"When the Blue Jackets depart today for a season-high five-game trip that begins Thursday at Dallas, rookie left winger Nikita Filatov will be headed, in so many ways, in the opposite direction.

Unable to gain the trust of coach Ken Hitchcock and earn significant ice time, Filatov began pushing this month for a return to his native Russia, where he can play more and be a goal-scoring star.

The Blue Jackets granted Filatov's wish yesterday, agreeing to loan him to CSKA Moscow of the Continental Hockey League for the remainder of the season. Filatov and the Blue Jackets say that he will return to Columbus next September for training camp, but there are no guarantees.

"It has been frustrating to not play. But what's happened has happened, and it cannot be changed for this season," Filatov said. "I'm not mad at anybody here. Nothing has changed. It is still my dream to play in the NHL. There's no reason to think I won't be back in the NHL."

A season that began with Rookie of the Year hopes -- not from within the Blue Jackets, perhaps, but from many NHL observers -- ended before even one-fourth of the season was played.

Filatov, a healthy scratch in six of the Blue Jackets' 19 games, had two goals and barely averaged eight minutes of playing time, less than all but two players on the roster.

"Everybody had high expectations for him," general manager Scott Howson said. "I still have high expectations for him.It's not happening for him as soon as we'd hoped, but that's OK. He's 19 years old."

Howson said he had no plans to trade Filatov, and -- as of yesterday afternoon -- he had received no offers from other NHL teams.

Filatov will fly home today and play his first game back in Russia on Saturday."