The St. Louis Blues have been bitten with the injury bug, it’s something that every NHL team goes through, but luckily, someone planned for this.
His name is Doug Armstrong, and he’s the general manager for the St. Louis Blues. DA changed the identity of this team over the offseason, bringing in four different forwards and getting rid of expensive and unnecessary contracts.
This left the Blues with impressive offensive depth. Players like Dmitrij Jaskin and Chris Thorburn, who were regulars in the lineup a season ago, are no longer part of the Blues future.
Instead, St. Louis has relied on rookies like Robert Thomas, Jordan Kyrou, and Sammy Blais to fill the role left by players like Jaskin and Thorburn. Playing young players consistantly is risky, the lack of experience can be concerning, but for Thomas especially, he has risen to the occasion.
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Already this season, there have been injuries to key players on the St. Louis Blues. Brayden Schenn missed two weeks with an upper-body injury after playing in at least 80 games in the two seasons before this one.
Robert Bortuzzo has been hurt just about all season after sustaining a lower-body injury in the first week of the season and is on long-term IR.
St. Louisan Patrick Maroon was sent home after the November 14 game against the Chicago Blackhawks along with long-time Blue Alexander Steen. Then, if you can believe it, the very next game on November 16 against the Vegas Golden Knights, both Carl Gunnarsson and Jaden Schwartz were injured and did not return.
You always need to expect that some players will get bit with the injury bug at some point during the season, but this is getting ridiculous. Luckily, Armstrong has put this team in a position to at least compete while these key players recover.
The offseason additions are key here, but aside from the four forwards acquired over the summer. Credit needs to be given to the Blues scouting department and the player development team.
St. Louis has relied on the play of young, homegrown players to fill significant roles for the Blues. We already mentioned Thomas, but Blais, when healthy, has also been a big contributor to the team. He plays a fast, skilled, and gritty style and has played as high as the second line for St. Louis this year.
Kyrou has not had much of an impact this season, but if Schwartz and Maroon are out for an extended period, it could open up minutes on a top line for a skilled player like Kyrou.
You also cannot forget about guys like Nikita Soshnikov and Ivan Barbashev who are occasionally healthy scratches but are tough to play against players who excel on the penalty kill.
Credit where credit is due, Doug Armstrong has reloaded this team to a point where he won’t need to go out and make a trade out of necessity. Instead, he can restock within the organization while staying afloat with some younger players.