The St. Louis Blues have a potential roster predicament emerging after Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic announced that right-hand defenseman Logan Mailloux was back on the ice ahead of Monday’s practice. While Mailloux is reportedly still a week or two away from potentially returning to the lineup, his progress is an encouraging sign. However, upon his return, there are questions about the roster situation that has developed since he was sidelined with an upper-body injury ahead of the start of the season.
Now, with Mailloux back on the ice and showing signs of progressing in the right direction, the question becomes: Who will be sent down when he returns?
The Blues' options
When analyzing the Blues’ current defensive roster, there appear to be three realistic options: Justin Barron, Adam Jiricek, and Theo Lindstein. While many would argue that there’s no chance Jiricek gets sent back down, there are a few factors that keep him in consideration. First, he is on a two-way contract, ensuring that they keep his rights within the organization. Second, unlike Lindstein, Jiricek is a right-handed defenseman, which could complicate his position once Mailloux returns given the limited number of available spots on the right side. That being said, Jiricek has performed well enough to warrant his place on the Blues’ roster, and sending him down would be a cataclysmic mistake.
That brings us to the recently claimed Justin Barron and Theo Lindstein. When weighing the pros and cons of each defenseman, Lindstein appears to be the most likely candidate to lose his spot on the NHL roster. Several factors contribute to that possibility.
Lindstein is the expendable defenseman
When it comes to Lindstein, the organization will likely evaluate the situation from a couple of different perspectives. However, sending him down makes the most sense for several reasons, the first being that the Blues have significantly more invested in Lindstein and his development than they do in Barron.
In some ways, they could justify keeping Lindstein in the NHL and placing Barron on waivers, exposing him to other organizations around the league. However, there’s another way to look at the situation: Even if the Blues keep Lindstein in the NHL, are they putting him in the best possible situation to succeed? Based on his limited appearances this season, the answer appears to be no.
To this point in the season, Lindstein has struggled. That could be attributed to his lack of consistent playing time, but continuing to play him when he’s not at his best could also be doing him a disservice. By keeping Barron in the NHL and sending Lindstein to the AHL, the Blues would give their young defenseman regular opportunities to receive consistent minutes and rebuild his confidence following a rocky start to his season. That would be far more valuable to the organization than keeping Lindstein in the NHL as a seventh defenseman.
If the organization views Lindstein as part of its future, his development needs to remain a top priority. He needs consistent minutes to improve his positioning, recognize passing lanes, understand when to take risks and when to step back, and get better at reading and anticipating the opposing teams movements. By sitting out games, he misses out on valuable opportunities to learn and develop those skills. Barron on the other hand, is a player the organization has less invested in from a development standpoint, making him more suitable to remain in the NHL as their seventh defenseman. Furthermore, Barron is a defensively responsible player whose skill set could provide value in a depth role without requiring consistent offensive opportunites.
For those reasons, sending Lindstein to the AHL appears to be the most logical scenario when Mailloux returns.
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