St. Louis Blues: Jake Allen and David Backes to Miss Remainder of Regular Season
By Todd Panula
When it comes to injuries, the St. Louis Blues seem to be a team that would have no luck at all if they didn’t have bad luck. Another round of injuries is coming at the worst possible time and to more key players.
Per the St. Louis Blues official site, David Backes and Jake Allen are going to miss the rest of the regular season and will be reevaluated before the playoffs begin.
Not only have the Blues lost players right before the postseason with no guarantee they will return for the playoffs, they have now lost two key players at a time when the squad was really beginning to gel and get healthy.
Despite a somewhat uneven season by some standards, Backes is second on the team in goals and fourth in points with 21 goals and 45 points. With the captain to miss the final three games of the season, Troy Brouwer will be the only player on the Blues to not miss any games during the year (barring any late injury to him of course).
Allen has been in and out of the net for the Blues, having his own injury problems with a sore knee from earlier in the year. Allen was tied for second in the league in shutouts with six and also had a .920 save percentage while compiling a record of 26-15-3.
The strange thing is fans knew about the Allen injury during the game. He finished the first period and then never returned to the bench in a 5-1 win over the Colorado Avalanche. Anders Nilsson came in for the relief appearance and played well despite allowing the goal.
Fans never had a clue that Backes was injured though. He even had a postgame interview with Brian Boucher on NBC Sports and nothing was said about being banged up.
Some might insinuate this is simply to give some banged up players a breather, but with Chicago beating Boston 6-4 the Blues cannot assume they will finish ahead of the Blackhawks let alone passing up the Dallas Stars. With an important game against Chicago on Thursday, these must be legitimate injuries and that is worrying.
The Blues have been stricken by injury all season. As mentioned, only Brouwer has any shot of playing an entire season. Everyone else has been out of the lineup for at least a couple games with injury, though Vladimir Tarasenko‘s time missed was due to illness.
More from Bleedin' Blue
- St. Louis Blues Prospects Shine And Fizzle In Prospects Showcase
- St. Louis Blues Giving Nick Ritchie A Look Is No Lose Situation
- St. Louis Blues Torey Krug Already Injured Before 2023-24 Season
- St. Louis Blues Need Kasperi Kapanen To Be On Best Behavior
- Former St. Louis Blues Forward Going Into Hall Of Fame
Now, just when people thought the team was getting healthy – Steve Ott was even expected to return before the playoffs – giving them depth and intriguing decisions to make about lineups, the team must again band together and absorb man-games lost.
Despite being second on the team in goals, Backes is little more than a very good third line player at this stage but he was really picking up the physicality of late and finally getting back to parking himself in front of the net. Say what you will about his in-locker room comments that get tedious, he is sill a leader of this team and needs to be in the lineup. If for no other reason, the Blues need him because he seems to get under the skin of the Blackhawks (and vice versa to be honest).
While many had Brian Elliott penciled in as the game one starter, regardless of who the Blues’ playoff opponent was, this is another unwelcome blow. For the first time since Jacques Plante and Glenn Hall shared the net, the Blues’ goaltending “issue” was not going to be a problem. Both netminders were playing at a high level and there truly seemed as if there would be no animosity by any party.
Instead, it appears the Blues could enter the playoffs without their captain and without their 1B goaltender.
Next: Must Tarasenko Shoulder the Load in the Playoffs?
Will this affect the team’s chances to make a run? Time will tell.
St. Louis has weathered the storm all season long and may continue to do so. However, there does come a point to where things simply cannot be overcome. St. Louis is greater than the sum of their parts, but they need all their parts to be successful.
Backes actually appears to be the more worrying injury since Elliott provides a security blanket to fall into in the goaltending ranks. Losing Allen is worrying though if anyone gets any cute ideas and tries to do to Elliott what Nick Kypreos did to Grant Fuhr and take him out. The Blues can with without both, but it adds undue strain to an already stretched club.
This news is an incredibly unwelcome way to start April, but the team has to put it from their minds. As fans, all we can do is hope there are no more injuries the rest of the way and that Backes and Allen will return fresh for the playoffs. The Blues need all hands on deck to win.