Robert Bortuzzo makes return to St. Louis with the Utah HC

Ahead of the St. Louis Blues' game against the newborn Utah Hockey Club, one player will make an impact on the team that he spent a vast majority of his career with.

35-year-old blueliner Robert Bortuzzo makes his return to St. Louis for the first time since the Blues failed to get a new contract worked out for the Thunder Bay, Ontario native. Now, he joins the NHL's "newest" team for the 2024/25 season and will play against his former team for the first time.

Or perhaps, his second former team, as Bortuzzo started out with the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 2011/12 season, though he didn't see much consistent playing time until his third year in the league. Even then, Bortuzzo hasn't been able to closely reach playing in most regular season games across his 14-year NHL career, which is a little disappointing, just like his offensive totals during all those seasons.

The most regular season games in an individual season Bortuzzo has managed is 73, during the 2021/22 season, one of his last with St. Louis. He managed a goal and five assists for six points then, and as for his next best season? 72 games in 2017/18, a year before winning the Stanley Cup, notching four goals and nine assists for 13 points.

Since then, Bortuzzo's numbers have dropped dramatically once again, about to where they've been for most of his career. He averages three goals and eight assists for 11 points in a typical 82-game season, while his career totals put him at 566 games with 20 goals and 54 assists for 74 points. 424 of those 566 games came with St. Louis, where he notched 16 goals and 38 assists for another 54 points, meeting his career average to a T. Bortuzzo's initial career in Pittsburgh had him post four goals and 16 assists for 20 points in 113 games wearing a Penguins sweater.

Bortuzzo was originally a third-round draft choice by the Penguins back in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft, but spent the years before the 2011/12 season with the Penguins' AHL affiliate in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, where he totaled 154 games, scoring six goals and 32 assists for 38 points. During his rookie season in 2011/12, he'd go back to WBS for a little bit, picking up an additional four points in 31 more games before staying in the NHL full-time.

By that time as well, Bortuzzo had been dealt to the Blues and played out his 10 years there before actually being dealt to the New Islanders mid-last season, where he played 23 games up in Uniondale before shipping off to Salt Lake City. Bortuzzo has played in six of Utah's 13 games, but has yet to pot his first goal as a member of the temporarily named "Hockey Club".

The Blues' record sits at 7-6-0, right in the middle of the Central Division standings and on a two-game win streak, while Utah is right behind in fifth with a 5-5-3 record, holding a two-game losing streak. In the last ten games, St. Louis has managed a 5-5-0 record, while Utah has a 2-5-3 record in their last ten games.

After tonight's contest, the Blues stay at home for their next two games in their current five-game homestand, facing Washington on November 9th and Boston on November 12th before heading to Buffalo to clash with the Sabres on November 14th.

Utah's schedule following tonight's game sees them continue what will be a four-game road trip that started with a 4-3 OT loss to Vegas, followed by a 3-0 shutout against Central Division leaders Winnipeg. After the Blues game, the Club heads to Nashville to face the struggling Predators on November 9 before their next home game against the Carolina Hurricanes on November 13.