Category: Sports News

The Columbus Blue Jackets have 5 days until opening night at Nationwide Arena. Today, we look at everyone's favorite number - Jersey #5.

Let's take a look at who wore 5, and where they are now. 

Jamie Pushor - 2001-2006 - Drafted by Pittsburgh in 1989.

Heward played 97 games with Columbus and had 30 points. 69 of his games came during the inaugural season for Columbus.  

After several years in Europe, he returned to the NHL and retired with the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2009. Heward has been an Asst. Coach for the Henderson Silver Knights since 2020. Former Monsters captain Ryan Craig is the head coach for Henderson. 

Darryl Sydor - 2004 - Drafted by LA in 1990. 

Sydor played a total of 49 games for Columbus during the 2003-04 season. He was traded to the Jackets in the Summer of 2003 and then traded to the Lightning during that season. He had 15 points for Columbus.

He went on to play another five NHL seasons before retiring on July 13, 2010. After retiring, he transitioned into coaching, serving as an assistant for the Blues and Wild. He also owns the Kamloops Blazers of the WHL. 

Christian Bäckman - 2009 - Drafted by St. Louis in 1998.

Bäckman played 56 games for the Jackets in 2008-09 after being acquired by Columbus in the trade that sent Nikolai Zherdev and Dan Fritsche to the Rangers. 

He left for Europe in 2009, where he signed with Frölunda HC in Sweden. He retired in 2015. 

Aaron Johnson - 2012 - Drafted by Columbus in the 3rd round of the 2001 NHL Entry Draft.

Johnson played 172 games for the Jackets over two stints. Scouts said of Johnson was "A puck-moving defenseman, Johnson is a very good skater. Has good offensive instincts and can quarterback the power play. Can play a tough and physical game. Needs to improve his play in his own end."

During his time with Columbus, he also spent three years with the AHL Syracuse Crunch, where he had 73 points in those three seasons. 

In 2016, he left North America and signed on with Adler Mannheim of the DEL in Germany. He then left for England, where he played for the Sheffield Steelers of the EIHL. In 2021, he became a Player-Asst. Coach for a season. He came back home to Columbus in 2021 and joined the Jackets as a Team Consultant. Last season, he was the Team Relations Specialist for the Jackets.

Jack Skille - 2014 - Drafted by Chicago in 2005.

Skille played 61 games for Columbus and had 12 points. On July 6, 2013, Skille was signed as a free agent by the CBJ, but the following summer, he left in free agency. On October 5, 2014, Skille was claimed off waivers by Columbus, where he would play in 45 games. He left Columbus again and would play a season in Colorado and a season in Vancouver. 

In 2017, he left for Europe, where he played in Russia, Switzerland, Germany, and Austria. He retired in 2021 and went into coaching. He's currently a skills coach and the Director of Skills Development for the ECHL's Utah Grizzlies franchise. The Grizzlies are moving to Trenton, New Jersey, at the end of the 25-26 season. 

Gavin Bayreuther - 2022 - Undrafted out of Canaan, New Hampshire.

Bayreuther played 103 games for Columbus and totaled 23 points over three seasons. He also played for the Dallas Stars.

He was made famous in 2021 when he was selected by the Seattle Kraken in the NHL Expansion Draft. One week later, he signed a two-year deal with Columbus, marking the end of his long tenure with Seattle.

After playing last season in Switzerland for Lausanne HC, he has come back to North America and will play for the Chicago Wolves of the AHL. 

Denton Mateychuk - 2025 - Drafted by Columbus in 2022. 

Mateychuk was called up mid-way through last season and never looked back. He played in 45 games for the CBJ and scored 13 points. He was also a plus-4, which isn't bad for a young defenseman. 

Before being called up from the Cleveland Monsters, he was having himself a season in the AHL. Playing in just 27 games, he scored 9 goals and totaled 25 points, so the Jackets had no choice but to call him up. 

Mateychuk was named to the NHL's all-rookie team for his play last season. This season, he will be looking to avoid the dreaded sophomore slump and continue to be a solid blueliner for the upstart Jackets. 

Elite Prospects said of Mateychuk in their draft guide, Constant motion allows Mateychuk to break from his team's structure in the offensive zone and seek opportunities that just aren't there for other defenseman. He prods for soft ice, finds it, and times his entrance into that space at the best possible moment for a shooting opportunity or a chance to hit his teammate elsewhere with a perfectly weighted pass for a chance of their own."

There are six days left until opening night at Nationwide Arena. Who was your favorite #6?

The start of the 2025-26 season starts this Thursday, as the CBJ travel to Nashville to play the Predators at Bridgestone Arena. 

The season kicks off this Thursday in Nashville against the Predators at Bridgestone Arena. This is going to be an interesting season, and if the Jackets can stay healthy, they should have a decent year.

Let us know what you think below.

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More From THN Columbus 

THN Columbus: 32 Predictions For The 25-26 NHL SeasonWith the 24-25 season starting today, The Hockey News Columbus is going to take a shot at some predictions. Spencer Lazary and I are going to do our best.   Nolan Lalonde Assigned To ECHLNolan Lalonde, the unsigned free agent from Kingston, Ontario, will be making his pro debut in the ECHL.  The Columbus Blue Jackets Opening Night Roster Is SetSay hello to the 2025-26 edition of the Columbus Blue Jackets. 

As he did last year, top center prospect Jett Luchanko has made the Philadelphia Flyers ahead of opening night, but it's still uncertain as to whether he's truly ready for NHL action.

The Flyers themselves don't appear to know what they want to do yet either, and it will affect their lineup as well as the development of the player.

Luchanko, 19, played four NHL games for the Flyers last year, 46 games for the OHL Guelph Storm, 16 total games for the AHL Lehigh Valley Phantoms, and five games for the Canada U20s at World Juniors.

That's a lot of bouncing around for a player who had previously only played for Guelph and Canada's U18 and U17 squads in the two seasons prior.

"It can't be a steady diet of it, not playing. You've got to be careful," Flyers head coach Rick Tocchet said of Luchanko on Monday. "It's that rule, you know? That sweet spot, if a guy can't play in the minors, you have to send him to junior. We're stuck in that situation a little bit. It happened with Barrett Hayton with me in Arizona. You can't have guys sitting around too much, so we got to figure that out."

The NCAA could have been a viable route for Luchanko, as it was for 2025 first-round pick Porter Martone this summer, if he hadn't signed his entry-level deal with the Flyers so soon as a week after being drafted.

NHL Trade Rumors: Flyers Badly Need Defensive UpgradesThe Philadelphia Flyers are reportedly scouring the NHL trade market for much-needed defensive reinforcements, but which players are actually going to be worth their while?

The ever-divisive Zeev Buium played college hockey at the University of Denver, and Konsta Helenius, one of the 2024 NHL Draft's top center prospects, had two pro seasons under his belt with Jukurit of Finland's Liiga and was able to play in the AHL immediately.

But, the Flyers ultimately went with Luchanko as the player they thought was the best fit for them, even though they had the least control over his development path between him, Buium, and Helenius.

Now, like last year, the Flyers are stuck deliberating on a near-daily basis whether to play Luchanko or sit him.

The former 13th overall pick had 56 points in 46 games as captain of the Storm last year, but it's not as if he's blowing the doors off, even if Guelph is a bad team. Creating offense and scoring are the obvious concerns with Luchanko, and, in theory, he should be able to spend plenty of time working on that whilst trying to keep the team within reach of winning games.

However, it's clear that the Flyers are averse to this idea and prefer to keep him in-house, even at the inevitable cost of playing time.

Luchanko can and will hold his own, yes, but can the Flyers get him to do more than that? It's the golden question, and one that's hard to answer given his 19 years of age.

Flyers Preseason Stock Up, Stock Down: Chemistry and Causes for ConcernThe Philadelphia Flyers finished the 2025 preseason with a 3-4-0 record, needing a shootout to achieve each of those three wins. Despite some new players impressing, there are causes for concern, too.

What we can deduce, however, is that the Flyers didn't give themselves the best runway for developing a player by selecting Luchanko over a Helenius, for example.

Of course, Luchanko's assist in the 4-3 shootout win over the New Jersey Devils in the preseason finale came when he was on the ice with Travis Sanheim, who scored the goal, Cam York, Nikita Grebenkin, and Garnet Hathaway.

Hathaway is a fourth-liner, yes, but Luchanko's ceiling is further limited when he's paired with another in Nick Deslauriers or Rodrigo Abols.

With that said, Luchanko playing NHL games with the Flyers can work, but only if and when he plays with players who can help him reach the Flyers' aspirations for his developing scoring touch.

A new season for the Florida Panthers is off and running.

Florida raised their 2025 Stanley Cup Champions banner before hosting the Chicago Blackhawks on Opening Night Tuesday at Amerant Bank Arena.

Overall, it was a strong performance for the Cats, skating to a 3-2 victory over Chicago and starting their title defense off on the right foot.

Let’s get to the first takeaways of the new season:

STRONG START FOR PK

Florida allowed the Blackhawks three power play opportunities over the final two periods, all while the game was tied at two goals apiece.

They all could have been crucial moments in the game for the visitors, but Florida held strong, blocking shot after shot and keeping Sergei Bobrovsky’s crease relatively clean.

He only needed to make two saves on those three power plays, and less than two minutes after they killed off the third penalty, Jesper Boqvist scored the game-winning goal.

“Yeah, really nice,” Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad said of Florida’s PK. “Bob stood tall, we found a way to make their break ins hard, couple really good blocked shots, some good sticks. So yeah, that's the foundation of the PK.”

A BANNER NIGHT

It’s really something when looking up into the rafters at Amerant Bank Arena these days.

Four Eastern Conference Championship banners.

Four division championship banners.

A Presidents’ Trophy banner.

And now, not one but two Stanley Cup Championship banners.

“It's a great opportunity to enjoy it last one last time, and kind of turn the page,” said Panthers forward Brad Marchand. “The second that puck drops, it's a whole new season, a new opportunity, new challenges. We’ve already had to face some adversity this year, and it's a great opportunity to come together. It’s a pretty special feeling, being able to watch it go up, knowing that's going to be up there forever.”

STRONG KNIGHT FOR SPENCER

The return of former Panthers first round pick Spencer Knight was a strong one for the young goaltender.

Florida kept the pressure on their ex-teammate for much of the game, but Knight stood tall.

He finished with 34 saves, including 12 of the high danger variety, looking very much like the future franchise goaltender that the Panthers viewed him as during his tenure in South Florida.

“His strength is lateral (movement), and he was outstanding with that,” said Maurice. “We had some really high end looks and some pretty good shooters in there, so those are legit saves that he made, and that's the value to a young team in Chicago. Chances for and against tonight, it wasn't particularly close, but he did what he needed to do to give his team a chance to win.”

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Photo caption: Oct 7, 2025; Sunrise, Florida, USA; Chicago Blackhawks center Sam Lafferty (24) moves the puck against Florida Panthers center Anton Lundell (15) during the second period at Amerant Bank Arena. (Sam Navarro-Imagn Images)

Sammy Blais is back playing with head coach Craig Berube.

The 29-year-old and goaltender Cayden Primeau were the waiver claims made by the Toronto Maple Leafs on Monday afternoon. Both players arrived in Toronto on Monday evening and got into their first practice with the team on Tuesday morning.

"I was happy," Blais said about being claimed by the Maple Leafs, after the Montreal Canadiens put him on waivers Sunday. "I think it's a good opportunity for me to be here and knowing some people here too for sure helps."

Blais signed a one-year, $775,000 contract with the Canadiens on the opening day of free agency in July. He was one of Montreal's final roster cuts ahead of Monday's 5 p.m. opening day roster deadline.

Once Toronto received word that their claim of Blais was accepted, they made adjustments accordingly, which included keeping Easton Cowan off the roster and calling up Jacob Quillan from the AHL's Toronto Marlies (salary cap shenanigans).

Explained: Why Easton Cowan Was Temporarily Left Off Maple Leafs Season-Opening RosterThere was some chaos around 5 p.m. ET when the Toronto Maple Leafs announced their opening night roster. Jacob Quillan was on it rather than Easton Cowan, who many expected to be.

Blais was drafted by the St. Louis Blues in the sixth round (176th overall) of the 2014 NHL Draft. He spent four seasons in the Blues' organization before joining the New York Rangers, with whom he tore his ACL in November 2021.

He appeared in 40 games with the Rangers in 2022-23 prior to returning to the Blues via trade. He then inked a one-year, $1 million contract in March 2023 and played one more season in St. Louis, where he scored one goal and seven points in 53 games.

"Sammy's had a history with (Berube) going back to St. Louis. He won a cup in St. Louis. If you look back, he was a real good player in St. Louis. Went to New York, went through a major injury with his knee and sort of had to rebuild himself, right?" Maple Leafs GM Brad Treliving said on Tuesday.

"He's a player that had spent last year in the American League and was a big part of that team's success, winning the Calder Cup. We'd had good reports. Our staff had seen him a lot over his career, but specifically last year. Had a good camp in Montreal. Gives us some depth and a history with the coach for a player we need."

Maple Leafs Believe ‘Things Are Progressing Well’ With Joseph Woll And An Updated Look At Toronto's Goaltending Situation One day before the Toronto Maple Leafs' regular season opener, Maple Leafs GM Brad Treliving provided an update on goaltender Joseph Woll, who has been absent for most of training camp to tend to a personal matter.

Blais spent the entirety of last season with the Abbotsford Canucks on an AHL contract. After a strong regular season, scoring 14 goals and 40 points in 51 games, Blais put up six goals and 19 points en route to a Calder Cup Championship.

"I think even going back in AHL last year, I thought I found my game back a little bit, like not just physically, but offensively, too," Blais said. "So I had a lot of fun last year. And I think my confidence went up a lot last year. So I'm just trying to be here and have fun and do the job."

Coming to Toronto, he has some familiarity. As previously mentioned, Blais won the Stanley Cup with the Berube-coached Blues in 2019. The forward had one goal and two assists, plus 70 hits (fourth-most on the Blues), in 15 games with St. Louis during that playoff run.

"I really like the person, the player. He's physical, and he's got good puck skills. I had him in the minors, he scored 30 goals. I mean, he's got good skills," Berube said. "I'm happy to have him back. Looking forward to working with him again here."

Auston Matthews, Connor McDavid On Track for 2028 Free Agency Together — What It Means For The Maple Leafs StarIt was a bit of a surprise when Connor McDavid put pen to paper on a new two-year contract extension with the Edmonton Oilers. While the $12.5 million average annual value matched his previous eight-year deal, he could have commanded any dollar he wanted —as seen by Kirill Kaprizov’s eight-year, $17 million contract. It’s clear McDavid wants to win, and this short-term deal allows the Oilers to continue building a Stanley Cup contender.

This reunion could work quite well for Toronto. Blais plays the style that Berube wants from his players, which, in theory, should translate into on-ice success. 

"He knows what I expect out of him, and I know what I'm getting out of him," added Berube. "I think more than anything, I know what type of player he is and what he brings to our team. And he knows what I want. So I think it's good that way."

When Blais could get into Toronto's lineup remains a mystery, though. He was the extra forward during the team's practice on Tuesday. There's also the Easton Cowan situation playing out, so who knows when he'll get into the lineup.

Nevertheless, the fit made sense, and that's what matters most to the Maple Leafs, and to Blais.

"I know what (Berube) expects from me, so I think it makes it a little easier to know someone. But I'm just excited to show that I can still play in this league."

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While much has been written about the Montreal Canadiens’ new arrivals this summer, we haven’t heard quite as much about how former Habs are faring elsewhere. Two players were sacrificed (and some draft picks) to obtain Noah Dobson from the New York Islanders and Zack Bolduc from the St. Louis Blues. How have they done so far?

In Long Island, Emil Heineman seems to have found a spot on one of the Islanders’ top lines alongside Jonathan Drouin and Bo Horvat, and plays on the second power play unit. If this proves to be a long-term position, this trade will have been brilliant for Heineman, who had a more depth role in Montreal. Just like with the Canadiens, it’s his physicality on the forecheck that has caught the attention of the coaching staff.

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Canadiens: A Stronger Lineup?

Meanwhile, in St. Louis, Mailloux has been told to find himself a place to live in town, which bodes well for the young defenseman. Unlike in Montreal, the Blues’ AHL affiliate isn’t next door; the Springfield Thunderbirds are an hour and a half away from their parent club.

In other words, for now at least, Mailloux has done what he couldn’t do in Montreal: he’s made the team. With four points in as many games, Mailloux appears to have landed a third pairing spot and a role on the second power play unit.

It will be interesting to see what Bolduc and Dobson can do with their new team this season. So far, both have dealt with minor injuries, but nothing that will prevent them from playing in the first game of the season against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday. The blueliner will be paired up with Mike Matheson and have first pairing duty, while Bolduc appears destined to play alongside Kirby Dach and Brendan Gallagher, bringing some much-needed speed to that line.

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