The Blue Jackets are next in action Thursday night in Las Vegas.

Evason knew he was taking on a challenge, but he expected to have Monahan playing with forward Johnny Gaudreau, his close friend and former Calgary Flames teammate. He expected to have captain Boone Jenner and defenseman Erik Gudbranson to lead a group of skilled young players.

“It sucks,” Blue Jackets coach Dean Evason said. “Do we want Monnie in our lineup? Absolutely, but he’ll get fixed up and people will continue to step up in his absence, and we’ll look ...

With 50 games down, Columbus is in the mix for a postseason berth, and the Jackets say they're embracing the challenge

Captain Boone Jenner, who has been out all season after suffering a shoulder injury at the end of training camp, got a clean bill of health from doctors, allowing him to join the Blue Jackets last Saturday for a morning skate before they played the Los Angeles Kings.

Jenner hasn't set a specific return date, but joined the Blue Jackets' morning skate Saturday and plans to rejoin practices soon.

This is a team coming out of its rebuild and into its build phase. It has the potential to contend as it matures and as the roster is further tweaked.

The Columbus Blue Jackets continue to fight for a playoff spot despite the low expectations for the team entering the season and it appears they are about to get a boost.

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).

The Columbus Blue Jackets remain in the thick of the playoff race in the Eastern Conference as the calendar is about ready to flip to February. Several individual performances are worth noting as to why the team is in the hunt.

Head Coach Dean Evason will try to get his team to win three of four games against the Canes on the season. This will be his 300th career game as a head coach in the NHL, and he has a career NHL coaching record of 170-95-34.