Aston-Reese missed Tuesday's game with an illness and will remain sidelined in St. Louis. Dominik Simon will stick on the Penguins' fourth line with Aston-Reese out.

Danforth has missed the last two games but is expected to play Wednesday in Ottawa. Danforth, who has tallied five goals with two assists (seven points) in 23 games, will centre the fourth line with Eric Robinson and Emil Bemstrom.

Danforth was an undrafted free agent out of Sacred Heart University, who made his NHL debut earlier this season. The 28-year-old has tallied five goals and two assists in 22 games with the Blue Jackets.

Merzlikins gave up four goals on 32 shots in the Blue Jackets shootout loss to the Bruins one Saturday. Merzlikins started both games of the Blue Jackets' back-to-back last week and will be starting his third game in four nights on Monday. He's 1-1-2 with a .905 SV% in four games since returning from injury.

Chinakhov has been a healthy scratch for the last two games but will replace Brendan Gaunce (day-to-day) in the lineup on Friday. Chinakhov has scored six goals with five assists (11 points) in 43 games this season.

Christiansen scored his first career goal while playing 10:43 TOI on Tuesday but will come out of the lineup to make room for Zach Werenski on Friday. Christiansen will likely head back to the AHL soon, where he has 26 points (6G / 20A) in 39 games with Cleveland.

Werenski missed the last four games with an upper-body injury but will replace Jake Christiansen in the lineup on Friday. Werenski was red-hot before getting hurt, scoring two goals with six assists (eight points) in his last six games.

Christiansen has appeared in three games with the Blue Jackets this season and will replace Adam Boqvist (upper-body) in the lineup on Tuesday. The 22-year-old defenseman has spent most of the season in Cleveland (AHL), where he has six goals and 20 assists (26 points) in 39 games.