Blue Jackets lose Patrik Laine for 4-6 weeks after oblique injury
Anthony Scultore
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The Columbus Blue Jackets were dealt some bad news as forward Patrik Laine is expected to miss four to six weeks with an oblique strain.
Laine, who was placed on injured reserve Friday, was hurt in the Blue Jackets’ 5-4 victory over the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday in Denver.
He had two assists in that contest to boost his season total to 10 points (three goals, seven assists) in nine games.
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Laine on IR cools off hot start
The Blue Jackets forward is becoming one of the NHL’s most “notable quotables”. During the offseason he discussed his expectations for the upcoming season.
“I’ve never really been a numbers guy,” Laine said. “I don’t set certain goals for the year, like ‘I want to score this many goals’ or whatever.”
Then Laine delivered his next comments in his sincere special way.
“I just want to be a better player than I was last year,” he stated. “That’s going to be easy this year because I was pretty (much) shit last year. I just try to build off last year and try to be better and have fun this year.”
Laine, 23, has 281 points (153 goals, 128 assists) in 360 career games with the Jets and Blue Jackets since being selected by Winnipeg with the second overall pick of the 2016 NHL Draft.
The Blue Jackets acquired Laine and Columbus native Jack Roslovic from the Jets on Jan. 23 in exchange for Pierre-Luc Dubois and a third-round pick in the 2022 NHL Draft.
–Field Level Media contributed to this report