcements, as forward Miles Wood and defenseman Denton Mateychuk are expected to return to the lineup on Wednesday against the Philadelphia Flyers.
Per coach Rick Bowness, both Denton Mateychuk and Miles Wood will draw into #CBJ lineup tomorrow night v. @NHLFlyers
Wood has missed the last 12 games with a leg injury, one he sustained on New Years Eve against the New Jersey Devils when his skate was caught up in Ondrej Palat’s stick and caused an awkward fall into the boards. He was immediately labelled as week-to-week and placed on injured reserve. The Blue Jackets went 7-4-1 during Wood’s absence.
The injury was a blow to the season Wood had been having, as with eight goals and four assists for 12 points in 32 games, he was on pace to hit the 30-point mark over an 82-game season for the first time since the 2017-18 season, and the second time in his career. He was also scoring at a 20-goal pace, a mark that he’s never hit in his career.
Mateychuk had missed the last six games with an upper-body injury after he was hit into the boards in the overtime period of Columbus’ 3-2 win over the Utah Mammoth. He was originally considered day-to-day, but he was placed on IR over a week later. The Blue Jackets activated Mateychuk off of IR on Monday to prepare for his return to the lineup.
Mateychuk has established himself as a full-time NHLer this season in a top-four role, and as a result is having a career-year production-wise with eight goals and 13 assists for 21 points in 44 games.
Based on the lines run during practice, Wood is expected to play on the fourth line alongside Isac Lundstrom and Dmitri Voronkov, while Mateychuk will play on the second pair with Ivan Provorov. Mateychuk will also play with Provorov on the second power play unit, along with Boone Jenner, Mason Marchment and Sean Monahan.
At this point in time, the Blue Jackets haven’t activated Wood from IR, or made corresponding roster moves to make room for either player on the roster, as they are currently at the 23-man roster limit. The only player on the roster who is exempt from waivers is Mateychuk, so two players should be expected to be placed on waivers.
The Blue Jackets currently sit in seventh in the Metropolitan Division with a 24-20-7 record, and are six points behind the New York Islanders for third place in the division with a game in hand. Columbus will look to build on their stretch of six wins in seven games when they host the Flyers on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. ET.