With 28 days left until opening night at Nationwide Arena, jersey No. 28 in Blue Jackets history gives you a little bit of everything: a franchise original, a few short-term stopgaps, and one of the more memorable wingers to wear it in Columbus.
Tyler Wright was the first name on the list, and he stuck around longer than most of the others. A Blue Jackets original, Wright played 309 games in the early years of the franchise and finished with 109 points in Columbus, 149 overall in his NHL career.
He was later dealt to the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim for Hall of Famer Sergei Fedorov on November 15, 2005, and that became his final NHL season before he headed to Switzerland the following year. Wright eventually returned to Columbus after retiring and spent seven years as director of player development and director of amateur scouting.
He later held those same roles in Detroit and Edmonton from 2013 to 2023, took last season off, and has since been hired by the LA Kings as director of player personnel for the upcoming season.
Zenon Konopka’s Columbus run was brief, but it came after a notable trade. On January 26, 2007, Anaheim sent Konopka, Curtis Glencross, and a draft pick to the Blue Jackets for Mark Hartigan, Joe Motzko, and a draft pick.
Konopka played nine games for Columbus and didn’t record a point, though he did captain the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch that season and put up 55 points there. He retired in April of 2017.
Nikita Filatov is the one that still makes people wonder. Drafted sixth overall in 2008 by Columbus, the Russian winger was loaded with talent, but his Blue Jackets stint never quite took off.
He appeared in 44 games and totaled 13 points before being traded to the Ottawa Senators in 2011, where he played nine games. He went back to Russia, played there until 2019, and is now retired.
For the last few years, he has served as vice president of the Polyot Rybinsk of the NMHL. And yes, the quote attached to Filatov still stands out: "Filly don't do rebounds."
Alexandre Giroux wore No. 28 for just nine games in the 2011-12 season and scored one goal. After that, he never played another NHL game.
His career continued overseas until 2018, then in Canada until 2022, with stops in Poland, Switzerland, Russia, and France. He also spent three seasons in the LNAH after returning to North America.
Frédéric St. Denis had an even shorter stay.
The undrafted defenseman from Greenfield Park, Quebec, played four games for Columbus in 2014-15 and picked up one assist. He never played another NHL game after that and retired during the 2018-19 season.
St. Denis spent one year in Germany before returning to the LNAH for three seasons.
Then there’s Oliver Bjorkstrand, who wore No. 28 from 2016 to 2022 and left the biggest imprint on the number. Drafted by Columbus in 2013, Bjorkstrand played 382 games for the Blue Jackets and produced 234 points.
He was also a major piece for the Lake Erie Monsters in their 2016 Calder Cup run, piling up 16 points in 17 games and scoring the series winner with under .02 seconds left in overtime. In Columbus, he set a career high with 28 goals in 2021-22 and finished that season with 57 points.
His Blue Jackets tenure ended on July 22, 2022, when he was traded to the Seattle Kraken for a third- and fourth-round pick, a move former GM Jarmo Kekäläinen explained by pointing to the recent signings of Johnny Gaudreau and Patrik Laine. Bjorkstrand’s game-winning goal against the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 2019 NHL playoffs remains one of the defining moments of his Columbus run, and it still stings for Lightning fans.
He made an immediate impact in Seattle too, helping the team reach the playoffs for the first time with 20 goals and 45 points in his first season there. Two seasons ago, he dealt with compartment syndrome and had to be rushed to the hospital at 2 a.m. for emergency surgery.
The condition can become severe quickly, but it was caught early, treated, and allowed him to play 80 games last season. Bjorkstrand signed with the New York Rangers this offseason as a free agent.
That brings the Blue Jackets to 28 days from opening night at Nationwide Arena.
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