Breaking: Blue Jackets suspend star goalie Bobrovsky for mysterious “incident”

It remains to be seen if the Columbus Blue Jackets will be able to re-sign pending free agent star goalie Sergei Bobrovsky after the season, however, there now seems to be more pressing matters at hand... 

On Thursday, the team announced that Bobrovsky will not be with the team for tonight's game against the Nashville Predators. Why? It seems like this is a team-issued suspension. 

"There are certain expectations and values that we have established for our players that define our culture," said GM Jarmo Kekalainen in a statement. "An incident occurred in which Sergei failed to meet those expectations and values, so we made the decision that he would not be with the team for tonight's game. This is an internal matter and we will have no further comment at this time." 

No one is aware of the mysterious incident, and this surely creates more speculation, and the motivation for somebody to dig up the real dirt... The Blue Jackets don’t call this a suspension in their release, but effectively sounds like one for the star goalie. 

The star netminder has posted a 18-13-1 record, with a 2.87 goals-against average (GAA), .906 save percentage (SV%) and two shutouts in 32 games this season and has compiled a 236-142-37 mark, 2.47 GAA, .919 SV% and 26 shutouts in 427 career NHL games. In 344 games as a Blue Jacket, he is 194-119-27 with a 2.42 GAA, .921 SV% and 26 shutouts.  

The team has been looking to keep the starting goalie for the playoff push, and would like to sign him to a lengthy contract extension. However, with very little details on what has taken place here, we cannot say for sure the situation will be the same after today...

The Blue Jackets and Predators meet tonight at Nationwide Arena... without Bobrovsky in between the pipes...