Ahead of their Metropolitan Division showdown vs. the New York Islanders, the Blue Jackets arrived in Ohio State football jerseys. Here's more:

The Columbus Blue Jackets and defenseman Ivan Provorov have hit a snag in contract extension talks for the upcoming unrestricted free agent. While both sides have expressed a desire to continue the partnership,

Head Coach Dean Evason will try to get his team to win three of four games against the Canes on the season. This will be his 300th career game as a head coach in the NHL, and he has a career NHL coaching record of 170-95-34.

Ohio State are your new College Football Playoff champions. Here was what the vibes were like in Atlanta as they defeated Notre Dame.

This is a team coming out of its rebuild and into its build phase. It has the potential to contend as it matures and as the roster is further tweaked.

Zach Werenski climbs higher, the Blue Jackets are watching the standings closer and the San Jose Sharks were overmatched: 3 takeaways

Kent Johnson (13-PPG) scored the only goal for Columbus, and Elvis Merzļikins stopped 22 of 25 Isles shots in a 3-1 loss Monday night. The Jackets played a decent first period and led after one, but it was a completely different story when the second came around.

Now that it’s all over and the Ohio State Buckeyes are the college football national champions, it can be definitively said: Expanding the College Football Playoff worked.

Ohio State’s run to its first national championship in a decade enabled the Buckeyes to dominate the Associated Press’ all-College Football Playoff team

It started with some blowouts, ended with some nailbiters and gave fans plenty to look forward to in future editions.

Neither LeBron James nor Bryce Harper attended Ohio State, but they’re both big Buckeyes football fans. Naturally, they’re both in Atlanta for the College Football Playoff national championship game between Ohio State and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

The Amerks are second in the Eastern Conference with a 23-11-4 record. They won 11 of 12 games from Dec. 7 through Jan. 1, including a seven-game win streak, and their goal differential is plus-25.