Laughlin said that he had predicted that Rantanen, a UFA after this season, would either sign with the Anaheim Ducks or the Columbus Blue Jackets. That's right, your Columbus Blue Jackets.

Despite losing Laine and Gaudreau as top scorers, the fast-rising Blue Jackets have impressed GM Don Waddell with a offensive firepower.

Zach will play for the United States at the 4 Nations Face-Off, a best-on-best tournament against Canada, Finland and Sweden in Montreal and Boston from Feb. 12-20. Then he and the Blue Jackets will face the Detroit Red Wings in the 2025 Navy Federal Credit Union Stadium Series at Ohio Stadium on March 1 (6 p.m. ET; ESPN, TVAS-D, FX-CA).

Craig Merz: Columbus Blue Jackets forward Sean Monahan will be out for another six to eight weeks due to a wrist injury. He suffered the injury back on January 7th and was placed on the IR on January 9th.

The NHL is going to have some tight races when it comes to the end-of-season awards, and the Columbus Blue Jackets might have a surprise entrant for a key one.

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The Carolina Hurricanes took a swing for the fences Friday night by acquiring high-scoring forward Mikko Rantanen from the Colorado

Don Waddell, the Blue Jackets’ president ... which was tied for sixth in the NHL with the Colorado Avalanche — a perennial Stanley Cup contender. The Jackets had also scored six-plus goals ...

The loss leaves the Rangers (24-21-4) three points behind the Tampa Bay Lightning (26-19-3), who hold the second wild-card berth in the Eastern Conference; the Bolts are even in points with the Columbus Blue Jackets (24-19-7) but have two games in hand. They are four points behind the Boston Bruins (25-20-6), who own the first wild card.

One of the teams to deny the Rangers a win in the past 10 games is the Avalanche, who rallied for a 3-2 overtime win on Jan. 14 during New York’s successful three-game road trip. Artturi Lehkonen scored the tying goal with 1:13 left In regulation and Devon Toews scored the game-winner 4:23 into overtime.