St. Louis Blues Put Brad Hunt On Waivers

The St. Louis Blues placed Brad Hunt on waivers. Now they are forced to wait and see if they will lose another player for nothing.

The St. Louis Blues placed Brad Hunt on waivers on January 16. They will have to wait until January 17 to see if he will still be a member of the organization.

Hunt was mainly an injury call up when the Blues originally pulled him into service. Though he was leading the AHL in scoring at the time of his call up, most figured there was little chance he would see any action.

Most would have been wrong. Hunt was called up due to Robert Bortuzzo‘s injury but then pressed into game action when Carl Gunnarsson went down with his own ailment.

Hunt was a bit of a revelation as well. The Blues have been stuck with defenders, though talented, that are unwilling to let fly from the point and look to pass far too often this season.

Hunt brought the same mentality that got him the scoring league in the minors. He was flying around the ice, taking slap shots from the point and still playing a reasonably good defensive game.

He had points in his first four games. Hunt cooled down after that, but ended his stint with the Blues with a goal and five points in nine games.

That’s pretty good for a guy nobody had ever heard of. It’s a pretty good average for any defenseman really.

Hunt played well enough that he could actually be a viable option going forward. Much of that depends on what the Blues do either in the trade market or during the summer.

Nevertheless, Hunt proved that he can be an NHL defenseman. He’s never going to be in your top four, barring injury, but that does not mean he could not be a good player.

The issue with his demotion comes from the Blues wanting to keep their core defense. You might not agree with it and I might not, but the team values the presence of Gunnarsson.

Personally, I’d rather have what Hunt was bringing. Gunnarsson might be steadier, but Hunt brought some energy and spark. That was particularly needed at a time when the Blues were not playing so hot.

Now the team was forced to roll the dice on sending Hunt back to the AHL. St. Louis already lost Ty Rattie to the same type of outcome, though for different reasons.

Rattie’s time had just come. It was time for him to play or get moving and the second one happened.

Hunt should still be a commodity for this team. Unfortunately, due to the length of the injuries on the Blues’ back line, Hunt has to clear waivers instead of just being sent back down.

Apparently, unbeknownst to me until now, there is a rule that even two-way players must clear waivers if they have been on the NHL roster 30 days or more. That 30 days ran out on January 7.

So, the Blues must risk losing Hunt to keep him playing. Hunt has not been with the organization for long but his loss might sting more than Rattie’s if it happens.

The Blues need depth at defense, especially assuming Kevin Shattenkirk is gone. Yes, you still have Jordan Schmaltz in the wings, but Hunt has proven he can handle spot duty at the very least. NHL experience is valuable.

Now we play the waiting game.

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