(Editor's note: This story has been updated with news that the team's scheduled Tuesday game at Chicago has been postponed by the NHL because of COVID-related reasons.)

The holiday break was a little longer than usual this year, and Blue Jackets players felt it when they stepped into the OhioHealth Ice Haus skating surface on Sunday afternoon. 

"At first when you stepped out there, I know me and Max (Domi) were skating around like, 'This feels weird,'" defenseman Adam Boqvist said today after the first Blue Jackets team activity in 10 days. "But when you get moving, it was just back to normal again. Obviously, we were out for 10 days, so the legs and the lungs are coming along, but it was a good day." 

The Blue Jackets gathered on the ice today for the first time since a Dec. 16 game at Edmonton, with the time off necessitated by the COVID situation around the league that so far has postponed four CBJ games for the team and put six of the team's players into protocol. 

That meant Blue Jackets practiced without forwards Boone Jenner , Jack Roslovic and Eric Robinson , as well as defensemen Gabriel Carlsson and Andrew Peeke plus goaltender Joonas Korpisalo, on Sunday. The good news, to start -- head coach Brad Larsen said all of those players appear to have avoided any serious illness. 

"The reports I got, yeah, everybody was fairly mild," Larsen said. "It didn't seem like anything too scary, which is great to hear." 

With that out of the way, the Blue Jackets now turn their attention to what could be next. When the Blue Jackets stepped on the ice Sunday, they did so to prepare for a scheduled Tuesday night affair at Chicago on the horizon, but the NHL announced Sunday evening that game would be postponed )

That leaves Columbus scheduled to play next on Thursday night at Nationwide Arena vs. Nashville. The status of the six players listed above remains a question going into that game, but that's the challenge teams around the league are fighting.  

"You just deal with it," Larsen said. "This isn't unique to us. We're one of a lot of teams going through it. It seems to me it wasn't a matter of if it's gonna happen, it was a matter of when. You just have to deal with it. It's a day by day, it really is. It's a boring answer, but it's the truth. You can't think too far ahead. There's no point in getting frustrated or upset." 

There could be reinforcements on the way, too, as all three players on injured reserve -- forward Patrik Laine (oblique) as well as defensemen Adam Boqvist (upper body) and Dean Kukan (wrist) -- were at practice Sunday, as was recalled goaltender Daniil Tarasov. 

It seems unlikely that Kukan will be ready to go by the time the team takes on the Blackhawks -- he was on the ice for the first time since the injury happened in October and limited to noncontact drills -- but Larsen said Laine is feeling better and Boqvist added he's ready to return after being injured Dec. 9 vs. Anaheim. 

So figuring out a roster for Thursday remains a puzzle, but the good news is the Jackets made progress toward being ready to play a game. Still, Larsen said this is a unique challenge because of the time off, though the postponement of Tuesday's game will help. 

"These guys haven't touched the ice in 10 days, and we're in the middle of a season," the head coach said. "It's uncharted territory here. Normally, if there's any pause of this length -- I've been part of Olympic breaks before, and those, you have eight, nine, maybe 10 days off, but then you probably have eight or nine days of practice.  

"So this is unique. We're 10 days off and we're trying to get these guys up to speed in two days. There's a huge challenge to that, and they have to touch the puck, they have to feel it." 

Bemstrom said he tried to keep his engine humming by working on a bike at home while the team has been away from the ice, but like Boqvist, he admitted it was a challenge to get the skating legs back during a practice that went over an hour and concluded with 3-on-3 drills and a shootout. 

"I mean, of course," he said when asked if there was rust. "We've been off nine days. Some heavy legs, and it was a good feeling to get a practice today and get the legs going again." 

Since the team last played, road games Dec. 18 (at Calgary) and Dec. 20 (at Buffalo) as well as home games scheduled for Dec. 23 (vs. Buffalo) and tomorrow (vs. Toronto) were postponed, likely to be made up during what had been the Olympic break in February. 

Time will tell how the return to play unfolds in the coming days simply because of the chaos the omicron variant has put into all facets of life, and Larsen acknowledged that as he talked about building a lineup when the team does get back on the ice. 

"Things might change by tomorrow morning," he said. "I don't know. But we got through today, we got them active, we got them skating, which is good. Hopefully we're doing the same thing tomorrow." 

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