Boll right in the mix of things as camp continues...

Some interesting nuggets to chew on from the Dispatch this morning. One things is especially clear, Jared Boll (pictured right) continues to make his push for a roster spot on opening night:

"He's in the middle of the action in every game he plays," Blue Jackets coach Ken Hitchcock said. "That's just the way he plays. He's right up in your face."

At 13:48 of the first period, he sent Chicago's Yanic Perreault sprawling with a hard check near the goal. Two minutes later, he tried to flatten Chicago's star player, Martin Havlat but missed. Still, he got the Blackhawks' attention. Then, in four minutes of the second period, he lowered the boom on Chicago's Ryan Stokes and Jim Fahey.

But don't look for Boll to be cut anytime soon. The decision will go "right down to the bitter end," Hitchcock said.

The good news is that Dan Fritsche, who suffered a hip pointer injury mid-way through the 2nd period does not appear to be serious.

The bad news for the Blackhawks is that their young stud rookie, Jonathan Toews, suffered a broken finger after a puck hit his hand and will miss two to three weeks. According to an AP story on Yahoo.com defensemen Ryan Stokes was taken to a hospital Wendesday night after suffering a sever cut on his face trying to check Jared Boll.

The Dispatch also has an article about the pre-season schedule changing next year. Apparently, former GM Doug MacLean, was largely responsible for this year's schedule which saw the team play their first game after just two days of practice. Hitch would like to reduce the games from 8 to 6 and have at least a week of practice before their first game. New GM Scott Howson is already setting up next year's dates with these thoughts in mind and hopes to see us play more Eastern teams which is good to hear.

Also Fredrick Modin was back on the ice yesterday after back spasms which is good to hear. David Vyborny, Michael Peca and Adam Foote are expected back by the weekend.

Its is expected that the first big cuts will come this weekend. The roster should be right around 30 players once that cut is made. Teams can dress 20 players on opening night. Here is my guess as to who will be left after this weekend:

Forwards:

Rick Nash

David Vyborny

Sergei Fedorov

Fedrik Modin

Nikolai Zherdev

Jason Chimera

Dan Fritsche

Manny Malhotra

Gilbert Brule

Michael Peca

Jody Shelley

Jiri Novotny

Kris Beech

Derick Brassard

Jared Boll

Curtis Glencross

Jakub Voracek

Steve Goertzen

Defensemen:

Adam Foote

Rusty Klelsa

Jan Hejda

Duvie Westcott

OK Tollefsen

Ron Hainsey

Joel Bouchard

Kris Russell

Marc Methot

Sheldon Brookbank

Goalies:

Fredrik Norrena

Pascal Leclaire

Tomas Popperle

Read more Dispatch coverage here.

-LTL