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Blue Jackets' coach Richards on injuries: 'I've never seen anything like this'

Kirk Irwin / Getty Images Sport / Getty

The Columbus Blue Jackets are banged up to an extraordinary degree in the early going this season. It's as if the fates have determined this franchise will never be permitted to make the postseason in two consecutive seasons.

"Whether I’ve done something, or somebody’s done something to the hockey gods … I’ve never seen anything like this," Blue Jackets coach Todd Richards told Aaron Portzline of the Columbus Dispatch following Tuesday night's game. "It seems like every time we play a game somebody’s getting hurt. At least that’s what it feels like right now."

On Tuesday night, the Blue Jackets played their first game without forward Nick Foligno, who sustained an apparent neck or head injury this weekend in a game against the Los Angeles Kings. Then they lost key defender James Wisniewski to a broken finger, and defensive center Artem Anisimov to a concussion.

Anisimov and Wisniewski joined a list of Blue Jackets' injured players that already includes Foligno, Matt Calvert (cut by a skate), Brandon Dubinsky (underwent surgery in September), Booner Jenner (broken hand), Sergei Bobrovsky (broken finger), and Nathan Horton (degenerative, career-threatening back ailment).

In summary, the Blue Jackets are without two forward lines worth of above-average regulars, arguably their best defenseman, and their Vezina-quality goaltender. That's a tough hand to be dealt early in the year, particularly in the competitive Metropolitan Division.

Its gotten so bad that it's almost comical. Even the Columbus Dispatch gently and hilariously poked fun at the team's injury woes in a recent comic, featuring the infamous Blue Jackets cannon:

(Courtesy: Columbus Dispatch)

Perhaps NHL teams should be advised: if the injury bug is your mascot, it might occasionally bite you.

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