Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

After 26-game absence, Dubinsky to make season debut tomorrow

Columbus Blue Jackets v Edmonton Oilers

EDMONTON, AB - NOVEMBER 19: Brandon Dubinsky #17 of the Columbus Blue Jackets skates against the Edmonton Oilers during an NHL game at Rexall Place on November 19, 2013 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. (Photo by Derek Leung/Getty Images)

Derek Leung

Dubi’s back.

That was the news out of Columbus on Monday head coach Todd Richards announced that Brandon Dubinsky would return to the lineup tomorrow when the Jackets host the Flyers at Nationwide.

It’ll be Dubinsky’s first game of the season.

Dubinsky, one of the club’s alternate captains, has been sidelined since the exhibition campaign after undergoing abdominal surgery, one of the toughest losses for a Columbus team that’s been ravaged by injury this season. The 28-year-old was one of the Blue Jackets’ most valuable players a year ago, scoring 16 goals and 50 points in 76 games while averaging nearly 19 minutes a night.

In the club’s opening-round playoff loss to Pittsburgh, Dubinsky scored six points in six games and upped his TOI to 20:43 per night. He subsequently signed a six-year, $35.1 million extension with Columbus in July.

With Dubinsky back in the mix, the Blue Jackets should feel good about their game. The club is on its first three-game winning streak of the season and -- while it’s still without Nathan Horton, Ryan Murray, Artem Anisimov, Mark Letestu and Fedor Tyutin -- Columbus is somewhat healthier than its been in previous weeks, which is a step in the right direction.