Blues Activate Justin Faulk, Assign Jakub Vrána To AHL
The Blues activated Justin Faulk from injured reserve on Friday afternoon, per a team announcement. To remain compliant with the 23-player limit on the active roster, the team returned winger Jakub Vrána to AHL Springfield in a corresponding transaction.
Faulk, 31, will likely play tomorrow against the Bruins. He missed the last five games and 13 days with a lower-body injury, during which span the Blues went 3-2-0 and stayed in the hunt for a Wild Card spot in the Western Conference.
With today being the halfway point of the 2023-24 NHL schedule, Faulk is coincidentally at the exact halfway mark of the seven-year, $45.5MM extension he signed with the Blues that began in the 2020-21 season. He’s in his fifth season as a Blue since coming over from the Hurricanes in a late-2019 offseason trade, accumulating 41 goals, 114 assists, 155 points, and a 48.3% expected goals share at even strength, per Hockey Reference, in 318 games.
This season has been average for Faulk’s standards. Playing in 35 straight games to start the season before sustaining the injury late last month, Faulk had scored twice and added 15 assists for 17 points, or 0.49 points per game. That’s just north of his 0.47 career points per game mark. He’s again shouldered heavy minutes with average shot quality control metrics, averaging 22:25 per game while controlling 49% of expected goals at even strength, according to Hockey Reference data.
He’s most commonly factored in on a pairing with Torey Krug this season, which has been a mainstay since the latter joined the Blues in free agency in 2020. Their 537 minutes together is the 12th most of any defensive pairing this season, per MoneyPuck. That means 23-year-old call-up Matthew Kessel, who’s played in five straight games alongside Krug in Faulk’s absence, will likely be a healthy scratch against Krug’s former team this weekend.
Notably, though, the Blues chose to keep Kessel on the active roster instead of returning him to Springfield with Faulk back in the lineup. The 2020 fifth-round pick is still waiver-exempt, so there’s no risk of losing him on the wire by keeping him around as a healthy scratch. The 6-foot-3, 203-pound right-shot blueliner is still looking for his first NHL point but posted decent possession metrics in a small sample alongside Krug, averaging 17:34 per game. Nearly all those minutes game at even strength, as Kessel saw less than a minute combined of ice time on the power play and penalty kill during his stint in the lineup.
Heading down to the minors instead is Vrána, who does not yet need waivers again after he cleared them nearly one month ago. The 27-year-old posted over a point per game in Springfield after being sent down, including scoring four times in his last five games before the Blues summoned him back to the roster eight days ago.
Unfortunately, the 2014 first-round pick was unable to convert that momentum into regaining a full-time NHL role. He played two games during his callup, the latter of which was a poor performance in a 5-1 loss to the Panthers on Tuesday that saw him post a -3 rating in just over ten minutes of ice time. Interim head coach Drew Bannister scratched Vrána in yesterday’s 5-2 win over the Metropolitan Division-leading Rangers, allowing Sammy Blais to re-enter the lineup against his former team.
Vrána is in the final season of a three-year, $15.75MM contract carrying a $5.25MM signed with the Red Wings following an arbitration filing in 2021. The Blues only have him at a $2.625MM cap hit after trading for him with 50% salary retention by Detroit, but that still exceeds this season’s buried threshold of $1.15MM. Thus, the Blues are still on the hook for $1.475MM against the cap when Vrána is stashed in the minors.
Blues Place Justin Faulk On Injured Reserve, Recall Jakub Vrana
The St. Louis Blues have placed top defenseman Justin Faulk on injured reserve with a lower-body injury. Faulk suffered the injury late in the last minute of the team’s December 29th matchup against the Colorado Avalanche. He has already missed one game with the injury and is now slated to be out for at least a week. St. Louis has also swapped depth forwards, recalling Jakub Vrana and sending Nikita Alexandrov to the minor leagues.
Faulk has once again served as St. Louis’ top defenseman this season, averaging nearly 22-and-a-half minutes each game. He’s tallied 17 points through 35 games in the role, on pace for 40 points in 82 games. That’s a step down from the marks Faulk has been able to reach in St. Louis, with the defenseman setting a career-high 50 points in 82 games last season. It was the first time that any Blues defender has hit the half-century mark since Alex Pietrangelo did it in 2019-20 – and Faulk becomes the first defenseman not named Pietrangelo to reach the feat since the legendary Chris Pronger in 2003-04.
With Faulk moved to IR, the Blues opt to reinforce their offense rather than their defense – a move that makes sense considering the team recalled Matthew Kessel midway through last week. The reinforcements come in the way of Jakub Vrana, who the Blues acquired via trade last season, sending Dylan McLaughlin and a seventh round pick to the Detroit Red Wings. The hope was that Vrana could rebound to the 50-point form he showed off in the 2019-20 season. And while his time in St. Louis has been marred by struggles and waiver placements, the 27-year-old winger has totaled 20 points in 39 games since joining the Blues organization. He will hope to find his groove under new head coach Drew Bannister, who Vrana has yet to play for: getting sent down prior to Craig Berube‘s dismissal from the team.
Blues Recall Matt Kessel
With Justin Faulk suffering a lower-body injury last night that will keep him out of the lineup tonight against Pittsburgh, the Blues have brought up a replacement. The team announced that they’ve recalled defenseman Matt Kessel from AHL Springfield.
The 23-year-old was a fifth-round pick by St. Louis back in 2020, going 150th overall. He has spent the full season so far with the Thunderbirds, picking up two goals and four assists in 29 games. Kessel has a pair of NHL appearances under his belt, both coming last season where he was held off the scoresheet while averaging a little over 15 minutes in each contest. He’s in the final season of his entry-level contract and will be a restricted free agent this summer.
St. Louis had an open roster spot so no corresponding move needed to be made to get Kessel onto the roster. The timeline of Faulk’s injury is not yet known but he remains on the active roster for the time being. His absence will certainly hurt tonight as he’s their leading scorer among blueliners with 17 points in 35 games while his 22:25 ATOI is second to only Colton Parayko.
Blues Injury Notes: Kyrou, Faulk, Kapanen, Ratcliffe, Burns
Speaking with head coach Craig Berube of the St. Louis Blues today, Matthew DeFranks of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that two of the most important players on the Blues roster, defenseman Justin Faulk, and forward Jordan Kyrou are both “fine” and should be back with the team relatively soon.
Both players are dealing with lower-body injuries, likely sustained in their most recent preseason matchups. In Faulk, he played in the team’s winning effort against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday, playing a little over 16 minutes, failing to land on the scoresheet. Kyrou, on the other hand, has not played since the team’s split-squad matchup against the Arizona Coyotes on September 23rd, where he would play in almost 18 minutes of that game, scoring one goal and one assist.
It is unknown whether or not either player will play in the team’s upcoming matchup against the Chicago Blackhawks tomorrow night, or this weekend’s game against the Dallas Stars. Nevertheless, it appears that both are dealing with minor injuries and should be available for either of those two games.
Other Blues injury notes:
- In the same report, DeFranks mentions that Blues’ forward Kasperi Kapanen is dealing with an upper-body injury, and should be able to return to practice tomorrow. Much like the status of Faulk and Kyrou, it is unknown whether or not Kapanen will play in the organization’s upcoming games this week, but should be ready to factor in if necessary. Kapanen has only played one game this preseason, playing just over 18 minutes of the team’s win against Arizona, registering zero points.
- For some longer-term injury notes, St. Louis forward Isaac Ratcliffe is confirmed out at the moment, with no timetable for his return. Factoring into Tuesday’s game against the Blue Jackets, Ratcliffe tallied a goal in 13 minutes of ice time, earning the third star of the game. On the bubble of the Blues’ roster heading into this season, for his own personal benefit, Ratcliffe can not afford to miss too much time if he hopes to crack the regular season lineup.
- St. Louis’ third-round selection of the 2023 NHL Draft, Quinton Burns, has been unable to return to practice following a lower-body injury sustained in the game against the Coyotes. In all likelihood, even without the injury, the young defenseman would have been returned to his OHL team, the Kingston Frontenacs, for the 2023-24 season. In his game against Arizona, Burns accrued 16 minutes of ice time, earning 2 PIMs and one registered hit.
West Notes: Hayes Trade, Kings, Jets
As the hockey world continues to wait on the second-big center trade of the day, one that is expected to see Kevin Hayes of the Philadelphia Flyers join the St. Louis Blues. Due to his cap hit of $7.14MM a year, there was always a guarantee that the Blues would likely have to send some money back. A complicated trade such as this one usually doesn’t take a couple of hours to complete, as it could go on for a couple of days, especially if a third team needs to get involved.
As of right now, there is no knowledge on what assortment of players, picks, or prospects will be headed back in either direction, but we do know a couple of players that will not be included in the deal on the Blues side of the action. Renaud Lavoie has already reported that St. Louis defenseman, Marco Scandella, is not the one holding up the trade, as the Flyers are not on his no-move list. Additionally, Lavoie notes that Colton Parayko and Nick Leddy have also not been asked to waive their no-trade clauses.
A few moments after the news from Lavoie, Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic reported that defenseman Justin Faulk has also not been asked to waive his no-trade clause as well. This news is important for a couple of reasons. With some deductive reasoning, these reports could reasonably be interpreted as the Blues are trying to send a defenseman to the Flyers, and there is only one more St. Louis defenseman that has a sizeable contract, that player being Torey Krug. It appears that if the Blues are indeed trying to send Krug the other way, the no-trade clause in his contract appears to be holding up the deal, which may cause Philadelphia to seek out a third team to facilitate the trade.
Other notes:
- As the trade market starts to heat up in the Western Conference, the Los Angeles Kings are fervently in the mix. David Pagnotta of TheFourthPeriod reports that not only have the Kings engaged in multiple discussions to acquire a top-six forward, but they would love to get a trade made before the draft. The Kings and Montreal Canadiens have been the two teams most heavily linked to Pierre-Luc Dubois this summer, and he would be an acquisition that would undoubtedly improve Los Angeles’ forward group. Aside from Dubois, it is unknown who else the Kings would be targeting, but they are letting most teams know what they are looking for.
- Continuing on with the Dubois speculation, Frank Seravalli of the DailyFaceoff notes that the Kings and Winnipeg Jets are indeed engaged in conversations, but nothing seems imminent on the trade front. Los Angeles did create some room to add in their earlier trade of Sean Durzi to the Arizona Coyotes, but the reasoning behind a trade not being close may not entirely be their fault. Mark Scheifele, Connor Hellebuyck, Blake Wheeler, and Dubois have all seen their names in the rumor mill this summer, and the Jets likely have plenty of teams calling for their services.
West Notes: Krug, Olofsson, Eller
St. Louis Blues defenseman Torey Krug is set to return to the lineup against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday, head coach Craig Berube told reporters today. It ends a brief absence stemming from a lower-body injury.
It’s been a bumpy road for Krug in 2022-23, who’s missed significant portions of the season. This is the fifth separate occasion he’s missed time with a lower-body injury, including a 13-game-long absence through December and January. Krug’s ice time has dipped below 20 minutes this season, and his -28 rating is tied for the worst on the team. He’ll return to his usual spot alongside Justin Faulk.
- After being sent down yesterday, the Dallas Stars have brought forward Fredrik Olofsson back up from the minors. The 26-year-old has been a frequent call-up as of late, and he’s recorded a goal and three assists in 15 games with Dallas on top of 14 points in 37 games with AHL Texas. Olofsson will draw back into the lineup tomorrow against the Vegas Golden Knights as Luke Glendening and Joel Kiviranta remain sidelined with injuries.
- The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun covered the Washington Capitals’ trade deadline plans in his latest piece and listed pending unrestricted free agent center Lars Eller as a potential fit for the Colorado Avalanche. Eller’s offense has taken a step back this season, recording just seven goals and 16 points in 58 games, but he’d be good depth insurance for an Avalanche team that’s thin at center. As Colorado begins to string wins together ahead of the trade deadline, they hope some depth additions combined with healthy stars propel them back into the “contending” category of teams.
Evening Notes: Boeser, IIHF/Russia, NHLPA Leadership
After the Bo Horvat trade yesterday, the floodgates appear to be opening on the trade front. That’s especially true for the Vancouver Canucks, who have some desirable trade assets other than Horvat that could find their way out of town by the trade deadline.
One of those is Brock Boeser, who TSN’s Darren Dreger said today continues to receive interest from around the league. However, he reported that any Boeser trade, and the corresponding interest, hinges on how much salary Vancouver is willing to retain in a potential trade. Boeser is signed to a steep cap hit of $6.65MM for the next three seasons. With so many teams already dipping into LTIR pools to stay cap-compliant, Vancouver is unlikely to find a trade partner willing to take the full brunt of the deal. The 25-year-old has nine goals and 30 points in 41 games this season. That’s a 60-point pace over 82 games.
- TSN’s Chris Johnston also reported on today’s edition of Insider Trading that the IIHF has a council meeting set up for March to discuss the status of Russian and Belarusian players in future international hockey events. Johnston notes that any changes to the current ban on those athletes participating won’t be lifted by the World Championship events in Spring 2023. Still, there could be a change in policy heading into the 2024 calendar of events. The conversation was reignited by the International Olympic Committee’s decision to allow Russian athletes to participate in the 2024 Paris Olympics. However, they likely would have to compete under a neutral flag.
- As the NHLPA continues its search to name a new executive director, NHL analyst John Shannon today reported the list of players comprising the organization’s search committee. Ian Cole (TBL), Jacob Trouba (NYR), James van Riemsdyk (PHI), Justin Faulk (STL), Kevin Shattenkirk (ANA), Kyle Okposo (BUF), Mattias Ekholm (NSH), Nate Schmidt (WPG), Sam Gagner (WPG), and Zach Hyman (EDM) are the members who will determine the replacement for outgoing director Donald Fehr.
Latest On St. Louis Blues Defensemen
After St. Louis Blues defenseman Torey Krug left last night’s game midway through the first period with a lower-body injury, Blues head coach Craig Berube said today that he expected Krug to be out for “some time” (link). The loss of Krug is yet another in a growing list of St. Louis defensemen who are out with injury, joining Nick Leddy, Robert Bortuzzo, and rookie Scott Perunovich. Krug has been an important piece for a deep Blues team this season, playing a pivotal role on their powerplay while averaging 20:33 in time-on-ice in the regular season. No timetable, beyond Berube’s comments, has been given.
Looking at those other three names, returns for Leddy, Bortuzzo, and Perunovich could be fairly soon. According to Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, who spoke with Berube, Perunovich is a possibility for Game Four against the Minnesota Wild on Sunday (link). Perunovich had been out since January 15th with a left wrist injury, which ultimately required surgery in March. The young defenseman’s regular season would end after just 19 NHL games, in which he tallied six assists.
A return for Leddy and Bortuzzo does not appear to be as imminent as that of Perunovich, however the pair did practice Saturday with St. Louis. Still, as Thomas reports, the team will have to wait and see on their status. Leddy, who played in Game One, missed games Two and Three against Minnesota with an upper-body injury. It’s unclear what exactly the nature of Leddy’s injury is, however he did take an awkward hit into the boards during Game One from the Wild’s Matt Boldy. Bortuzzo’s injury was more clear, having taken a puck to his face while attempting to block a shot during Game Two.
There was concern about Justin Faulk, as the defenseman did not practice with the team on Saturday. However, Thomas reports, Faulk’s absence was merely for rest, after playing heavy minutes in last night’s game. Faulk was not only one of the Blues’ best players this season, but one of the league’s best, recording 16 goals and 31 assists in 76 games along with a stellar plus-41 rating, all while averaging 23:12 time-on-ice.
St. Louis Blues Announce Several Roster Moves
The St. Louis Blues continue to move players on and off the roster in an attempt to stay salary cap compliant while they deal with injuries and COVID absences. Today, several transactions were processed to make the puzzle pieces together. The team has moved David Perron to long-term injured reserve, while putting Robert Thomas and Brayden Schenn on normal injured reserve. Tyler Bozak and Justin Faulk have been activated from the COVID protocol, while Alexei Toropchenko has been recalled.
Perron’s LTIR designation is retroactive to November 27, just after the last game he played in, meaning he won’t have to wait much longer if he is healthy enough to return. LTIR requires a player to miss either ten games or 24 days (whichever is longer), meaning he could potentially return for the Blues’ game next Tuesday. That gives the team some time to operate with the extra cap relief and hopefully get Jordan Binnington back out of the COVID protocol.
Faulk and Bozak’s return is a huge positive, given how the protocol affects a team’s cap. Their hits still counted toward the $81.5MM cap ceiling despite being unavailable, leading to the Blues playing shorthanded several times. If they’re healthy enough to return, it will be a big help while figuring out the rest of the roster.
Toropchenko meanwhile will be facing his NHL debut should he get into a game. The 22-year-old forward has nine points in 22 games with the Springfield Thunderbirds this season after spending last year in the KHL. The 6’3″ winger hasn’t shown a huge amount of offensive upside, but can add another big body to the Blues’ bottom-six–something head coach Craig Berube has used consistently since arriving in St. Louis.
Justin Faulk Enters COVID Protocol
The St. Louis Blues announced Thursday, just minutes ahead of their game against Tampa Bay, that defenseman Justin Faulk has been placed in the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol.
Faulk, who’s in the second year of a seven-year, $45.5MM contract, is having his best season in a Blues uniform. He leads the team in +/- (+9) and is tied for the team lead in points among defensemen (10), all while averaging more than 23 minutes per game.
He joins forward Tyler Bozak and goalie Jordan Binnington as the Blues on the protocol list. James Neal, Klim Kostin, and David Perron are all injured, adding to their list of absences.
Jake Walman will dress against Tampa Bay in place of Faulk. He’s played in 14 games this season, notching two assists.