The Columbus Blue Jackets activated defenseman Caleb MacDonald off the Injured Non-Roster list on Wednesday, October 28, and loaned him to the Cleveland Monsters, the team’s American Hockey League affiliate, according to an announcement from the Blue Jackets on NHL.com. Club President of Hockey Operations and General Manager Don Waddell announced the move, which returns the 23-year-old defenseman to the club where he spent his first professional season.
MacDonald had been on the Injured Non-Roster list, so the activation was the step Columbus needed to complete before he could be assigned. The loan sends him to Cleveland rather than keeping him on the Blue Jackets’ roster, giving him a place to get back into regular game action with the Monsters while remaining part of the Columbus organization.
In his first professional season in 2025-26, MacDonald recorded three goals and nine assists for 12 points in 58 appearances for Cleveland, according to the Blue Jackets. He also posted 74 penalty minutes and 45 shots on goal, led Monsters rookies in penalty minutes, and ranked second among the club’s rookie defensemen in games played.
That physical edge was part of MacDonald’s game before he turned professional as well. The Blue Jackets reported that he recorded seven goals and 17 assists for 24 points, with 80 penalty minutes, in 66 collegiate games over two seasons, playing for the University of Alaska-Fairbanks in 2023-24 and the University of North Dakota in 2024-25.
His path to Columbus started earlier in junior hockey. In its own announcement of the loan, the Cleveland Monsters noted that the Cambridge, Ontario, native played 126 games for the Whitecourt Wolverines of the Alberta Junior Hockey League, and that in 2022-23 he was named to the AJHL North All-Star Team and named the league’s Most Outstanding Defenseman, according to the Monsters.
The 6-foot-3, 222-pound defenseman signed a two-year, entry-level contract with the Blue Jackets on March 26, 2025, according to the team. The loan to Cleveland keeps that development on track in the AHL, where he already knows the system, the coaching staff and the role the organization asked him to play last season.
Columbus, meanwhile, turns its attention back to the NHL schedule. The Blue Jackets return to action on Thursday against the Carolina Hurricanes at Lenovo Center, with game time set for 7 p.m. ET, according to the team. MacDonald’s next step will be rejoining the Monsters’ lineup in Cleveland as he works his way back from the Injured Non-Roster list.
Photo: Eric, CC BY-SA