Star Blue Jackets defender activated from IR

The Columbus Blue Jackets have announced three roster moves. Star defenseman Zach Werenski has been activated off of injured reserve, and forward Liam Foudy has been placed on waivers for the purpose of assignment to the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters as a corresponding move.

Also, prospect forward Jordan Dumais was activated off of injured reserve and loaned to the Halifax Mooseheads of the QMJHL.

It had been anticipated by some that defenseman David Jiricek would find himself returned to the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters whenever Werenski ended up returning to the lineup.

That’s not the case, though, and according to team reporter Jeff Svoboda Jiricek is actually projected to retain his spot on head coach Pascal Vincent’s nightly lineup. Per Svoboda, 2018 eighth-overall pick Adam Boqvist is likely to be headed for the press box to make room for Werenski’s return.

This activation is great news for the Blue Jackets, who have only enjoyed 14 total games of Werenski both this season and last. Injuries have dogged Werenski in recent years, but when healthy he’s among the NHL’s most dynamic blueliners.

Widely considered a true number-one defenseman, having Werenski in the lineup significantly enhances the Blue Jackets’ ability to compete on a nightly basis.

The result of Werenski’s activation is that Foudy, 23, gets exposed to waivers. The Blue Jackets spent the 18th overall pick at the 2018 draft to select Foudy out of the London Knights of the OHL. The Blue Jackets seemed to be making a bet that Foudy’s genuinely elite speed would allow him to develop into not only an elite OHL scorer but also an impact NHLer.

So far, that bet hasn’t paid off, as Foudy has just 19 points in 90 career NHL games. In his longest stretch of extended NHL action, the 2022-23 season, Foudy managed just 14 points in 62 games. Owner of a $762.5k cap hit through the end of the season, claiming the pending RFA could be an intriguing possibility for teams who may believe they can harness Foudy’s past potential as a prospect in ways the Blue Jackets to this point have not been able to.

As for the move to activate Dumais, what’s notable here is that the Blue Jackets were unable to secure a waiver to allow the 19-year-old to spend 2023-24 in the AHL.

There’s an argument to be made that Dumais has absolutely nothing left to prove at the QMJHL level (he did score 140 points in just 64 games last season, after all) but it seems that such arguments may not have been enough to earn Dumais the type of waiver from the CHL that Shane Wright received. So he’s headed back to the Halifax Mooseheads, where he could very well post video game-like numbers for another season.