Columbus Blue Jackets’ forward Sean Kuraly out week-to-week with lower-body injury

The Columbus Blue Jackets have announced that forward Sean Kuraly is out week-to-week with a lower-body injury. He left last night’s game early due to the injury and only played just over nine minutes in that game. This season Kuraly has scored nine goals and 17 points in 57 games played, along with 38 penalty minutes and a -3 rating.

Kuraly is a defensive forward who has been a member of the Blue Jackets since the 2021-22 season. He signed a four-year deal with Columbus which earns him $2.5 million annually. He has one year remaining on that contract.

This season, Kuraly would be on pace for 24 points over 82 games if he hadn’t gotten injured. That would have been the second-best offensive season of his career. His best season was his first year in Columbus when he put up 14 goals and 30 points in the 2021-22 season.

The Blue Jackets have been struggling mightily this year and are currently ranked fourth-last in the NHL standings. They’re ahead of only the San Jose Sharks, Chicago Blackhawks, and Anaheim Ducks. The silver lining is that Columbus is on track to receive a top-five draft pick this year and they have a chance of winning the first overall pick and drafting Macklin Celebrini.

Right now the Blue Jackets’ organisational center depth includes Adam Fantilli, Kent Johnson, Cole Sillinger, Boone Jenner, Sean Kuraly, and Luca Del Bel Belluz. That is already a very deep center group and will only get better with time as Fantilli, Johnson, Sillinger, and Del Bel Belluz grow into impactful NHL players. If they end up drafting Celebrini or Ivan Demidov in this year’s draft the team’s center depth will go from solid to dominant.

Over his career, Kuraly has scored 58 goals and 135 points in 475 games between the Boston Bruins and Blue Jackets.