COLUMBUS, Ohio — Jarmo Kekalainen sits in a suite high above Nationwide Arena and manages a smile when his Blue Jackets make it through a practice without adding another player to the walking wounded.
That’s just how it is right now in Columbus: You have to take your victories where you can get them.
The star-crossed team has been on an unparalleled run of bad luck. In the last week alone, it has seen forward Nick Foligno stretchered off the ice after a freak collision with a linesman, franchise goalie Sergei Bobrovsky suffer a fractured finger during practice and defenceman James Wisniewski suffer the exact same injury in a game.
If that was the extent of the issues, a team could cope.
But then you remember that there are serious questions about Nathan Horton even playing this season because of back issues and that Boone Jenner, Brandon Dubinsky, Artem Anisimov, Mark Letestu and Matt Calvert are also on the shelf.
All nine of those guys would be in the lineup, if healthy. Of course, that’s a big “if” right now.
“When I look at our healthy lineup I feel pretty good about it,” Kekalainen, the Columbus GM, said ahead of Friday’s game against the Toronto Maple Leafs. “Then when I have to move 10 guys out of there it doesn’t look quite as good.”
This is supposed to be a year of building in Columbus; the chance to take another step forward. Not only did the Blue Jackets win the first playoff game in franchise history last spring, they gave the Pittsburgh Penguins a genuine scare in the first round.
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Entering this season players were given T-shirts emblazoned with the slogan “chasing success” and the bar was set a little bit higher. Some pundits even picked them as a darkhorse to challenge for the Metropolitan Division title.
Given what has happened since, Kekalainen’s patience is being tested.
The playoff window is within sight after a 4-5-0 start, but he knows the team can’t afford to fall too far back while waiting for players to return. There are trades he could make today that would help, but they would likely have to include some of his young players or prospects.
At the moment that’s not something that interests him. Still, rival GMs keep calling.
“The vultures are always out,” said Kekalainen. “As soon as there are bodies lying around they’re circling right above us.”
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If the strain of the injuries is being felt in the dressing room, it doesn’t show on the faces of the healthy players. There is an upbeat vibe hours after the team held a Halloween party and were it not for so many unfamiliar nameplates above the stalls there would be no hint of the situation at hand.
Ryan Johansen, the 21-year-old top-line centre, is off to a fantastic start after missing all of training camp in a contract dispute. He’s riding a nine-game point streak to begin the year and believes he’s finally starting to find his legs.
The only time his smile dims slightly is when the topic of the injuries is raised.
“Half our identity is sitting on the sidelines right now,” he said. “We’ve been trying not to think about it and just focus on what we have and what we control. But I’d be lying saying it’s not a bit of a distraction. Every day you come to the rink you see guys on the trainer’s tables.”
For head coach Todd Richards, he’s watching games and occasionally wondering what might happen next. There are clouds overhead.
“It’s to the point now where it seems like you hold your breath,” said Richards.
What no one is ready to come out and say — but everyone must be thinking — is that these aren’t the real Jackets. This was a four-line team a year ago that earned the reputation of being extremely tough to play against.
Now? No one is quite sure what they are.
LISTEN: Jody Shelley talk Blue Jackets injuries on Hockey Central at Noon
“If you take any team in this league and get their best players injured, no matter how good their depth is it’s just not going to be the same,” said Kekalainen. “We have guys like Brandon Dubinsky, Boone Jenner and Nathan Horton (out). That could be our first line. They’re all hurt and we’re getting good players to replace them, but it’s not the same.
“You have to get healthy and hang in there and scrape some points now. That’s the only way of looking at it. It’s frustrating, but it doesn’t help to bitch about it.”
On Thursday afternoon, he took some positives from seeing Foligno and Jenner make it through a tough practice. A night earlier he had flown to an American Hockey League game in Albany and brought back Brian Gibbons and Sean Collins, and seemed genuinely excited about what they might contribute.
This is how a hockey lifer copes in a bleak situation.
Still, Kekalainen concedes that he has never seen a run of injuries like this one — especially so early in a season.
“The local (media) guys are probably sick of me saying this, but I always keep saying that it’s a good opportunity for somebody else,” he said. “Now I’m starting to get sick of it myself, too.”
LISTEN: Jarmo Kekalainen talks about his Blue Jackets on The Jeff Blair Show
