Thank goodness for the return of Jan Hejda!

The Columbus Blue Jackets players and fans alike will take a collective sigh of relieve tonight when the team hits the ice to compete against the San Jose Sharks. Why is that, you ask? Because tonight, Blue Jackets defenseman Jan Hejda will make his return to the lineup. Hejda makes an impact, and there is a huge difference in the way that the Blue Jackets have played with and without him this season. With Hejda in the lineup, the Blue Jackets had a very good start to the season, going 4-1 in their first five games. It was in the fifth game of the season that Hejda was injured. In the following games, the Blue Jackets started to skid, and have gone 3-5 since Hejda was placed on injured reserve on October 13th.

Hejda is not an offensive defenseman by any stretch of the imagination. He is not a player like Washington Capitals defenseman Mike Green who, last season, had 73 points in 68 games; to put that in perspective, our beloved captain Rick Nash had 79 points in 78 games last season - and Green is a defenseman! Hejda, on the other end of the stick, played in all 82 Blue Jackets games last season, and only amassed 21 points. So why the excitement for Hejda's return? I think the team's record with Hejda on the ice speaks for itself. Hejda is an incredibly talented defensive defenseman. He is arguably the most underrated defenseman in the league, and does great things for the Blue Jackets on the ice.

The original prognosis for Hejda's sprained knee was that he would be sidelined for 4-6 weeks. Fortunately, it has only been three weeks, and he is ready to hit the ice once again. It could not come at a better time, either. The Blue Jackets defense has been lacking for several games, allowing multiple goals in very short spans of time. One could argue that this is not the wrongdoing of the defense, and that goaltender Steve Mason should have played better in the net. However, several of the goals allowed recently have been goals where Mason more or less had no chance to stop the puck. He's been screened by his own teammates, preventing him from stopping the puck, as well as having puck bounce off of his teammates and deflecting past him and into the net. Hopefully, having the best defenseman on the team back on the ice will make the rest of the defensemen step their game up and help the team earn a few more for the win category!

A few other things to note:
• Phil Kessel made his debut with the Toronto Maple Leafs last night in 2-1 overtime loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning. Kessel had off-season shoulder surgery this summer and was finally able to make his debut for the Toronto faithful this evening. Kessel had no points in last night's matchup, but he had 10 shots on goal. Kessel also received a huge open ice hit from Lightning defenseman Mattias Ohlund, but Kessel and his shoulder were fine. Interesting fact I found out from Steve Dangle (who you should check out if you haven't already) via Twitter: "Just spoke to a store manager that said they sold 80 Kessel jerseys... The day he was signed. Phil, welcome the the jungle." I think that Steve pretty much summed it up right there.

• Hockey Canada announced that during the IIHF World Junior Championship, Team Canada would don a green jersey during two games in the tournament. Why green, you ask? Well, the tournament is going to be played in Saskatchewan this year. And apparently, Hockey Canada felt the need to honor Saskatchewan's favorite team, the Saskatchewan Roughriders, which is a Canadian Football League team. There are two things very wrong with this in my mind - why on earth would Hockey Canada want to honor a football team in the biggest Junior hockey championship in the world? And secondly, Team Canada in anything but red, white and black is just wrong! What won't marketing departments come up with to earn another buck or two?

• The Phoenix Coyotes have continued their impressive start to the 2009-2010 NHL season. Their record is currently 9-5 for 18 points, and they have won seven of their last ten games. However, attendance in the desert is still suffering - the average attendance is 9,407 (and remember, they sold out the home opener so that brings the average up quite a bit from how many people are actually attending each game). I personally feel bad for the team and the people there who are actually Yotes fans. I guess if they continue to flourish and fans start coming around, they'll all know who were all there from the start and who jumped on the bandwagon.

Tags: columbus blue jackets, hockey canada, iihf, jan hejda, mattias ohlund, mike green, phil kessel, phoenix coyotes, rick nash, steve mason, toronto maple leafs, washington capitals, world juniors