The Nationwide Arena will be emotional but also excited for his homecoming affair as the Columbus Blue Jackets welcome the Colorado Avalanche for their first meeting of the 2025-2026 regular season. The Jackets welcome Cam Atkinson as he is on a one day contract to retire with the team that drafted him and is the third all time leading scorer with 627 points. The Blue Jackets also welcome back Gavin Brindley, the best friend of Adam Fantilli, who was dealt by Waddell in June for Coyle and Wood. With Wood out with injury, Yegor Chinakov is set to make his season debut on the fourth line tonight against the Avs. Elvis Merzlikins gets the start against Scott Wedgewood. 

Artturi Lehkonen — Nathan MacKinnon — Martin Necas

Gabriel Landeskog — Brock Nelson — Valeri Nichushkin

Ross Colton — Jack Drury — Victor Olofsson

Joel Kiviranta — Parker Kelly — Gavin Brindley

Devon Toews — Cale Makar

Josh Manson — Brent Burns

Ilya Solovyov — Sam Malinski

Scratched: Zakhar Bardakov, Jack Ahcan

Injured: Mackenzie Blackwood (lower body), Logan O’Connor (hip surgery), Samuel Girard (upper body)

Kent Johnson — Sean Monahan — Kirill Marchenko

Cole Sillinger — Adam Fantilli — Dmitri Voronkov

Boone Jenner — Charlie Coyle — Mathieu Olivier

Zach Aston-Reese — Isac Lundestrom — Yegor Chinakhov

Zach Werenski — Dante Fabbro

Ivan Provorov — Damon Severson

Jake Christiansen — Denton Mateychuk

Injured: Erik Gudbranson (upper body), Miles Wood (upper body)

Colorado – Gavin Brindley – with only one NHL game in Columbus with Fantilli before the end of the 23-24 season, the Michigan alumni has scored his first NHL goal in an Avs’ sweater. His homecoming may be an entertaining one.

Columbus – Yegor Chinakov – finally, the first rounder gets his shot in the lineup.