Blue Jackets Recall Del Bel Belluz From Monsters, Depleting Cleveland's Offense

Fifty-seven points in 53 games just walked out of the Cleveland locker room.

The Blue Jackets recalled center Luca Del Bel Belluz from the Monsters on March 30, pulling the 22-year-old off a roster still fighting for North Division positioning with the regular season entering its final weeks. Del Bel Belluz had posted 22 goals and 35 assists, leading Cleveland in every offensive category, and was anchoring the first power-play unit as the primary bumper and half-wall option. His 1.08-point-per-game clip was not just the best on the team; it was not close.

The departure demands a structural reset, not a lineup tweak. With Del Bel Belluz gone from PP1, Cleveland must redistribute those special-teams reps across a group that never matched his production. Mikael Pyyhtia and Luca Pinelli are the most likely candidates to absorb additional ice time in the top six, but elevating a near-point-per-game center from available options this late in the year is a different ask than any mid-season adjustment the Monsters have managed. Coaches acknowledged they will reconfigure line matchups and lean on secondary contributors to produce at a higher level.

The immediate test arrives fast. Cleveland hosts Milwaukee on April 4 and again on April 6 in back-to-back games carrying direct tiebreaker implications in the North Division. Without Del Bel Belluz generating on the power play and driving even-strength offense, the Monsters need Pyyhtia and Pinelli to sustain production they have not been consistently asked to deliver.

Del Bel Belluz had already logged 13 NHL games with Columbus this season before returning to Cleveland, so the Columbus system is not unfamiliar ground. Across his AHL career with the Monsters since 2023-24, he has totaled 58 goals and 141 points in 172 games. That track record is precisely why Columbus called when it needed secondary scoring. Cleveland now has to prove it can absorb the loss before April seeding is decided.