Lundestrom's Status Hasn't Changed, and That's the Problem

Columbus spent the summer methodically patching the forward depth that fell apart in April — Nichushkin, Tuch, Sillinger locked up on a three-year deal — and the roster looked close to settled. Then there's Isac Lundestrom, who has been out since late July with no timeline attached to his return. I noted it two days ago. Nothing has changed.

That's the part worth watching as camp approaches. The Blue Jackets built their offseason around adding bodies to a group that went nearly scoreless over its final ten games, and the additions are real. But depth is only depth when everyone is available. Lundestrom sitting in an unknown status doesn't blow up the forward group, but it does tighten the margin — and this is a team that already knows what happens when the margin disappears.

The Sillinger extension and the Nichushkin acquisition were designed to give Rick Bowness options in the middle six. Lundestrom's situation, if it lingers into camp, starts to eat into exactly those options. No timeline means no planning around it, which is the worst kind of roster complication — not a crisis, just a persistent low-grade uncertainty that makes everything else a little harder to map out.