This season has not gone the way that the Columbus Blue Jackets envisioned. They spent big in the offseason, hired Mike Babcock and looked like a team with real playoff aspirations. Well, things got off the rails very early and the latest chapter involves one of their top prospects, David Jiricek, who sounded off about his lack of playing time in the NHL. Patrik Laine also announced he is stepping away from the team for mental health reasons. 

Frank and Jason started things off by talking about the Jiricek situation before getting into Laine. Frank talked about the uptick in players taking mental health leaves. 

From there, the guys got into the Brendan Gallagher suspension. Gregor said it should have been closer to ten games while Frank thinks this whole situation reeks of the Department of Player Safety wanting to avoid a potential appeal from the player.

The New York Rangers were dealt a big blow over the weekend as they announced that Filip Chytil will miss the remainder of the season with an upper-body injury. That creates a big hole in their lineup that they’ll need to fill ahead of the deadline. Frank thinks they could add two centres before March 8th.

They also hit on the playoff races in each the East and West before getting to Tyler with a new edition of Fill in the Blank, where he asked the guys about the Art Ross race, the Blues heater, and who’s the comeback player of the year.

1:22 - Jiricek speaks out

10:20 - Laine steps away

20:50 - Gallagher suspension

24:05 - Rangers deadline plans

26:10 - Playoff races

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