Another game has gone by for the St. Louis Blues, and another injury has been added to the list. After Jimmy Snuggerud, Alexey Toropchenko, and Nathan Walker went to the Injured Reserve, Jordan Kyrou will seemingly be joining them after going down on a knee-to-knee during the 2-1 win over Ottawa.
There is no clear indication as to what the injury is, or what the outlook on availability will be for Kyrou, but he was down on the ice for a while. He was then aided while going to the bench and straight into the locker room. Head coach Jim Montgomery spoke after the game and said an MRI was needed to give a full diagnosis, and Kyrou has been labeled as day-to-day.
If Kyrou is scheduled to miss some time, an uncomfortable decision has to be made following the contest with Montreal on Sunday night. That effort against Ottawa is not going to win every game, and General Manager Doug Armstrong knows that.
Trading the core pieces
It has become apparent that the Blues need to demolish this core group, as it is not sustainable with winning. The difference from last season and this season is astonishing, and the grouping of Brayden Schenn, Pavel Buchnevich, Robert Thomas and Kyrou is not getting the job done.
One of those four, and potentially a player on the defensive side of the core in Colton Parayko or Cam Fowler, might need to be moved as well. But the focus now needs to be on the forward group, as this team cannot score goals. For the 15th time in the 29 games played so far, the Blues were held to two goals or fewer.
Now, potentially without their leading goal-scorer in Kyrou for a while, it is going to get even harder to score goals.
Cannot continue like this
The Blues cannot continue to play like this and expect to put out successful hockey. Ottawa took this team for a walk for the first period and a half, and then a lucky bounce set the tone for the rest of the game. Luckily, it was a favorable puck off the post, and a bat-in from Jake Neighbours.
If it had been the Senators to strike first, the Blues would still be the only team without 10 or more wins on the season. Something has to change, and it starts with moving on from a core piece. Let us hope that Kyrou was just bruised up, with no internal damage to his knee/leg.