Talks are beginning to heat up between defenseman Ivan Provorov and the Columbus Blue Jackets on a long-term extension as per The Athletic's Pierre LeBrun. The soon-to-be unrestricted free agent is highly interested in signing an extension with Columbus.

The NHL is going to have some tight races when it comes to the end-of-season awards, and the Columbus Blue Jackets might have a surprise entrant for a key one.

The Blue Jackets won impressively, defeating the Maple Leafs by a score of 5-1. And who was the star of the game? In a very cinematic twist, it was Fantilli who delivered a career

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This is a team coming out of its rebuild and into its build phase. It has the potential to contend as it matures and as the roster is further tweaked.

Evason knew he was taking on a challenge, but he expected to have Monahan playing with forward Johnny Gaudreau, his close friend and former Calgary Flames teammate. He expected to have captain Boone Jenner and defenseman Erik Gudbranson to lead a group of skilled young players.

Matthew Knies appears to have suffered his second injury this season. The Toronto Maple Leafs forward was throwing a check at Columbus Blue Jackets forward Kirill Marchenko late in the second period when he fell to the ice awkwardly. this happened at the end of Knies' last shift he left the bench early pic.twitter.com/ttWe3jVggl

Fantilli's first NHL hat trick, two-point game for Del Belluz and a big night from Merzlikins in net help Blue Jackets stun the Maple Leafs.

The Toronto Maple Leafs' recent games have shown one thing: fighting's place in the NHL is evolving to the point that it's not a needle-mover, says Adam Proteau.

Projected Lineup **Lines Subject to Change Before game time Dmitri Voronkov - Adam Fantilli - Kirill Marchenko James van Riemsdyk - Luca Del Bel Belluz - Kent Johnson Zach Aston-Reese - Sean Kuraly -