NHL

The Blue Jackets were 5-13-4 in games that they gave up more than two goals as they were only 25th in the NHL in goals scored. "It's tough to win games 2-1 every night," GM Jarmo Kekalainen said. "It's going to be easier for us to win more games if we score more goals. Skill and speed are a great part of this game, and that's an area we're going to work on this summer." The Blue Jackets have three first round picks so they do have a lot of options in the off-season. Of course having Marian Gaborik for the whole season won't hurt either.

"Marian experienced some soreness towards the end of the season and after undergoing his exit physical and further examination today, it was decided that surgery is the best option for a quick and full recovery," said Jackets president of hockey operations John Davidson. "Marian will have the surgery and after a three to four week recovery period will be able to resume off-season training." He won't get to play for Slovakia at the IIHF World Championships, but he should be ready for training camp in the fall. Gaborik notched three goals and five assists in 12 games with Columbus after he was traded by the New York Rangers.

"Obviously, Bobrovsky is a high priority for us," Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekalainen said. Bobrovsky's efforts nearly propelled Columbus into the playoffs. He had a 2.00 GAA and .932 save percentage in 38 games this season.

Team Slovakia GM Otta Sykora said that Gaborik has the Blue Jackets consent to play in the 2013 IIHF World Championship if he gets medical clearance. "It would, in the case of a positive report, mean that maybe on Thursday or by Friday morning, Marian could be in Helsinki," Sykora added. Gaborik played in 47 games this season, but it's worth noting that he's previously dealt with groin issues.

It's hard to blame Bobrovsky for the decision considering he apparently would've been backing up former Flyers teammate Ilya Bryzgalov despite a Vezina-worthy season. Malamud reports Avs netminder Semyon Varlamov will take Bobrovsky's place.

The Blue Jackets were eliminated on the final day of the regular season. Richards said he's not sure if he'll watch the playoffs. "It's going to be tough to watch. Really feeling that ' 100 percent feeling, and the guys realy believe this, too ' that we were a playoff team. If we had a chance, and we could have gotten there, I think we could have done something," Richards said Monday.

Nikitin missed the last week of the season with the ailments but will have plenty of time to get healthy before training camp. He had three goals and nine points in 38 games this season.