Derek MacKenzie News

The Blue Jackets activated left winger Fredrick Modin off the injured list yesterday and assigned center Derek MacKenzie to the club's AHL affiliate in Syracuse.

The Columbus Blue Jackets have activated left wing Fredrik Modin off the injured list and assigned center Derek MacKenzie to the club's AHL affiliate in Syracuse.

Starting with a 3-0 win Wednesday over Florida, the Blue Jackets will play 13 games in 23 days to close out 2009.

Also on the active roster : C Derek MacKenzie, RW Mike Blunden, D Mathieu Roy, G Steve Mason.

Blue Jackets center Derek MacKenzie has never enjoyed a longer stretch in the NHL -- or a more productive one.

The Blue Jackets player with the top plus-minus rating is a fourth-line center and veteran of 514 minor-league games.

Syracuse Crunch owner Howard Dolgon is visiting Columbus on Wednesday to try to clear up what he described as some "gray areas'' that could be clouding the new Syracuse-Columbus affiliation extension.

Don't look now, but the Toronto Maple Leafs Maple are closing the gap a bit in the NHL Eastern Conference.

Derek MacKenzie, top, of the Blue Jackets tries to fight his way past Fredrik Sjostrom of the Flames in Calgary's 4-3 shootout victory.

With the Blue Jackets seemingly in control late in the third period with a 3-1 lead, Calgary 's Dustin Boyd and Nigel Dawes scored in a 1:19 span to tie it.

Matt Gilroy #97 of the New York Rangers scores against Mathieu Garon #32 of the Columbus Blue Jackets on November 23, 2009 at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

So what's the fallout down here now that Nikita Filatov has been loaned to CSKA in Russia? Well, one guess would be bye-bye Derek MacKenzie.

"Clean livin', I guess." Commodore was still waiting to get results of the vitamin levels in his blood, but there were no illnesses or viruses detected, increasing the likelihood that his fatigue is due only to conditioning.

The days of assigning nicknames to forward lines have gone the way of wooden sticks, ties and dasher boards without advertising.

Ken Hitchcock doesn't believe in punishment practices, even after one of the worst losses of his coaching career and one of the worst losses in Blue Jackets history.

Staff writer Rochester - The Syracuse Crunch finally cracked the combination on Rochester goalie Alexander Salak on Friday.

Forward Derek MacKenzie arrived from minor-league Syracuse on Wednesday with a couple of shirts, a pair of jeans, a sweat suit and no illusions.

It took a three-goal flurry early in the third period to free the Blue Jackets from the clutches of a classic "trap" game last night in Nationwide Arena.

Blue Jackets goaltender Steve Mason, who is expected to start tonight against the Carolina Hurricanes in Nationwide Arena, appears to be returning to the form that earned him the Calder Trophy last spring as the NHL's top rookie.

Each Wednesday at noon during the NHL season, Dispatch.com and BlueJacketsXtra.com readers can chat online with either Aaron Portzline or Tom Reed, The Dispatch's Blue Jackets beat writers.