Blue Jackets -230 @ Senators +190 7:00 p.m.
Pick: Blue Jackets money line -230
Last night forwards, Matt Duchene, Mark Stone, and Ryan Dzingel were scratched from the Senators (22-33-5) line up against the Devils. This was because trades were inevitable for these players and the first domino fell earlier this afternoon as Matt Duchene was sent to the Columbus Blue Jackets (33-23-3) along with D Julius Bergman for prospects F Vitali Abramov and F Jonathan Davidsson along with a 2019 first-round pick and a 2020 conditional first-round pick. Duchene and Stone took turns leading the Sens in points and have been the two most coveted names on every GM’s wish list heading into Monday’s 3:00 p.m. ET trade deadline. With Duchene now playing instead for tonight’s opponent and Stone/Dzingel still sitting out (at the time of writing these two have not been traded yet), tonight’s game is pretty straightforward.
Last night Ottawa iced almost an entirely AHL caliber team against the Devils and it showed as they got shut out 4-0. If New Jersey can do that kind of damage to Ottawa, then Columbus plus Matt Duchene, certainly can take them to the cleaners. We think this is a pretty safe bet to make tonight as the Blue Jackets need to keep pushing and can’t afford to drop easy wins such as these, especially if they intend on using F Artemi Panarin as an own rental as he plans to test the waters of free agency. They are 5-5-0 in their last 10 and have dropped their last 2 but this matchup is perfect for them to get back in the winning column. That and the fact that they have a revamped roster that just got much stronger down the middle make this tonight’s best pick. The Blue Jackets are all in and all eyes are on them to see what they do next.