Jori Lehtera To Be Healthy Scratched
Jori Lehtera will be watching tonight’s game from the press box.
The skilled center will be a healthy scratch on Saturday night when St. Louis host the Winnipeg Jets, according to Lou Korac, who covers the Blues for NHL.com. It appears that Nail Yakupov will take his spot in the lineup.
Lehtera has seven points (3-4-7) in 20 games, and was demoted to the third line during last game. Earlier this season, coach Ken Hitchcock scratched Robby Fabbri to get him motivated, and now he’s doing it again with another of the Blues top-nine forwards.
Yakupov will play on the third line with Patrik Berglund and Dmitrij Jaskin. The former first-overall pick of the Edmonton Oilers has five points (2-3-5) in 16 games this season. He’s been healthy-scratched eight times so far this season, since being acquired in October for ECHL forward Zach Pochiro and a conditional draft pick.
According to Korac, Hitchcock said he’s liked Yakupov’s effort in the last three practices. His last game was November 23.
Blues Notes: Coaching, Fabbri, Butler
The St. Louis Blues find themselves in a unique position this season when it comes to their coaching staff. Long-time head coach Ken Hitchcock announced during the offseason that he would be retiring at the end of the year and the team hired Mike Yeo as their coach-in-waiting. Throughout the major North American sports landscape, many teams are hesitant to have a coach in a ‘lame duck’ season with one year left on his contract so it’s particularly noteworthy that St. Louis is openly going with one in Hitchcock this season.
A quick look at the standings would suggest that it seems to be working so far. The Blues find themselves second in the Central Division with a points percentage over .500. However, the team has a negative goal differential, have taken a lot of undisciplined penalties, and are currently struggling on the man advantage. With that in mind, Benjamin Hochman of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch wonders if the Blues should promote Yeo now to the head coaching spot.
Hitchcock’s teams with St. Louis have in part been defined by their size and physicality, something that isn’t the case this year as power forwards David Backes and Troy Brouwer were replaced by faster, more finesse options in David Perron and Nail Yakupov. So far, the Blues have been hit-or-miss when it comes to playing their desired up-tempo style and that inconsistency – especially on the road – has proven costly as of late.
Given Hitchcock’s track record and the fact that the Blues are currently in a playoff spot, it’s hard to foresee them making the switch behind the bench this quickly. If their recent struggles continue though, promoting Yeo earlier than anticipated could become an option, especially if GM Doug Armstrong isn’t able to make any substantive changes to the roster beforehand.
More from St. Louis:
- As Hitchcock continues to shake up the lineup in an effort to get the team going, left winger Robby Fabbri is the most recent forward to be a healthy scratch. The sophomore has struggled lately with just one point in his last ten games and has only four points (1-3-4) on the season. Fabbri tells Tom Timmermann of the Post-Dispatch that the decision to hit him didn’t come as too much of a surprise: “It’s my first time being scratched ever, so it’s a little bit of a different feeling. Surprised? No. You start getting a feel from them and a feel from how you think you’re playing, and you know there’s a possibility. Once I saw it, I tried to get over it as soon as possible and move on and get ready for what’s coming up.” It appears that Fabbri will get back into the lineup tonight and play along Jori Lehtera and Vladimir Tarasenko, reports Chris Pinkert of the team’s official site.
- The Blues announced that they have re-assigned defenseman Chris Butler to their AHL affiliate in Chicago, just one day after recalling him. As a result, they’re back to just the minimum of six healthy blueliners on the active roster. Accordingly, it wouldn’t be surprising if Butler or another rearguard was to be brought back up before too long.
Blues Notes: Fabbri, Hutton, Gunnarsson
After scratching former first-overall pick Nail Yakupov for three straight games, St. Louis Blues head coach Ken Hitchcock will now sit down another highly regarded forward according to Lou Korac of NHL.com. Yakupov will dress tonight in place of Robby Fabbri, the Blues’ first-round pick from 2014. Hitchcock explained his decision (via Korac):
You have to make a decision whether you want to be in the group of 14, or you want to stay in that top 9 or 10.
It’s all connected to tenacity…goals and assists I don’t look at.
This will be the first time in his (albeit short) career that Fabbri will be a healthy scratch, after having a successful rookie campaign last season. The 20-year old scored 18 goals and 37 points playing most of the year as a teenager and looked like a future star in the league. Though this obviously doesn’t mean much for Fabbri’s future, sitting him in the press box is a strong message that they need more from him; he’s currently sitting on just four points in 14 games.
- The team announced that Carter Hutton will be in net tonight when they take on the Nashville Predators, his old team. Hutton spent the past three seasons with the club, recording a 33-23-12 record and strong .910 save percentage. After the Blues dealt Brian Elliott to the Flames this summer, they were in need of a backup to Jake Allen and Hutton fit the bill perfectly. The 30-year old took a little longer to develop, but is now showing his worth; he’s carrying a .926 through four games.
- The Blues have recalled Chris Butler for tonight’s game due to some lingering injuries on the back end. As Korac reports, it’s just precautionary should anyone not be able to go after the warmups. Hitchcock singled out Carl Gunnarsson as the most noticable injury. Butler has played eleven games for the Chicago Wolves of the AHL this season, recording two points and eight penalty minutes.
Injury Notes: Janmark, Ekblad, Schwartz, Fabbri, Nosek
Dallas center Mattias Janmark was spotted leaving the arena today on crutches, Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning News was among those to report. No update has been provided on his condition although one is expected later today.
The Stars have been bit hard by the injury bug early on with center Cody Eakin (knee), right winger Ales Hemsky (groin), and center Tyler Seguin (heel) all down already.
Janmark had a solid rookie campaign last season, scoring 15 goals and 14 assists in 73 regular season games while averaging 14:10 per game. He had a slightly bigger role in the postseason, recording two goals and three helpers in 12 contests while logging 14:41 per night in ice time.
Dallas has one of the strongest and deepest forward groups in the league but it is getting put to the test early on.
Other injury news and notes:
- Florida defenseman Aaron Ekblad was dealing with whiplash and not a concussion from a hit sustained as the World Cup of Hockey, writes George Richards of the Miami Herald. The symptoms from the neck issue mimicked those of a concussion, causing the early confusion. Ekblad was given the green light to return to practice on Wednesday.
- Blues left winger Jaden Schwartz suffered a minor upper body injury (believed to be a hand/wrist issue) in practice today, report Tom Timmermann and Jeremy Rutherford of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Schwartz will be held out through the weekend for precautionary reasons. From the same report, Robby Fabbri (upper body) missed his fourth straight day of practice but is believed to be close to being able to return.
- Detroit center Tomas Nosek has started skating as he continues to recover from a knee injury, notes Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press. Nosek got into six games with the Red Wings last season and will likely see time as an injury recall during the year if he doesn’t earn a spot in training camp. He sustained the injury in a collision with teammate Steve Ott in a scrimmage game.