Evason knew he was taking on a challenge, but he expected to have Monahan playing with forward Johnny Gaudreau, his close friend and former Calgary Flames teammate. He expected to have captain Boone Jenner and defenseman Erik Gudbranson to lead a group of skilled young players.

The Blue Jackets are next in action Thursday night in Las Vegas.

With 50 games down, Columbus is in the mix for a postseason berth, and the Jackets say they're embracing the challenge

Captain Boone Jenner, who has been out all season after suffering a shoulder injury at the end of training camp, got a clean bill of health from doctors, allowing him to join the Blue Jackets last Saturday for a morning skate before they played the Los Angeles Kings.

Jenner hasn't set a specific return date, but joined the Blue Jackets' morning skate Saturday and plans to rejoin practices soon.

This is a team coming out of its rebuild and into its build phase. It has the potential to contend as it matures and as the roster is further tweaked.

Setback' with wrist injury pushes Monahan's likely return for Blue Jackets into March and extends Fantilli's role replacing him on the top line.

COLUMBUS -- Kirill Marchenko scored at 3:45 of overtime when the Columbus Blue Jackets recovered to defeat the Los Angeles Kings 3-2 at Nationwide Arena on Saturday.

Despite losing Laine and Gaudreau as top scorers, the fast-rising Blue Jackets have impressed GM Don Waddell with a offensive firepower.

Head Coach Dean Evason will try to get his team to win three of four games against the Canes on the season. This will be his 300th career game as a head coach in the NHL, and he has a career NHL coaching record of 170-95-34.

Luca Del Bel Belluz has not stopped exceeding expectations this season. At 21 years old, Del Bel Belluz is already becoming an impact player for the Columbus