Blue Jackets basic supervisor Don Waddell said last week that star middle prospect Cayden Lindstrom was unlikely to swimsuit up in subsequent month’s NHL Prospects Problem in Buffalo. Speaking to Aaron Portzline of The Athletic, Waddell confirmed Lindstrom gained’t take part within the occasion and gained’t be totally cleared firstly of coaching camp as he recovers from a disc herniation that value him a lot of his draft 12 months.
The again challenge shouldn’t plague Lindstrom deep into the common season. Waddell and Lindstrom’s agent, Wasserman Hockey’s Daren Hermiston, “agreed that he’s getting near a return,” Portzline mentioned. There’s a definite air of warning in how the Blue Jackets select to deal with Lindstrom’s return to full contact, prioritizing the long-term assist of a participant they hope generally is a top-six reply down the center for years to come back.
Lindstrom, 18, performed solely 36 whole video games with the Drugs Hat Tigers of the Western Hockey League final season. His common season resulted in mid-December, and he battled via the damage to play 4 postseason video games. However when he was within the lineup, the British Columbia native confirmed why he was some of the distinctive abilities on this summer season’s draft. He was the Tigers’ finest pure sniper with 27 objectives in 32 regular-season contests, and his 1.44 factors per sport had been tied for second on the group behind projected 2026 first-overall choice Gavin McKenna (1.59). The pivot has NHL-ready measurement at 6-foot-3 and 214 kilos and is concerned bodily, typically crossing the road, as evidenced by his 66 PIMs.
Recurring again issues might be debilitating for a participant who thrives on Lindstrom’s kind of fashion, so it’s no shock that Columbus gained’t give him a full clearance till he’s really 100%.
“Earlier than we drafted him, we had all the MRIs, all of the assessments, and every little thing else from his brokers and medical doctors,” Waddell advised Portzline. “That is one thing he’s going to get higher from, however we need to be actually cautious with it. I’ve mentioned all alongside we’re going to slow-play this one. I’m going to be the conservative one right here.”
The damage does, nonetheless, possible take away any slim probabilities he had of creating the NHL roster out of camp. Waddell, coming into his first 12 months in Columbus after six years as GM of the Hurricanes, is not any stranger to letting prospects overbake, so it was at all times possible Lindstrom would spend all of 2024-25 again in Drugs Hat. Giving him a nine-game trial of NHL motion with no complete coaching camp to work as much as it actually goes towards the “conservative” ethos Waddell describes.
Lindstrom, whom the Blue Jackets chosen No. 4 total in June, is the one member of the highest 4 but to signal his entry-level contract. However that delay isn’t associated to his damage, Waddell mentioned. He advised Portzline that he’s “assuming we’ll signal him in coaching camp” after saying this to Hermiston earlier this summer season.