54 Days Until Opening Night At NWA: The History Of Jersey #54

The Columbus Blue Jackets have only had two players wear #54, and none since 2019.

Today we'll look at who has worn it, what they did, and where they are now.

Scott Harrington - Harrington played 185 games for the Blue Jackets after being traded to Columbus by Toronto with a conditional pick in 2017 NHL Draft for Kerby Rychel on June 25, 2016. Those 185 games would be spread out over six seasons, with 2018-19 being the year he played the most games at 73. He scored 7 goals and totaled 37 points in his career with Columbus, with the 18-19 season being his most productive with 17.

During his time in the Columbus organization, he would also play 52 games for the Cleveland Monsters, scoring 7 total points.

Harrington would sign with San Jose in 2022 and then be traded to New Jersey in February of 2023. New Jersey would then put him on waivers a few days later, where he would be picked up by Anaheim and play 17 games.

In 2023, Harrington would leave for Europe and play for the ZSC Lions of the Swiss League. After playing just 14 games in 23-24, he would return to North America for the 24-25 season and play for the Springfield Thunderbirds of the AHL.

As of now, he hasn't signed on anywhere to play for 25-26.

Adam McQuaid - Columbus originally drafted McQuaid in the 2nd round of the 2005 NHL Entry Draft. McQuaid would never play for the CBJ, though. While he was still in the OHL, he was traded to Boston by Columbus for Boston's 5th-round pick in the 2007 NHL Draft, on May 16, 2007. The pick that the Jackets sent to Boston ended up being Jamie Benn.

After playing nine years in Boston, he was traded to the Rangers in 2018. But in 2019, McQuaid was traded to Columbus from New York to help the Jackets with their playoff push. He played in 14 games to end the season before suffering an injury that would ultimately end his career.

On March 28, 2019, Montreal’s Andrew Shaw gave McQuaid a nasty blindside shot that took him out of the game, and his career. McQuaid told The Athletic, “I definitely wasn’t in a good place physically. Then it weighed on me mentally. I wasn’t feeling like myself. I had many injuries throughout my career, unfortunately. That became part of my story. I look at it more as having overcome different injuries, come back, try to play the same way and not have it affect my outlook on playing. But I was probably at a point where I had the most going on. I had so many different things that were really nagging me. I felt like I wanted to give more. But you hear guys say that they’re asking their bodies to do things and just not getting the response they want.”

McQuaid would finish his career 73 points and one Stanley Cup.

Who was your favorite #54?

There are 54 days to go until opening night at NWA.

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