Blue Jackets activate Patrik Laine from LTIR, assign David Jiricek to AHL

The Columbus Blue Jackets have activated forward Patrik Laine from long-term injury rerserve, the team announced on Saturday.

In order to make space on the roster, the Blue Jackets assigned David Jiricek to the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters.

Laine, 25, missed the last nine games with an upper-body injury suffered against the Calgary Flames on Oct. 20, when Flames’ defenseman Rasmus Andersson laid an illegal hit on Laine towards the end of the game. Andersson would be suspended four games for the hit.

In four games this season, Laine has one goal and one assist for two points, averaging 17:02 of ice time.

Injuries have plagued the Finnish forward’s time in Columbus, only playing 45, 56 and 55 games in his first three seasons, respectively. However, he scored 22 goals in 56 games in 2021-22 and 20 goals in 55 games in 2022-23, posting a goals-per-game of 0.46 and 0.40, respectively, two of the highest per-game marks of his career.

Since being taken No. 2 overall in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft by the Winnipeg Jets, Laine has scored 199 goals and 182 assists for 381 points in 466 games across eight seasons.

He scored a career-high 44 goals and 70 points in 2017-18 with the Jets, helping lead the team to a Western Conference Finals appearance against the Vegas Golden Knights, in which the Jets lost four games to one.

The Blue Jackets are 4-6-3 in their first 13 games of the season, sitting last in the Eastern Conference’s Metropolitan Division. They’ve lost their last three games, including a 5-2 loss to the Dallas Stars on Thursday.

The Blue Jackets travel to Michigan play the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. EST.