Jarmo Kekalainen Q and A: Dubinsky's injury and how the team will respond

A lot has happened with the Blue Jackets in the past couple days.
They were humbled in a 7-2 loss to the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday at Nationwide Arena, which was the second time in a week they'd come away from a loss questioning their own effort. They also lost veteran center Brandon Dubinsky for 6-to-8 weeks with a fractured orbital bone in his face, which he sustained in a fight at the end of that game - further challenging a team that lacked center depth.
They also had another Metropolitan Division opponent to play Thursday night on home ice, with the New York Islanders in town trailing by two points in the standings. Amid that short-term landscape, Jarmo Kekalainen met with a group of reporters prior to puck drop.
The Jackets' general manager said they'd experiment with options already on the roster to replace Dubinsky, starting with Boone Jenner, and that he'd stay patient with a group of veterans fighting through early-season slumps.
"There's a lot of guys that are unhappy with their performance so far, maybe even embarrassed, I don't know ... but those guys want to get back to their level," he said. "They don't need us to spank their bottoms to get back to their old level."
He also made it clear the leadership in Columbus isn't going to overreact to Dubinsky's absence.
"I don't think we're going to get into kind of panic mode or anything like that," he said. "It's going to take its time. You always try to find the silver lining in the unfortunate events. Somebody else is going to get a better opportunity, and more ice time, and hopefully we have enough depth to cover his absence."
Kekalaine spoke for about 12 minutes, and had some interesting thoughts on a number of subjects, including his wish that all NHL players wore visors, including Dubinsky.
Read the entire transcript here:

You're always looking to improve your team, but with this recent development with Brandon Dubinsky's injury, any thoughts of adding a forward or center?
"I don't think it's going to change our [outlook]. We've been talking about that all year, but I think this is a good chance for us to see what other guys can do, maybe, at that position. Maybe it's Boone Jenner, maybe it's Nick Foligno that moves back. I think we're going to try Boone tonight for the first time in a while, at least for a full game, and see how that goes. He's a center. He was drafted as a center, and played center in junior. He's had good games here at center, too. Hasn't played a lot [there], hasn't played a longer stretch. Maybe this will let us take a good look at Boone at center.
"Obviously it's eased our urgency for the center position with Pierre-Luc's sort of looked like. He's playing very well at center, and he belongs at center, and he's very comfortable at center. So, I think that's sort of what we were hoping for from the beginning of the season. Sometimes it takes a little while, and we're very happy with his recent play.
"I don't think we're going to get into kind of panic mode or anything like that with Dubinsky's absence. It's going to take its time. You always try to find the silver lining in the unfortunate events. Somebody else is going to get a better opportunity, and more ice time, and hopefully we have enough depth to cover his absence."
How much do you need Wennberg's game to get back to where it's been in the past?
"Well, we need it a lot, but he's not the only one. There's lots of other guys, too, that need to get back to their level. It's been great that we've had this first line emerge lately, where they've sort of bailed out our team when not everybody's performing to their full capacity or full potential, or whatever you want to call it. But, as a professional athlete, there's always expectations, and each and every one of those guys know, from our point of view, what those expectations are. They're pretty evident even if you look at the salary structure of our team. At the same time, I always believe the proud athlete, which we think we have a team full of in the locker room, they have the highest expectations from the mirror, and that's the way it should be.
"There's a lot of guys that are unhappy with their performance so far, maybe even embarrassed, I don't know, but those guys want to get back to their level. They don't need us to spank their bottoms to get back to their old level. 'Torts' is doing a great job with the team and individuals, and he's a very demanding coach, but at the end of the day it has to come from the athlete. The biggest problem for me would be if there's a room full of guys that are underachieving and their self-assessment is completely wrong, and they're like, 'Oh, I'm playing pretty well,' and [it's like], 'No, you're not,' but I don't think there's anybody in that room, of any of those guys, that we think are not playing to their potential that think 'Oh, yeah, I'm playing good. What are you talking about?' Therefore, I think they will fix the problem with the help of the coaching staff. And, as management, we have those conversations with those struggling players in time, too. But they're the ones who are going to have to fix it. I believe they will.
"You look at Cam Atkinson, for example, who's been a very consistent player throughout his career here, and now he's having a bit of an off year by his standards. He's going to get back to his old level. I don't have any doubts of that. And maybe Wennberg's first time in a situation where the expectations are a little higher because of the contract. I don't know. That could affect him, but he's going to have to figure it out, that 'I'm going to have to get back to the level that earned me the contract,' and I believe 100 percent that he will."
Is it hard, though, to keep that big-picture focus sometimes?
"Yeah, but think that we've had a good balance with our team. If our team doesn't play well, Bobrovsky's bailed us out a couple times, and if Bobrovsky hasn't played well, our team has bailed him out a few times too. It's been a good balance that way.
"It's interesting the way it works, when someone's struggling. Torts is pretty honest about the ice time that he gives out to the players. If you're not playing well, then you're not playing as much. So, now that you're not playing as much, somebody else is getting the opportunity, and that's how we get Josh Anderson and [Artemi] Panarin and Pierre-Luc Dubois together, because the combinations weren't working and we wanted to try something new. We get some new chemistry, some new combinations, and all of a sudden that started clicking. And some guys who were struggling were getting less ice time, because those guys were getting 20 minutes a game.
"That's the way it works with injuries too. I think there's going to be somebody who's going to emerge, just because their eyes are going to light up and say, 'Well, Dubinsky's hurt, that's unfortunate, but this is my opportunity now to get some more ice time, to get a bigger role, and that's what we're always watching up here."
With guys struggling, do you feel that you're getting close to maybe making changes or do you think you're a long way away from that?
"I'm not going to comment on any of that. There's lots of examples around the league that sometimes a change of scenery does well, but at the same time, we want them to [start] doing well with our team before doing anything that's going to make a move to move them somewhere else, and make them play well against us."
Does being in first place temper any trade talks?
"Yeah, but let's not get carried away with being in first place. This is a pretty competitive division, and we're not that far away from the teams that are chasing us. We're just going to approach it one game at a time, and last game was one of those games where I think Torts likes to call a 'burn the tape' type of game. Nothing went right, and I think a lot of things went right for the opponent, and that's what you get for a score in this league when you make mistakes like that. They make you pay. You move on and get another chance today."
Do you have a philosophy on making a trade to shake things up?
"Sometimes you want to change the chemistry of the team a little bit, or give it a little bit of a jolt, but you still have to have the principle of, 'How do we make the team better?' not just a trade just for the sake of making a trade. I'd like to think we always make a trade because it makes sense for us, that the team is going to be better, either in the short term or in the perfect situation. The perfect situation is for the short-term and the long-term, and you'll probably hear me say that again sometime."
What can you share from Tuesday night, what that was like was hurt to when you knew what his injury was, and what he had to go through?
"The way he was taken off the ice, and the way he was acting, we had a hunch that it could be something to do with his eye, and thank god it wasn't something that would have damaged his eye. Those are always scary, scary moments. Eyes are obviously something that you never want to hurt in scary incidents like that. It's unfortunate, but thankfully not the eye, and he'll be healed and he'll be back."
He's one of the guys who doesn't wear a visor. Would you like to see him use one?
"The league has a rule now in place where everybody coming into the league has to wear a visor. It's for a visor. These old guys who don't have to do it, they can do whatever they want. But I think the rule is in place for a reason, to protect the player. We've taken a few measures here that weren't very popular among the players, when we made them wear the helmets for warm-ups. They weren't very happy about it, but I see those pucks flying in warmups and I'm thinking, 'Oh man, one of those is going to hit somebody on the temple, and they're going to be out two months. If we're unlucky, it's going to hit them on the temple and they're going to be done. God knows what can happen.
"You saw and heard what happened to [Nashville Predators GM] David Poile, when an errant puck hit him in the eye. He lost his eye. I don't know how much you watch how pucks are hitting crossbars and whistling by guy's heads. Jared Boll came to me a few games after we made it mandatory. A puck hit him right in the side of the helmet in the warm-ups. He came and thanked us for something some of the guys weren't too happy about. We try to protect the players with the rules we've put in place. The visor rule is there for a reason. Pretty soon everyone will be wearing a visor."
You've always been a believer in Dubois' talents. Are you surprised at how far he's some this quickly, at this level?
"In our internal conversations, I talked to our coaching staff, saying that I think in the second half, after adjusting to the league and getting familiar with everything, and getting comfortable in the second half, I believed he could have an impact on our team - and I think he's ahead of schedule. He's having an impact on our team right now.
"But he's one of those young guys that, every game is a test, and now, pretty soon, that line's no secret anymore. The opponent's going to key on them, and they're going to get a tougher matchup and so forth. It's going to get harder for him, too, so he's going to have to keep improving, like every other player."
Fair to say you're very pleased, though?
"Yeah, but if you look at him physically … I'm sure you've interviewed him after games. He's a big man. You don't think he's a 19-year old guy when you look at him physically, in his underwear. Holy smokes. Him and Josh Anderson are big guys. Josh is a little bit older, obviously, but they're big boys."
Do you still have to remind yourself sometimes that he is only 19?
"Yeah, I mean, we ask an awful lot of these guys at a young age. I can think of myself as an 18 or 19-year old, thinking of where these guys are and how mature they are, as far as hockey players. It's amazing that they can come into the league at that age and play against the best players in the world."