New Blue Jackets Head Coach Rick Bowness is missing two key defenders in his first game behind the bench tonight, as Denton Mateychuk (upper-body injury) and Damon Severson (illness) are unable to play against Calgary, per Aaron Portzline of The Athletic.
If he’d been able to go, Mateychuk would have tied his rookie season total’s 45 games played in last season, but will have to wait for now. The 21-year-old left early on Sunday against Utah, and will be getting a second opinion, as the club recalled Dysin Mayo this afternoon. Their 12th overall selection in 2022 has progressed nicely this season, averaging 20:20 of ice time with 21 points in 44 games.
Severson, 31, has recorded 17 points in 45 games, tonight being the first contest of the season he has had to miss.
Coming in tonight is Jake Christiansen, along with Mayo. The former has served as the Jackets’ seventh defender often this year, with one helper in 26 games, in year five with the Columbus organization.
Mayo, recalled for the fourth time of 2025-26 today, was once a regular with the Arizona Coyotes. The 29-year-old has just seven points in the AHL this season with Cleveland, but he is a conservative right-handed option, capable of jumping into the NHL lineup seamlessly at a moment’s notice.
Elsewhere across the league:
- Shortly before their game in St. Louis, the Carolina Hurricanes announced that Jaccob Slavin will miss tonight’s game due to “injury rehab protocol”. Given that he played 21:41 last night against Detroit, leading all defenders, Slavin will sit out of the second of the back-to-back. Clearly, Carolina is taking no chances with their elite shutdown man coming back from an upper-body injury, who already was re-injured early in his last return in December. The difficulties have limited him to just seven games so far, where he’s notched one assist. Mike Reilly re-enters the lineup tonight, but Slavin figures to be gearing up for full-time duty before long.
- Similar to Slavin, Montreal Canadiens defenseman Kaiden Guhle will also sit tonight, as noted by Marco D’Amico of RG Media. The 23-year-old is in early stages of returning after a groin injury sidelined him for nearly three months. He managed to play just shy of 20 minutes last night in the win over Vancouver. In his absence, Jayden Struble has jumped back in against Washington. The physical depth defender has averaged 14:28 a night in 35 games this season. Meanwhile, Guhle should return by Thursday as the team travels to Buffalo.