4:00 PM: Defenseman Nick Leddy won’t be joining St. Louis on their upcoming three-game road trip, per Lou Korac of The Hockey News. Leddy will continue to sit out after shifting to injured reserve on October 22nd with a lower-body injury. He hasn’t played since October 15th, and went without any scoring or hits through the first four games of the Blues’ season. St. Louis deployed Leddy as a top-pair defender prior to his injury – leaving big shoes to fill in the lineup, and making St. Louis eager for his return.
9:00 AM: The Blues announced Wednesday that they’d recalled defense prospect Leo Lööf from AHL Springfield. If he plays during his recall, it will be his NHL debut.
Lööf, now 22, was a third-round pick of the Blues in 2020. The 6’1″, 201-lb left-shot defenseman spent his first three post-draft years in Europe, skating for top-level clubs in Sweden (Färjestad BK) and Finland (Ilves) before signing his entry-level contract in April 2023 and coming to North America the following season.
Lööf has appeared solely for Springfield during his entry-level contract, though that may change in the coming days. The physical, two-way defender has yet to see his point totals pop in the minors, failing to score a goal and recording only eight assists in 69 games dating back to last season. It’s a sharp downtick from his numbers in the European pros, where he most recently had four goals and 12 assists for 16 points in 55 Liiga games for Ilves in 2022-23.
Only one of those points has come this season while making 11 appearances for Springfield. However, he’s tied for second on the team with 21 PIMs and is tied for the team lead among defensemen with a +1 rating. While the point totals haven’t come, and his ability to read plays offensively is still translating to North American ice, he’s primarily played an intelligent game and has been a factor physically.
That being said, it’s no guarantee that Lööf gets into a game. The Blues already have six healthy defenders on the roster and likely just wanted an extra body on hand for their three-game East Coast road swing over the next few days. Lööf was one of the top waiver-exempt options they had available, so they don’t have to worry about managing their roster or shaving time off the temporary exemptions for Corey Schueneman, Hunter Skinner or Tyler Tucker after the trio cleared waivers during training camp.
Lööf still has one season left on his entry-level contract after this. Even if he doesn’t play, the recall is financially significant for him—temporarily bumping his salary from just $80K in the minors to a pro-rated $775K while he’s on the NHL roster. He’ll be a restricted free agent in the summer of 2026.
Silly question perhaps, but does the double umlaut alter the pronunciation of the last name? Is it LOOF? loo-UF?
More like Leo Luhf
Every time I see his name, it reminds me of those memes with the cat begging for lööps.
Sorry to put this on your thread Josh, But I have a TV guide on my TV Tim and don’t need you trying to sell me Prime TV and then closing comments. I already get EVERY game and don’t need a rumors website trying to sell me a TV package. That’s lowbrow man. Understand you having some popups or a post to sell your own product, but a post on all of the sites to sell an Amazon product is weak.
Welcome to America, where are you from?
Snow mexico.
This guy has zero offense to his game, but I have seen him play a bit internationally and he’s a lunatic lol. Lots of physicality and he plays on the edge, to say the least. He’s looking to deliver the big hit, for sure.