Columbus Blue Jackets put D Nikita Nikitin on IR, call up D Nick Holden from AHL

COLUMBUS, Ohio - The Columbus Blue Jackets have placed defenceman Nikita Nikitin on injured reserve retroactive to Jan. 29 and have recalled defenceman Nick Holden from their American Hockey League affiliate in Springfield, Mass.

Nikitin, who has two assists and six penalty minutes in seven games this season, suffered an upper body injury at Minnesota on Jan. 29 and is expected to be sidelined up to a week.

The 25-year-old Holden has four goals and 18 assists with 26 penalty minutes and a plus-13 rating in 44 games with Springfield this season. Holden was scoreless in his only five NHL games with the Blue Jackets during the 2010-11 season.