Columbus Blue Jackets forward Patrik Laine leaves road trip after injury setback
VANCOUVER, British Columbia ― So much for hope that Patrik Laine will return from a fractured clavicle before the end of the Blue Jackets’ road trip.
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Laine, 25, didn't join the Blue Jackets for a morning skate Saturday at Rogers Arena and is headed back to Columbus after taking a step back with his injury. He’ll be sidelined through at least Feb. 10, after the Jackets return from an upcoming 10-day break that includes a mandated ‘bye’ week plus the NHL All-Star break on Feb. 1-3 in Toronto.
“It’s a setback,” Blue Jackets coach Pascal Vincent said. “He’s going to head back to Columbus. It’s just a setback with the injury. He’s not going to be able to play on the trip, so he went back.”
Vincent didn’t give an updated recovery timeline for Laine’s return, which was previously expected to happen at some point during a trip that has games remaining Saturday night against the Vancouver Canucks, Sunday at the Seattle Kraken and Tuesday against the St. Louis Blues.
Blue Jackets general manager Jarmo Kekalainen said Laine's "setback" was discovered during the trip and a decision was made to send him back to Columbus, which all parties involved agreed was the best course of action.
Laine sustained the injury Dec. 14 in Toronto after he was tripped by Maple Leafs defenseman William Lagesson and crashed awkwardly into the end boards. The initial recovery timeline was placed at six weeks, which arrived Thursday in Calgary with the Jackets’ 5-2 victory over the Flames at Scotiabank Saddledome.
It's the latest challenge for Laine in what’s arguably been the most frustrating season of his NHL career. He's only played in 18 games and has a scoring line of six goals, three assists and nine points with a -10 plus/minus rating.
After struggling to make the adjustment to playing center to start the season, Laine was concussed on an illegal hit by Calgary’s Rasmus Andersson four games into it and missed almost three weeks (nine games) with a concussion. He struggled after returning, bristled about being a healthy scratch for the first time in his career Nov. 19 in Philadelphia and missed three more games Dec. 5-8 with an illness that preceded his current injury.
It’s been one thing after another for Laine, both this season and during his four-year stint with the Blue Jackets – who acquired him and forward Jack Roslovic from the Winnipeg Jets on Jan. 23, 2021, in a trade that sent Pierre-Luc Dubois the other direction.
Laine didn’t mesh well with former Blue Jackets head coach John Tortorella to start his tenure in Columbus, and then battles a wave of injuries while rebounding into a “point a game” player under former coach Brad Larsen. He’s missed time with an oblique strain, back issue, elbow sprain, high-ankle sprain, strained triceps muscle, the concussion, multiple illnesses and now the fractured clavicle.
He also missed time in 2021-22 to mourn the unexpected death of his father in Finland. It’s been a continual struggle for Laine since his arrival in Columbus, and this is the latest hurdle.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Injury 'setback' sends Blue Jackets' Laine back to Columbus
