Worldwide Sports News

The Columbus Blue Jackets have 44 days until opening night at Nationwide Arena. Today we look at the history of jersey #44. 

Let's take a look.

Rostislav Klesla - 2001-2004 - Klesla was drafted 4th overall in the 2000 NHL Draft.

Klesla's scouting report went like this, " Klesla is a very physical, defensive defenseman. Has solid hockey sense and positional skills. Doesn't score as many points as he possibly could. Also, he is rather prone to injury." Despite that last part about injuries, former GM Doug MacLean drafted Klesla at #4 anyway.

Klesla made his NHL debut in 2000 before he was sent back to Junior. He would come up in the next season and be there full-time. He would then go on to play in 515 games for the Jackets over the course of 10 seasons. On February 28, 2011, he was traded to the Phoenix Coyotes and played the next four years. 

In 2014, he would return to his home country of Czechia and play the next two years for HC Oceláři Třinec. After a four-year break from playing to coach for HC Vítkovice, he would play a season in Czechia's fourth-tier league before finally retiring. 

Peter Sarno - 2006 - Sarno was drafted in the 6th round of the 1997 NHL Draft by Edmonton

Sarno played a single game for the Blue Jackets during the 2005-06 season. He also played 39 games for the Syracuse Crunch that season. 

After his year with Columbus, he left for Europe, where he would play until 2010. 

Aaron Johnson - 2003-07/2011-12 - Johnson was drafted 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 powerplay. 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 

Aaron Rome - 2008 - Rome was drafted by the LA Kings in the 2002 NHL Draft. 

Rome played 25 games over the course of two seasons for Columbus after being traded from the Ducks on November 15, 2007. He totaled 1 goal and 3 points. He spent most of his time in Syracuse that season, playing 41 games. Rome would leave for the Vancouver Canucks in the summer of 2009 as a free agent. Rome would retire in 2014. 

Rome went on to spend three seasons as a skills coach for the Brandon Wheat Kings of the WHL. 

Grant Clitsome - 2010 - Clitsome was drafted in the 9th round of the 2004 NHL Draft by the CBJ.

Clitsome played in 93 games and had 36 points for Columbus. In 2012, he was placed on waivers in order to send him to Springfield of the AHL. But he was claimed by the Winnipeg Jets and would play the next three seasons for the Jets. 

He announced his retirement from professional hockey on June 1, 2016, after undergoing back surgery.

Justin Falk - 2015-2016 - Falk was drafted by the Minnesota Wild in the 4th round of the 2004 draft.

Falk played 29 games for the Blue Jackets and totaled 6 points.  On March 2, 2015, Falk requested a trade that sent him and a fifth-round pick in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft to the Columbus Blue Jackets for Jordan Leopold.  The following summer in 2016, he would sign with the Buffalo Sabres. 

After retiring in 20198, Falk went into coaching and was a scout for the Sabres in 24-25. 

Taylor Chorney - 2018 - Chorney was drafted by Edmonton in the second round of the 2005 draft.

Chorney would play a single game for Columbus after being picked up on waivers on February 21, 2018. After that one game, he left for Europe, where he played until 2021. He retired after the 2021 season. 

Vladislav Gavrikov - 2019-2022 - Gavrikov was drafted in the 6th round of the 2015 NHL Draft. 

Gavrikov played 256 games for the Jackets over the course of 4 seasons. He totaled 15 goals and 73 points. Gavrikov is widely considered one of the best late-round picks to ever play for the Jackets, despite his short time in Columbus. He played great defense and would always seem to show up on the scoreboard. 

After he signed a three-year, $8.4 million contract extension with the Blue Jackets in November of 2020, former GM Jarmo Kekäläinen would make the decision to trade Gavrikov to the LA Kings in March of 2023. A decision that a lot of CBJ hated and wondered why it happened. Kekäläinen knew Gavrikov was going to want a hefty raise and didn't want to pay him. 

Gavrikov signed a two-year extension with LA just a couple months after the trade. In the summer of 2025, Gavrikov would get his big contract. He signed a 7-year. $49-million deal with the New York Rangers, which will take him into his mid-30s. 

Erik Gudbranson - 2023-2025 - Gudbranson was drafted 3rd overall in the 2010 NHL Draft by the Florida Panthers. 

Gudbranson is going into the last year of a 4-year deal he signed with Columbus back in July of 2022. He has played 164 games and has 43 points. Unfortunately, he missed 66 games last season after suffering a shoulder injury that required surgery. 

Gudbranson is more than just a defenseman; he's a protector and intimidator. Gudbranson rarely fights but will when he has to. Mainly, he'll just stare at guys until they back down from him. 

With Gudbranson going into his final season on his current deal, many CBJ fans hope they re-sign him, while some others are hoping for someone else to step in and take his spot. He's a fan favorite and seems to love it in Columbus. 

Let us know what you think below.

Stay updated with the most interesting Blue Jackets stories, analysis, breaking news, and more!

Tap the star to add us to your favorites on Google News and never miss a story.

More From THN Columbus

Blue Jackets, Flames & NHL Make Donations In Honour Of Johnny & Matthew Gaudreau

A Year Without Johnny: The Blue Jackets Play On, But Never Alone

Columbus Blue Jackets' Historical Statistics

It’s been a busy summer for Montreal Canadiens’ GM Kent Hughes. After his young team surprised the media and qualified for the playoffs, the man in charge didn’t rest on his laurels; he went out and got All-Star defenseman Noah Dobson in a trade with the New York Islanders and added some firepower up front with the acquisition of Zachary Bolduc by sending Logan Mailloux to the St. Louis Blues. One area of concern remains, however: the Habs' depth at center.

TSN Analyst Travis Yost has been publishing his Summer Talent Tiers series, and this past week, he focused on center depths. Unsurprisingly, powerhouse teams such as the Colorado Avalanche, the Edmonton Oilers, the Dallas Stars, and the Florida Panthers are in the top tier. However, two teams are in the bottom tier, at the very bottom of the rankings: the Canadiens and the Nashville Predators.

Canadiens: Suzuki’s 4 Nations Face Off Snub Wasn’t A Message
Former Canadiens Player Is Still A Hab At Heart
Former Canadiens Player Gets Front Office Job

In a nutshell, Yost explains the Canadiens’ ranking by the fact that Kirby Dach has been consistently injured, with only 47% of the time available to the team over the last three seasons. This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anybody who follows the Tricolore.

The Habs have been struggling down the middle for ages, including for most of the Marc Bergevin era. The former DG was on to something when he fleeced the Chicago Blackhawks, sending them Dale Weise and Tomas Fleischmann for former first-round pick Philip Danault and a second-round pick.

Against all odds, Danault showed that he had plenty of offensive acumen and ended up centering the Canadiens’ top line between Brendan Gallagher and Tomas Tatar. Still, when the time came to sign him to a new contract, the former GM wouldn’t reportedly budge from his six-year, $30 million offer, and the center ended up signing a six-year, $33 million contract with the Los Angeles Kings.

Danault took his offensive instinct, his skills in the faceoff department, and his penalty-killing efficiency to Los Angeles, leaving a gaping hole down the middle for the Canadiens. The fact that Jesperi Kotkaniemi signed a disproportionate offer sheet with the Carolina Hurricanes in the same offseason didn’t help either, making a panicked Bergevin acquire Christian Dvorak from the defunct Arizona Coyotes. A few months later, Bergevin was shown the door by Geoff Molson, and Hughes inherited the depleted center line.

The new GM went out and acquired two young players he believed could play center in two seasons, Dach and Alex Newhook. Neither had managed to make their mark with the teams that drafted them, but the GM felt the Canadiens could help them reach their potential. Three years and many injuries later, Dach had only a 40.3% success rate in the faceoff department and managed 22 points in 57 games during the 2024-25 season. Those are not second-line center numbers. In other words, even when he is playing, the Habs do not have a genuine second-line center.

As for Newhook, circumstances have forced Martin St-Louis to use him mainly as a center, despite evidence suggesting he is more suited to a winger role. Much like Dach, his faceoff numbers are just not good enough (42.8%), and neither is his offensive output (26 points in 82 games).

Canadiens: Newhook Looking For Success At Faceoff DotOn Wednesday, Quartexx Hockey shared a reel in which Montreal Canadiens forward Alex Newhook could be seen working on his faceoff skills alongside San Jose Sharks’ Will Smith under the watchful eye of former Boston Bruins captain Patrice Bergeron.

As the season draws near, the only real center the Canadiens have added this season is Joe Veleno on the free agency market. The Detroit Red Wings' first-round pick and 30th overall at the 2018 draft is better than Dach and Newhook in the faceoff department with a 46.9% success rate, but in 74 games this past season, he could only muster 18 points. In four full NHL seasons, he has never put up more than 28 points.

Whichever way you look at it, the Canadiens do not have a real second-line center on the roster. Yes, Oliver Kapanen and Owen Beck are knocking at the Habs’ door to make the team this season, but throwing them in the deep end as second-line center would be doing them a disservice; they are not ready yet for that kind of role, and they might never be.

While Kapanen scored 35 points in 36 games with Timra IK in the Swedish League, the caliber of play is not the same as it is in the NHL. In the 18 games he played with the Habs last season, he could only put up two points. Granted, he didn’t have much ice time, but when he was allowed to play in the top six, it was clear that he was not yet ready for it.

As for Beck, even at the junior level, he couldn’t pick up more than 81 points in a season. Last year, in Laval, he had 44 points in 64 games. On a contending team, Beck is a third-line center, not part of the top six. It’s worth mentioning, however, that in his 12 games with the Canadiens, he did maintain a 53.8% success rate at the faceoff dot.

Then, there’s Jake Evans, who’s just coming off the best season of his career and is undoubtedly a center. He’s a skilled penalty killer, has a 51.6% success rate when taking draws across his six-year career in the NHL, but he’s not a big points producer. He’s a very hard worker, but he lacks the offensive instincts to succeed as a top-six center; he could be a temporary solution. As for the newly acquired Bolduc, he hasn’t played pivot since his junior days, and while he may be able to do it, he may have his hands full this year learning a new system in Montreal.

The Yost assessment is correct, but the good news is that the Habs brass is painfully aware of the issue down the middle and is trying to fix it. Unfortunately, the Canadiens are not the only team with an issue down the middle, and fixing it is not as easy as one would hope.

---

Canadiens stories, analysis, breaking news, and more! Tap the star to add us to your favorites on Google News, never to miss a story.  

Follow Karine on X @KarineHains Bluesky @karinehains.bsky.social and Threads @karinehains.

Bookmark The Hockey News Canadiens' page for all the news and happenings around the Canadiens.

Join the discussion by signing up to the Canadiens' roundtable on The Hockey News.

New Jersey Devils assistant general manager Dan MacKinnon recently spoke with NHL.com ahead of the 2025-26 season.

With several players competing for roster spots, MacKinnon highlighted forward Arseniy Gritsyuk, who is expected to arrive in New Jersey this week.

Gritsyuk was selected 129th overall in the 2019 NHL Draft, the same year the Devils took Jack Hughes first overall. After several seasons in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL), the 24-year-old winger is now ready to compete for a spot in the NHL.

Expectations are already high. Last season, Gritsyuk tallied 17 goals and 27 assists for 44 points in 49 games. He officially signed with the Devils in May and is confirmed to be traveling to North America.

Ahead of his arrival, MacKinnon compared Gritsyuk’s path to another familiar case:

“If you're looking for an NHL comparison, I look at Evgenii Dadonov, who came over early but it didn’t work. He went back to the KHL for several years and then came over the second time, which was more in line with the age Gritsyuk is now, and it went very well,” MacKinnon told NHL.com. “We’re hoping the added time that Arseni took in the KHL means the first audition sticks.”

For his part, Gritsyuk isn’t worried about where he’ll slot into the lineup. Speaking with Russian outlet TASS, he said:

“I don’t have any favorite hockey players — you evaluate them from a professional point of view. I studied the team’s roster. Yes, there’s Jack Hughes, Nico Hischier — top-six center forwards. I’d like to join them, but we’ll see how ready I am.”

He also praised the Devils’ two franchise centers, pointing out their contrasting styles:

“Hughes skates well, Hischier is more of a two-way forward, and he can also fight in defense. It is clear that Hughes is a superstar, and the whole team is built around him to get results. So it will be harder with him in the line — you will have to do more work. But it makes no difference to me which of them I play with.”

Both Gritsyuk and the Devils’ staff are eager to see how he transitions to the North American game. He will make his debut at training camp this month, giving fans their first real look at what he can bring to the ice.