from Aaron Portzline of Puck-Rakers,

Blue Jackets rookie defenseman Ryan Murray will likely miss the rest of the regular season, and the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs should the Jackets qualify, after having knee surgery yesterday.

The official word is that Murray will miss 4-6 weeks. There are five weeks remaining until the regular season ends April 12 in Florida....

The Blue Jackets lost Fedor Tyutin to an ankle injury in the Olympics. Then Murray went down. On Thursday in Chicago, Nikita Nikitin suffered a head injury. He, too, will miss tonight's game in Nashville.

But Murray's lost has cast a pall over the club for the past 72 hours.

"You lose Tyutin and take Murray out of the lineup … that’s a lot of quality minutes," Blue Jackets coach Todd Richards said. "They were playing big minutes and tough minutes.

"Ryan's a young kid, so it’s something he’ll be able to get over. He still has a long career ahead of him. The impact right now … it’s a big impact. He was a real, real bright spot for us all year."

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