St. Louis Blues Place Paul Stastny On IR, Players Dropping Like Flies

The St. Louis Blues have placed Paul Stastny on injured reserve. While it may be retroactive, there is no definitive timetable for his return.

The St. Louis Blues have returned to familiar territory from 2015-16. As soon as they start to win again, they get bad news piled up with bad luck.

Injuries are beginning to mount and to important people. Fortunately, at least so far, the Blues also have returned to the next-man up mentality of 2015-16 as well.

They will have to continue that mentality as they will be without Paul Stastny for at least another game and maybe more. The team placed their top center on injured reserve on Valentine’s Day.

As of writing this, there have been no recalls. That does not mean there will be no recalls, but the Blues will need to figure it out quickly as they depart for Detroit before returning home for a quick game against Vancouver the next night.

The last time St. Louis had to put Stastny on IR (December 22), they called up Wade Megan. Megan, like all his AHL brothers, had an immediate impact with a goal in his very first game with the Blues.

Nodoby is expecting that again, but it would not be a shocker to see a Megan sweater in the Blues locker room again. The team could use the depth at center as they are currently playing some people out of position.

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Additionally, Megan has stayed hot in the AHL. He has 45 points through 50 games with the Chicago Wolves

It is not an enviable thing to potentially be playing three AHL players in prominent roles. However, assuming Megan even gets the call, that is the cards the Blues have been dealt.

It’s not a great hand, to be sure. Like any poker player, you can still win when you have two three’s instead of a couple face cards.

That’s what the Blues have to do right now. Nobody figured the team would manage to improve after Robby Fabbri went down.

Despite his streaky nature, you don’t just randomly replace his grit, determination and ability. The Blues did it though.

Now they face a similar test without Stastny. In reality, they have already won without him. Stastny missed much of the game against Toronto and the Blues won and he was gone entirely against Montreal and the same result.

That does not mean this streak is sustainable without some of the Blues top guys. It does mean that when the team focuses on playing as a unit instead of worrying about which number is gone, they can still prevail.

The person I feel bad for is Stastny himself. It seems every time you think he has hit his stride in St. Louis, something happens.

He appeared destined for record numbers in a Blues uniform. Now, a couple injuries have put him on pace to maybe equal last year’s numbers. He had a decent year in 2015-16, but it still was not enough to satiate the fans still upset at the contract he was given.

So, both the player and team are in a pickle. They had momentum and it might have hit a wall. Fortunately, it is easier for the team to keep it as opposed to the player regaining it.

Fans piss and moan about the language NHL teams use. I’ve already seen comments about the curse of the “it should not be long term.”

We don’t know how long he’ll be out and they might just be creating a roster spot. The last time Megan was called up, it was very short term and Stastny was back. Regardless of who the team calls up or not, the situation might be the same.

Next: Jake Allen Must Continue To Stand Tall With Injuries Mounting

For continuity sake, I hope the team recalls someone. You don’t even have to play them, but just to give Yeo options. While we all like our players, it would not benefit many to keep having Alex Steen at center or trying to place Dmitrij Jaskin there either.

This is another blow to what has been a draining 2016-17 season. Like the team, though, we must persevere and hope this recent turnaround has not taken a detour.

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