Blue Jackets place Brandon Dubinsky on LTIR with chronic wrist injury

It might seem like a strange time to do it, but the Columbus Blue Jackets announced they have placed veteran forward Brandon Dubinsky on long-term injured reserve.

Columbus, which didn't have a need to place the forward on LTIR up until now, was forced into the roster move, as the contract of Jack Roslovic — whom the team acquired along with Patrik Laine Saturday in the Pierre-Luc Dubois trade — took effect on Sunday. Meaning, the Blue Jackets would have been over the salary cap by just over $100K if they didn’t move Dubinsky to LTIR.

Dubinsky hasn’t played since the 2019 playoffs as he’s been hampered with a chronic wrist injury and likely will never play again. He missed the entire 2019-20 season. The 34-year-old is in the final year of a six year, $35.1M contract with a $5.85M AAV. The veteran signed the extension after a 16-goal, 50-point season with 234 hits back in the 2013-14 season. The deal looked good for the first year or two, but the forward’s offense saw a decline after that, posting just six goals in his third and fourth years and spending most of his time in the bottom six.