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Zach Sanford Injured In Camp, Out “A Couple Weeks”

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One of the key pieces in the return for Kevin Shattenkirk last season, Zach Sanford was ready to play a much greater role for the St. Louis Blues in 2017-18, assumed to be his first full season in the NHL. That may still happen, but Sanford could now be fighting an uphill battle to make the Blues’ Opening Night roster. Blues beat writer Chris Pinkert spoke to head coach Mike Yeo, who informed him that Sanford was injured in practice on Friday and is expected to miss “a couple weeks”.  That timeline could prove problematic with the regular season also set to start in just over two weeks. Sanford is rumored to be out for the remainder of camp, putting his roster spot in jeopardy.

Even though training camp is not exactly adversarial, there are teammate-on-teammate injuries such as Sanford’s every year. This time, it was a battle along the boards between Sanford and Dmitrij Jaskin, who’s hard check into the boards delivered the shot that injured Sanford’s shoulder and forced him out of the scrimmage. The long-term prognosis was much worse than missing one practice though; Sanford will be out “weeks” and will miss critical time to work with his new teammates and find a fit for himself on one of the forward lines. Come Opening Night, even if Sanford is back at full health, he may find himself in the AHL rather than NHL in a Blues organization that is deep in forward talent. Sanford struggled with inconsistency in his first pro season and could have used a strong camp to kick off the 2017-18 campaign.

Yeo admitted to Pinkert that he had been speaking with his coaches about just how good Sanford had looked mere minutes before his injury. At some point this season, the young winger, a third-round pick of the Washington Capitals in 2013 and a former BC Eagle, is bound to see some major minutes with St. Louis. However, the extent of his shoulder injury and the time it takes for him to rehab and return could play a major part in determining when exactly he takes over that role.

Inactive Blues Hoping For Different Results

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The St. Louis Blues were one of the most inactive teams this summer, right alongside the Edmonton Oilers and San Jose Sharks. With their relative success in a difficult Central division, it’s easy to understand why they didn’t make too many seismic transactions. Still, they had a moderate backslide in points last season despite making it to the second round. With only 99 points, they easily could have found themselves on the outside of the playoff picture looking in. The team’s only major move this off-season was trading Jori Lehtera for Brayden Schenn, by most accounts a trade they came out on top. Still, did the Blues need to be more aggressive?

The team has one of the most consistently underrated defensemen in Alex Pietrangelo, and Colton Parayko behind him is no slouch. After that, however, the pickings on defense are rather uninspiring. Jay Bouwmeester still logs substantial time on ice, with a 22:24 average, but there are signs his play is starting to slip. His last four seasons have been negative possession seasons (relative Corsi), and his offensive game has completely dried up. He only scored one goal to accompany his 14 assists last season. Furthermore, age is starting to catch up to him in terms of footspeed. He’ll be 35 this season, and that issue isn’t going to get any better in the years to come. Carl Gunnarsson only saw sheltered time last year, with just over 13 minutes a night against weaker competition. Robert Bortuzzo is a 6th defenseman at best and Joel Edmundson has work to round out his game if he wants to solidify himself as a top-four defender. Ultimately, the team needs defensive help, especially when the team will be up against the likes of the Blackhawks and Stars on a regular basis.

The offense is deep but undeniably overly reliant on Vladimir Tarasenko. Paul Stastny is looking nowhere near worth his contract, and Alex Steen has to slow down at some point in the near future. Jaden Schwartz is primed to have another solid 50+ point season, but if the bodies around him again struggle with consistency it could be an uphill endeavor. Robby Fabbri is another player to watch, as the former first-rounder looks to put together a solid, healthy campaign. The aforementioned addition of Schenn is valuable, but the team could arguably have done more to bring fresh blood in. The team is really banking on Vladimir Sobotka to prove his worth, but there is still the risk of him not producing. He’s never topped 10 goals in an NHL season, after all. Ivan Barbashev looks very promising, but he’s still somewhat of an unknown entity at this point. Ultimately, the team lacks a proven, go-to offensive threat behind Tarasenko Whereas other teams in the division have exceptional one-two punches, the Blues are still hoping to develop theirs fully.

There were available names this offseason to be had if GM Doug Armstrong was willing to make the moves. An Alexander Radulov, for example, would have done wonders to ease some of the pressure from Tarasenko. There are still names available, though, such as Thomas Vanek and Jaromir Jagr up front. On defense, not much remains at this late date. A trade would really be the only sensible option. The team is still relatively undersized up front and overtaxes the top defenders. Cap space was undoubtedly an issue, as at $72.57 MM currently there was little room to maneuver. Still, moving out a larger contract like Stastny’s or Bouwmeester’s might have cleared room to add an important piece or two. The Blues lost Kevin Shattenkirk at the deadline, and it remains to be seen how his absence will affect the team over the course of a full year. The coaching staff behind Mike Yeo did phenomenal work to bring the team back into contention, but stagnation can often cost teams who are on the bubble. It will be interesting to see if Armstrong remains quiet this off-season, or opts for an additional move before the season’s start.

Steve Ott Ends Playing Career, Takes Position With St. Louis Coaching Staff

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In surprising news, Steve Ott, just a few weeks removed from a playoff run with the Montreal Canadiens, has been hired as an assistant coach with the St. Louis Blues. Ott will join newly hired Darryl Sydor behind the bench with Mike Yeo, ending his playing career at age 34. Ott played with the Blues from 2014-16, skating with many of the players who he’ll now be in charge of coaching. Lou Korac of NHL.com adds that the contract is for three years.

Ott has been in the NHL since the 2002-03 season when he broke in with Dallas, the team who made him a first-round pick (25th overall) in 2000. He was coming off an 88 point season in junior hockey as the captain of the Windsor Spitfires, and actually would climb to respectable point totals in the NHL over the years. In 2008-09, Ott put up 46 points in 68 games playing mostly with Mike Ribeiro—who would lead the club with 78 points—and Jere Lehtinen. He would score a career-high 22 goals the next season and be made an alternate captain, a role he kept until a trade to Buffalo for Derek Roy in the summer of 2012.

Though his time with St. Louis came near the end of his career, Ott had this to say about the franchise in the press release:

I am very proud of my playing career and will devote the same work ethic to my coaching career. The Blues organization is very special to me and my family and I’m excited to take the next step in my hockey career with this franchise.

Ott, thought more of as a pest than a scoring threat, will end his career with 288 points in 848 games, along with 1,555 penalty minutes. He never won a Stanley Cup, though did play 61 playoff games and reached the Conference Finals with Dallas in 2008.

Blues Owner Gives GM Vote Of Confidence

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If anyone thought the status of St. Louis Blues general manager Doug Armstrong was up in the air after recent coaching turnover and the up-and-down season the Blues endured last year, don’t count on it. In an interview with the St. Louis Post Dispatch, team owner Tom Stillman said he never second-guessed the general manager and even though Armstrong has only one year remaining on his deal, the owner believes that Armstrong is the man for the job.

“No,” Stillman said about whether he was considering replacing Armstrong during the season. “You need to keep a longer view on things like that. You don’t evaluate the performance of a top-level manager based on the latest current losing streak or a rough patch. I felt confident that Doug was making the right decisions and looking at the long-term, and that’s our focus, being competitive not just this year but next year and the following year. In fact, I think Doug is unusual in that he was so focused on the long-term.”

The Blues struggled early in the season, going 24-21-5 which led to the firing of Ken Hitchcock on Feb. 1. Armstrong then promoted Mike Yeo and the team immediately won six of their first seven games. Looking to the future, the team then traded defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk to the Washington Capitals and kept winning, eventually qualifying for the playoffs with a 46-29-7 record, good for third in the Central Division. They then knocked off the Minnesota Wild in the first round of the playoffs, only to fall to the Nashville Predators in six games in the second round.

“I don’t know that it surprised me because when you’re in that situation you know it could go any number of ways, but I will say that it impressed me,” Stillman said. “It impressed me the way the coaching staff performed … the way the players dug in. They were in a tough position and then we made it a little tougher on them by trading a top player and yet everybody dug in. They played for each other, played for the team and carved out a playoff position and played two rounds in the playoffs.”

Stillman continued by saying that promoting Yeo was a key move and the improved play of the team’s youth, including defensive pair Colton Parayko and Joel Edmundson as well as forwards Ivan Barbashev and Zach Sanford were a testament to Yeo’s coaching.

 

 

St. Louis Blues Had Multiple Chances To Trade Vladimir Sobotka

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Mike Yeo and Doug Armstrong met with the media today during the St. Louis Blues locker cleanout, and provided some details on several issues. One of those was the situation they found themselves in regarding Vladimir Sobotka before he finally decided to return to the NHL. Jeremy Rutherford of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that Armstrong had multiple offers of a second-round pick for the rights to Sobotka, but held on hoping that he’d eventually return. Return he did, as Sobotka was a key player for the team in the playoffs and now heads into next season with a new three-year contract. Vladimir Sobotka

While there is no word who would have offered a second for Sobotka, it doesn’t come as any surprise that there was an appetite for the 29-year old around the league. Even before he left for the KHL, Sobotka looked like a capable third-line center or middle-six winger capable of defending well and adding some secondary scoring. After putting up strong offensive numbers in Russia front offices around the league likely thought there was perhaps even more skill in him than he’d previously shown. In the playoffs, Sobotka scored 6 points in 11 games and was one of the Blues’ best forwards at times. His physical style and elite faceoff skill was on display, winning 54% of his draws and recording 21 hits.

Now that Sobotka will be starting a new three-year deal that will pay him $3.5MM, the Blues have some decisions to make about their depth chart down the middle. They now have Sobotka, Paul Stastny, Alex Steen, Patrik Berglund, Kyle Brodziak, Jori Lehtera and Ivan Barbashev all with plenty of experience in the middle, and though most have been effective on the wing at times, would carry value on the open market to other teams looking for center depth. With players like Zach Sanford and Robby Fabbri expected to step into even bigger roles next season, there may not be enough room for everyone up front. The fact that they need money for a Colton Parayko extension nags even more at the idea that someone may be on their way out in St. Louis.

Wild Notes: Dubnyk, Vezina Finalists, Yeo

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It was a tough day for the Wild’s Devan Dubnyk tweets Sportsnet’s John Shannon, who allowed the game-winning overtime goal to Magnus Paajarvi in today’s Game 5. The veteran goaltender, who is coming off a great 2016-17 season, yielded four goals in what turned out to be their season-ending game. To make matters worse, Dubnyk, who was a candidate to be a finalist for the Vezina Trophy this year, was not selected. The NHL announced their finalists today as Washington Capitals’ Braden Holtby, Columbus Blue Jackets’ Sergei Bobrovsky and Montreal Canadiens’ Carey Price.

Still, the 30-year-old Dubnyk remains a cornerstone for the franchise after finishing the season, having played 65 games with a 2.25 GAA and a .925 save percentage. He is also locked up contractually until the 2020-21 season.

The team should be expected to contend for another few years as they also have the core of their team locked up for the next few years behind veterans Mikko Koivu, Zach Parise, Jason Pominville and defenseman Ryan Suter. The team’s youth is also ripening with solid seasons from Mikael Granlund, Nino Niederreiter and defenders Jared Spurgeon, Mathew Dumba and Jonas Brodin.

The team may have some tough decisions for the upcoming expansion draft. The veteran team is sure to lose a quality player, and must contend with the No Movement Clauses of Koivu, Pominville, Parise and Suter. That leaves only a handful of spots left, depending on which path the Wild chooses to take. Tough decisions will have to be made about several players, including Jason Zucker, Erik Haula, Chris Stewart as well as veteran Eric Staal, who went down during Game 5. Even young defensemen like Brodin and Dumba could be exposed as well.

The team only has a handful of unrestricted free agents, namely Martin Hanzal and Ryan White, both acquired at the trade deadline from Arizona to help with their playoff run. The team must decide if they want or able to being one or both veterans back to the team next season.

  • One consequence to the Wild’s ouster in the playoffs will benefit the Arizona Coyotes. When Minnesota traded for Hanzal and White at the trade deadline, the team sent their 2017 first-round pick, a 2018 second-round pick and a conditional fourth-round pick in 2019 as well as prospect Grayson Downing. To the Wild’s benefit, that 2019 conditional fourth-rounder will remain a fourth-rounder. However, the series loss will allow the Coyotes to get a better pick than they had expected. The Wild at the time of the trade had the top record in the Western Conference and many figured that the pick would land in the high 20’s. Now the Wild could be handing a pick as early as No. 23 to the Coyotes for Hanzal and White, who are both unrestricted free agents in the offseason.
  • Blues head coach Mike Yeo said he has no special feelings about beating the Wild, the team that fired him during the 2015-16 season. “It’s not about me. I’ve been sincere when I’ve said that. I don’t think that what I’m feeling right now would be any different if it was any other team.”

Blues Recall Kenny Agostino

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Fresh off securing a playoff berth last night, the St. Louis Blues have added even more firepower to their red-hot team in the AHL’s leading scorer. The team announced today that they have recalled forward Kenny Agostino from the Chicago Wolves on an emergency basis and he is expected to be in the lineup tomorrow against the Central Division rival Nashville Predators.

There is no word yet on what warranted Agostino’s emergency recall or if he is replacing a major contributor in the lineup, but coach Mike Yeo and the Blues could do much worse than giving the 24-year-old left winger a shot down the stretch. Agostino already has a goal and two assists in seven games with St. Louis this season and has been on a tear in the minors, recording 79 points in 63 games, including nearly an assist per game. Agostino is in his first season with the Blues organization after signing as a free agent this summer – a move that is paying off in spades so far for GM Doug Armstrong and company. Just three years removed from a prolific career at Yale University, Agostino, then a Penguins prospect, was dealt to the Calgary Flames in the Jarome Iginla trade in 2013 while still in college, but has seen a major uptick in offense in 2016-17 relative to his first to pro seasons with the Flames organization.

The Blues are 7-1-2 in their last ten games and are rolling toward the postseason. A win tomorrow against Nashville would go a long way in locking down that second spot in the Central Division and a first-round date with the Minnesota Wild. Should Agostino play, he should be able to jump in and contribute right away in the crucial game and may even earn a spot on the postseason roster with his play over the next week. If not, the AHL Wolves have already clinched a playoff spot as well, so Agostino is postseason bound, one way or another.

Robby Fabbri Suffers Lower-Body Injury

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With the St. Louis Blues trying to build on their 5-1 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday night, they have lost a key forward. Robby Fabbri suffered an injury on a hit from Carter Rowney against the Penguins tonight and will not return. He left the ice in considerable pain, and needed assistance from the training staff.

Fabbri let out some cries of agony you could even hear on the broadcast, as he put no weight on his left leg. This is not the same leg that he injured two years ago at the World Juniors, when he suffered a high ankle sprain in his right leg.

For the Blues, losing another forward will test their depth even more. The team already watched David Backes and Troy Brouwer leave in free agency, and have struggled through the first 50 games. Finding themselves just a few points out of a playoff spot, some wonder whether they will go ahead and deal upcoming free agents Kevin Shattenkirk and Patrik Berglund or hold on and try to make another run with the newly promoted head coach Mike Yeo.

Fabbri has taken another step forward this season after an exceptional rookie season that saw him score 18 goals. He has 29 points in 50 games this year and has been logging close to 16 minutes a night as he builds the trust of the coaching staff. If the injury is as bad as it looked, it will be interesting to see who the Blues move up the lineup. Perhaps Nail Yakupov, the former first-overall pick the Blues acquired earlier this year will get another chance to show he’s deserved of an increased role on this team.

Blues Notes: Ribeiro, Hitchcock, Johnson, Armstrong

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The Blues may be one of the more interesting teams leading up to the trade deadline. The team has talent, but has underachieved this year and is battling just to make the postseason as a wild card. St. Louis took the surprising step of firing highly-respected head coach Ken Hitchcock, who had already announced he was retiring following the 2016-17 season, but more changes could be on the way.

Jeremy Rutherford of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch hosted his weekly chat with Blues fans today and tackled several queries regarding what steps the team might take next. It goes without saying but the whole post is well worth your time. Regardless, here’s a compilation of a few of the highlights:

  • Rutherford has long suggested the Blues need help at the center position and with Mike Ribeiro hitting the waiver wire today, one reader wondered whether St. Louis would take a chance on the talented pivot. While Ribeiro has a solid track record of offensive production, Rutherford just doesn’t see the soon-to-be-37-year-old as a fit for the Blues, citing the fact he has been a healthy scratch in Nashville on several occasions this season. Ribeiro does have 25 points in 46 games this season but only four goals. It’s likely the Predators sought potential trade partners prior to waiving Ribeiro and it would seem there wasn’t much interest. It’s possible someone besides St. Louis in need of center help will take a chance given the pivot is in the final season of his contract and wouldn’t come with much risk as a result. He did register a 50-point campaign in 2015-16 and tallied 62 the season before, suggesting he might still be able to help a team offensively.
  • The scribe also addressed whether Hitchcock’s name might come up in connection with the Las Vegas head coaching job. Rutherford is of the impression the veteran bench boss wouldn’t be “keen” on the idea and while he doesn’t specify as to why, it’s possible that the 65-year-old is simply at a point in his career where he wouldn’t want to take on the challenge of building an expansion franchise from the ground up. However, despite the fact he was set to retire after the 2016-17 season, many in the industry have said they wouldn’t be surprised to see Hitch back in the league at some point.
  • The Blues and Lightning have been linked as potential trading partners, given St. Louis’ issues in goal and the possible availability of pending free agent netminder Ben Bishop. However, Rutherford has heard that the Blues have interest in another Tampa Bay player: center Tyler Johnson. Johnson would make a ton of sense for the Blues. The team likely still fancies themselves as Stanley Cup contenders – if not necessarily this year – and a hypothetical deal for Johnson not only addresses a weakness now but would add a talented player who can be controlled as a RFA beyond the current campaign. Rutherford doesn’t specify what Tampa Bay would want in return but it’s safe to say a top-four defenseman would have to be part of the discussion.
  • Lastly, Rutherford’s colleague with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Jesus Ortiz, argues that the Blues “fired the wrong guy” when they dismissed Hitchcock. Ortiz is of the belief the team should instead have given GM Doug Armstrong his walking papers. He points to the hiring of Mike Yeo as “head-coach-in-waiting” as potentially undermining the authority of the veteran bench boss. In the press conference following the firing, Armstrong made a reference to “independent contractors,” when describing some of the players on the team and it’s fair to wonder if that condition is related to the team’s overall approach to the handling of the coaching situation. Ortiz also suggests that allowing Troy Brouwer and David Backes to depart as free agents hurt the team both on the ice and from a leadership perspective. Additionally, the team’s decision to trade goalie Brian Elliott and install Jake Allen as the undisputed #1 seems to have backfired. Hitchcock has long been able to coax above-average play between the pipes due in large part to his strong defensive structure. That hasn’t been the case this season as each of the team’s goalies, Allen and Carter Hutton, has a S% below 0.900. However, it should be noted that Elliott is also struggling in Calgary, and there is no guarantee he would have duplicated his success from last season had he remained with the Blues.

Blues Fire Head Coach Ken Hitchcock

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The St. Louis Blues’ season has not gone off without a hitch, and now it will continue without Hitch.

Head coach Ken Hitchcock has been relieved of his duties, and will be replaced by assistant coach Mike Yeo. In addition, Lou Korac of NHL.com believes that goaltending coach Jim Corsi has also been let go. Hitchcock was in his seventh season as coach of the Blues. The team made the playoffs in each year of his tenure, but only made it to the Western Finals once, in 2015-16. Nick Cotsonika, also of NHL.com, writes that the Blues have the third-highest point-percentage (0.644) since Hitchcock took over in 2011-12.

Yeo was hired last summer as an assistant coach with the expectation that he would be named head coach following the 2016-17 season, when Hitchcock’s contract was up. Yeo’s work will now begin a few months earlier than expected. Yeo was hired after five seasons coaching the Minnesota Wild. The Wild made the playoffs three times under Yeo, but were never able to get past the Chicago Blackhawks. Funnily enough, Yeo was fired last year as the Wild tried to spark their team; they rallied and made the playoffs. Now Yeo is being promoted to spark a team to rally and make the playoffs.

It’s been a tough season for the Blues; in the summer, they lost captain and leader David Backes, Troy Brouwer, and goaltender Brian Elliott for a total of a second round pick. Elliott was part of a successful tandem with Jake Allen, but without Elliott as his platoon partner, Allen has fallen off a cliff. His save percentage has dropped from a 0.920 last season to a 0.897 this season. The most important task for Yeo is getting Allen back on track; the struggling netminder is set to begin a four-year extension worth $4.35MM per season. No coach, no matter how good, can out-coach an 0.897 SV%. However, it’s not as though the Blues would be saved had they not traded Elliott, as he has just nine wins in 24 appearances and a 0.892 SV% in his first season in Calgary.

The Blues are currently in the second wildcard spot in the Western Conference. However, there’s no margin for error, as the six teams competing for the two wildcard spots are within two points of each other. The Blues lost to one of those teams, the Winnipeg Jets, on Tuesday night.

Yeo will go for his first win as head coach of the Blues on Thursday night when the Toronto Maple Leafs visit St. Louis.

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