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Thomas Greiss Out For The Rest Of The Season

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The St. Louis Blues have announced that goaltender Thomas Greiss will be out for the remainder of the season with a lower body injury. Greiss played in 21 games for the Blues and will finish the season with a 7-10-0 record to go with a .895 save percentage and a 3.64 GAA. He underwent a procedure this past Monday and it was being speculated that it would sideline him until the end of the year.

Greiss was signed in the offseason as a backup to Jordan Binnington and struggled in his first season with the Blues. It was his 14th season in the NHL and his second season in a row where he put up a save percentage under .900.

Greiss had a tremendous five year run with the New York Islanders from 2015-2020 which saw him win 101 games and put-up a save percentage of .915. However, by the time Greiss signed in St. Louis late last summer there was talk that he nearly retired due to a lack of interest in his services.

Now given his struggles the past two seasons it seems possible that the 37-year-old could hang up his skates after this season. It’ll be interesting to see what Greiss does, there remains a possibility that he could still find work as a backup, given how thin the free agent goaltending market will be this summer.

Robert Thomas Back Skating With St. Louis Blues

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Some good news for the St. Louis Blues as they enter the final week of the regular season. Lou Korac of NHL.com is reporting that Robert Thomas is back skating today at the team’s optional skate. Thomas has missed the last five games with an upper body injury but took a step towards returning as he did some drills with Blues assistant coach Steve Ott this morning.

Thomas had started to heat up just before his injury with three points in the two games prior to getting hurt. Before that he had been on a cold streak going pointless in four straight. Thomas has been streaky this year putting up points in bunches and then going cold for a handful of games. Despite this, he still has 19 goals and 63 points in 70 games this year.

The Blues have just three games left in the regular season, so it is not yet known whether Thomas will return before the Blues play game 82. St. Louis is already officially eliminated from the playoffs so there is little rush to bringing him back too soon, especially with his eight year $65MM dollar extension kicking in next season.

St. Louis will be an interesting team to watch this offseason. The team has been visibly frustrated with the play of goaltender Jordan Binnington, their defense is old and could use an injection of youth, and they’ve got a solid group of forwards led by Thomas and Jordan Kyrou. They aren’t that far removed from their 2019 Stanley Cup and will likely be looking to push for the playoffs again in 2023-24.

Jordan Binnington Suspended Two Games By NHL

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St. Louis Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington has been suspended for two games by the NHL Department of Player Safety for roughing/unsportsmanlike conduct against Minnesota Wild forward Ryan Hartman.

In a video explaining the suspension, the incident is described as follows:

With Binnington in net, Hartman scores a power play goal to put the Wild up 5-4. On the way to celebrate the goal with his teammates, he makes light, incedental contact with Binnington, who was sliding out of his crease and towards Hartman. With the play long over, and as the Wild celebrate their goal, Binnington leaves the area of his crease, approaches the unsuspecting Hartman and his teammates, raises his blocker and stick to head level, and strikes Hartman in the face with the blocker.

The reason for the play resulting in suspension is the fact Binnington used his blocker in such a manner, the fact it was in retaliation following a goal, how hard he hit Hartman and the fact it was in the head, as well as the fact the incident occurred after Minnesota had taken the lead.

This is the first time Binnington has been suspended, and he has never been fined by the NHL.

Binnington, 29, has been shaky this season for the Blues, with a .892 save percentage and 3.39 GAA in 52 games played. The Blues have entered a new era, having traded longtime franchise pillar Vladimir Tarasenko and captain and 2019 Conn Smythe Trophy winner Ryan O’Reilly.

The Blues sit in sixth place in the Central Division, only ahead of the lowly Arizona Coyotes and Chicago Blackhawks.

Jordan Binnington To Have Hearing With Department Of Player Safety

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St. Louis Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington was ejected from last night’s game against the Minnesota Wild. The Department of Player Safety announced this morning than Binnington will have a hearing with them about his conduct.

Binnington lost his cool after the Wild’s fifth goal as he felt Ryan Hartman was a bit aggressive in front of the net after the goal was scored. Hartman scored a goal from the faceoff dot on Binnington’s left and headed to the opposite side of the rink to celebrate with Mats Zuccarello who fed him a tremendous pass. On his way, Hartman clipped Binnington who was spinning in front of his crease after allowing the goal.

The Blues Stanley Cup winning goaltender from 2019 must have felt Hartman bumped him on purpose. Binnington surprisingly charged at Hartman and took a massive swing at him with his blocker, aiming for the Wild forward’s face. Contact was certainly made, and Hartman fell to the ice, but it appeared in the video he at least got a hand up to absorb most of the blow instead of taking a blocker straight to the nose.

Binnington was assessed a match penalty for using his blocker as a weapon to try and injure an opponent. His meeting with the Department of Player Safety could lead to a fine or a suspension.

West Notes: Zegras, Binnington, Quick

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Despite some of the on-ice drama Trevor Zegras causes with his goals, there won’t be any off-ice drama this season regarding a contract extension. During media availability today, Anaheim Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek said that he’ll wait until after the 2022-23 season ends to work out a contract extension with the team’s budding no. 1 center.

Zegras is entering the final season of his three-year entry-level contract, with Zegras entering just his second full NHL season after scoring 61 points in 75 games as a technical rookie last year. He did play 24 games in 2020-21, enough to burn the first year of his entry-level contract, but not enough to remove his rookie status for 2021-22 in the eyes of the league. Verbeek expressed a desire to “[give] players the full year to kind of just concentrate on playing hockey,” also meaning that he won’t work on contract extensions for Troy Terry and Jamie Drysdale in-season either. All three players are restricted free agents in 2023.

  • After he sustained a left knee injury in the second round of the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs, St. Louis Blues netminder Jordan Binnington is fully healed and was a full participant today as the Blues began training camp, according to NHL.com correspondent Lou Korac. The Blues will rely on Binnington heavily this season, as veteran backup Thomas Greiss had one of the worst years of his career last season (if not the worst) with a .891 save percentage and shouldn’t be relied upon for more than 25 starts.
  • Two-time Stanley Cup champion goalie Jonathan Quick today told The Fourth Period’s Dennis Bernstein that he plans on playing past this upcoming season, his 16th in the NHL. Quick is entering the final season of a 10-year, $58MM contract extension signed with the Los Angeles Kings in 2012.

Jordan Binnington Suffers Knee Injury

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11:47 AM: Blues head coach Craig Berube has confirmed that Binnington will be out for the rest of the team’s series against the Avalanche.

9:26 AM: Last night’s contest between the Colorado Avalanche and the St. Louis Blues proved to be a costly one for both sides. The Avalanche lost defenseman Samuel Girard for the rest of the playoffs to a broken sternum, and per reports, the Blues have lost starting goaltender Jordan Binnington for what could end up being several weeks. Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic reports that “good sources” say that Binnington suffered a “possible knee sprain” and could be out for “multiple weeks.”

Binnington suffered his knee injury in the first period of yesterday’s game thanks to a collision with his teammate, Calle Rosen, as well as Avalanche forward Nazem Kadri. With just over 13 minutes left to play in the first period, Avalanche forward Artturi Lehkonen fired a shot off Binnington, which left a rebound at the top of the crease. Kadri went to pursue the rebound, and Rosen battled him to prevent that scoring chance. As a result of Kadri’s attempt at the loose puck and Rosen’s presence in the same area, Kadri and Rosen both slammed into Binnington. Binnington initially attempted to warm up for a return to action under the watchful eye of a team trainer, but he seemingly aggravated the injury, which necessitated his exit in favor of backup Ville Husso.

Naturally, the play has been controversial, especially so thanks to Kadri’s disciplinary history. After the game, Blues coach Craig Berube was asked about the incident and gave a simple answer: “Look at Kadri’s reputation, that’s all I have to say.” Despite that general sentiment from many on the Blues’ side, it does not seem as though Kadri will face any repercussions from the league for the incident. Andy Strickland of Bally Sports Midwest reports that the NHL Department of Player Safety is “not expected” to issue any reaction to the incident.

The loss of Binnington comes as a major blow to the Blues’ hopes against the Avalanche. While Binnington’s inconsistent play saw him lose the starter’s crease to Husso in the regular season, he has taken it back with his play in the playoffs. Binnington has a 4-0-1 record and a .949 save percentage in these playoffs, numbers that are significantly better than Husso’s 1-3-0, .891 marks. St. Louis is now down 2-1 in their series, so with Binnington now injured the Blues will need Husso’s regular-season form to re-emerge if they want to have any hope of continuing their season.

Samuel Girard Breaks Sternum, Out Rest Of Playoffs

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10:10pm: Girard suffered a broken sternum on the play according to head coach Jared Bednar. He will miss the rest of the playoffs for Colorado.

8:10pm: The Colorado Avalanche have lost one of their defensemen, at least for the time being. After Samuel Girard was removed from tonight’s game against the St. Louis Blues, he has been taken to a local hospital for further evaluation on an upper-body injury.

Girard was hit hard by Ivan Barbashev behind his own net, and though he got off the ice on his own, will not return. The 24-year-old defenseman had averaged just under 21 minutes a night so far in the playoffs but lasted just 56 seconds in tonight’s match.

For their part, the Blues have also lost starting goaltender Jordan Binnington for the time being. The netminder left after a collision with Nazem Kadri, forcing Ville Husso back into the crease.

The two teams will play again on Monday evening.

New Jersey Devils Acquire Jon Gillies

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The St. Louis Blues are set to get Jordan Binnington back after he was removed from COVID protocol, meaning they no longer needed the services of recently-signed netminder Jon Gillies. They’ve traded Gillies to the New Jersey Devils in exchange for future considerations, giving him a chance at a roster spot that wasn’t going to be available in St. Louis.

It’s been a pretty good stretch for Gillies, who went from signing a professional tryout with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms on November 23 to signing an NHL deal on December 8, posting a 36-save performance for the Blues in an emergency start and then finding himself shipped to the Devils where he will likely remain in the NHL.

The Devils currently have 21-year-old Akira Schmid up under emergency conditions as Jonathan Bernier deals with an injury; Schmid can now be sent back down to continue his development as soon as Gillies arrives. The 27-year-old netminder has just 13 games of NHL experience under his belt, but plenty of minor league time. Should the Devils decide to send Gillies to the minor leagues at some point, he’ll need to clear waivers.

For the Blues, they now have their normal starter back in the fold and Charlie Lindgren to handle any backup duties. Gillies was redundant, meaning clearing the contract slot is actually a big win for the team, even if they didn’t receive an actual asset in return.

Jordan Binnington Placed In COVID Protocol

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The St. Louis Blues’ battle with COVID continues, as this time their starting goaltender has entered the protocol. Jordan Binnington is now unavailable to the team and the Blues have recalled Charlie Lindgren to take his place on the roster, but unfortunately, they don’t have the cap space to use him tonight. The team will have to use an emergency goalie for one game–similar to what the Toronto Maple Leafs did earlier this season–and then add Lindgren under the emergency recall rules for Friday. Kyle Konin, a 23-year-old netminder who last played at Grand Valley State University, will be the backup tonight.

Binnington joins Tyler Bozak, who was placed in the protocol a few days ago. This isn’t the first time the Blues have been without key players though, and as things are currently going around the league, appears it likely won’t be the last. St. Louis confirmed that Binnington has tested positive, meaning if he experiences any symptoms, he’ll be held out for a minimum of ten days.

That means tonight against the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Blues will likely have Ville Husso in net, who dealt with his own stint in the COVID protocol earlier this season. The team is also scheduled to play the Florida Panthers on Saturday before traveling home, something that Binnington won’t be able to do if he’s stuck in quarantine. He’ll have to stay behind and re-join the team down the line, potentially after he misses the next five or six games.

Snapshots: Olympics, Blackwell, Crosby

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Each country participating in the upcoming Olympics had to submit their long list of 50 skaters and five goalies by last Friday.  While those lists weren’t made public, Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic reported in the latest TSN Insider Trading segment that Canada was granted a special exemption to add a sixth goaltender to their list in Canadiens netminder Carey Price who is currently out indefinitely after entering the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program.  The other five goalies are Darcy Kuemper, Carter Hart, Marc-Andre Fleury, Jordan Binnington, and Mackenzie Blackwood.  Canada’s Olympic committee recently announced a vaccination mandate in order to participate which makes Blackwood’s presence on here noteworthy as he is believed to be one of the four NHL players currently not vaccinated.  LeBrun mentions that the Devils’ goalie is working through the process of getting that done which should make him eligible to participate in the tournament in February if selected.

Elsewhere around the hockey world:

  • Kraken center Colin Blackwell has resumed light skating as he works his way back from a lower-body injury that kept him out of training camp, notes Marisa Ingemi of the Seattle Times. He’s hoping to avoid surgery but it appears he’s still a few weeks away from returning.  Blackwell was selected back in expansion after picking up 12 goals and 10 assists in 47 games (all career highs) last season with the Rangers.
  • Penguins center Sidney Crosby returned to practice today after missing the last four team skates, relays NHL.com’s Wes Crosby. He indicated that he has yet to go through any physical or faceoff drills which will need to happen before he can return.  Crosby, who is working his way back from wrist surgery that carried a minimum recovery time of six weeks, has missed just more than that and hasn’t pegged a target date for him to make his season debut.

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