St. Louis Blues Wade Megan Sent Back Down Already…

The St. Louis Blues do not seem to be showing much faith in their minor league players. Either that or they are tipping their hand at potential health.

Well, that sure did not last long. As quickly and suddenly as the St. Louis Blues recalled Wade Megan, they sent him back to the obscurity of the minor leagues.

The Blues recalled him on the morning of November 18th (well, that was when it was reported anyway). By the evening of the 19th, he was sent back to the Chicago Wolves of the AHL.

At this point, the entire situation makes you wonder what the heck is going on. You want to trust the team and think they know what they are doing, but why are we jerking a guy around at this point.

This is not even necessarily about Megan at this point. He deserves better than the treatment he’s getting right now, but he’s a professional and this is part of the job, sadly.

You sign a contract and teams get to assign you where they think you will best help. It just does not seem understandable why they bothered recalling him in the first place.

I do not pretend to know everything about NHL salary rules. There could be some phantom rule about having a certain amount of players on the roster by a certain date and hardly anyone knows about it. Hardly anyone knew about the rule that you had to be in the minors on a certain day to be eligible for their playoffs until it happened last season.

So what’s the point? The Blues have had one or two roster spots open for awhile now and made no indication of bringing anyone up from the minors.

Suddenly they recall a player, do not dress him for the one game he was up and then reassign him to the minors barely 24 hours afterward?

Of course, there are potential reasons. Salary could be one and playing time another.

CapFriendly says Megan has an NHL salary of $650,000. His minor league salary is a guaranteed $300,000. Perhaps the Blues are wanting to save some of that money.

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Then there is always the playing time argument. It’s become the norm to say the staff would rather see a guy playing in the AHL than sitting in the press box in the NHL.

Understandable, yes. A good excuse? No.

At this point, if you want Megan to play, just leave him in the AHL. The public was not told of any potential injury for Megan to be used as an emergency replacement. Just have him stay with the Wolves.

Why bring him up? He had a break between AHL game dates and the Blues played on the 18th. There is no chance to practice with the Blues, other than a morning skate.

Some might argue that his demotion is another indication that players might be ready to return. I do not buy that for a second.

Patrik Berglund is on the cusp of returning, but the Blues have two roster spots open. Jay Bouwmeester just started skating. That does not include taking shots or having any kind of physical interaction.

Again, maybe it goes back to money. The Blues are potentially worried about their cap numbers with the LTIR being used. It still makes little sense to waste him for one day.

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Megan, himself, is not going to make or break this team. It just seems unfair to bump him up and down in that way. The same would be true of any player.

As usual, we put our trust in the team.