As the St. Louis Blues embark on a six-game road trip, they are leaving many of their top players behind. While Vladimir Tarasenko appears ready to be activated from the Long-Term Injured Reserve, many other Blues are not as lucky. Alex Steen and Carl Gunnarsson are out for the year, placed on LTIR, while Tyler Bozak, Ivan Barbashev, and Robert Thomas all remain sidelined on standard IR, and you can now add two more to the lengthy list of absences, as Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that Colton Parayko and Jaden Schwartz also did not travel with the team. Due to the length of the trip, this implies that both are currently dealing with substantial injuries and will not be recovered within the next two weeks. This aligns with a recent report from The Athletic’s Jeremy Rutherford that suggest Parayko had been playing through a back injury but simply could not keep going, especially as his performance suffered. Surgery is a potential option for Parayko, but for now he is being given substantial rest and rehab in hopes that it can be avoided. Schwartz remains more unknown, only termed day-to-day thus far, but clearly his injury is more of the “week-to-week” variety. The Blues will have to hope for the best from their top options and trust their depth, as a long bout of the injury bug can be especially debilitating in a shortened season.
- In some surprising news from earlier, Evgeny Kuznetsov was ruled out for the Washington Capitals’ Saturday matinee match-up. Kuznetsov has been diagnosed with an undisclosed upper-body injury and is considered day-to-day, but it is unknown when and how the injury occurred. According to The Athletic’s Tarik El-Bashir, Kuznetsov was a full participant in practice on Friday, even getting in some early solo work. There is no word on if he will be available to the Capitals tomorrow for their re-match with the New Jersey Devils.
- The Detroit Red Wings will be without their captain and leading scorer this weekend, the team announced. Dylan Larkin has been ruled out for Saturday and Sunday meetings with the rival Chicago Blackhawks and is considered day-to-day with an undisclosed injury. With Tyler Bertuzzi still sidelined as well, the league’s second-lowest scoring teams loses another major name from its short list of weapons.
Steen retired