As the Blue Jackets have struggled to find firm footing early in this NHL season, our greatest fears were realized on Monday night in Washington.
During yesterday's morning skate, Kirill Marchenko left early due to an undisclosed upper body ailment. The team called it a "muscle issue" later in the day, but gave no timeline other than marking him out of the lineup last night.
We noticed his absence right away. The Jackets lacked pop against the Capitals last night. In fact, they lacked a lot of things, and were never really in the game to begin with.