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Tyler Tucker

Blues’ Tyler Tucker To Miss Game 7

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The St. Louis Blues will be without defenseman Tyler Tucker for tonight’s decisive Game 7 clash against the Winnipeg Jets—a significant blow to a team counting on its blue line depth in a win-or-go-home matchup. The 25-year-old Tucker has emerged as a reliable presence on the back end this season, providing physicality, poise, and key minutes that have helped stabilize the Blues’ defense.

In a career-high 38 games this season, Tucker recorded just seven points but showcased his strong defensive prowess by recording 81 hits and 39 blocked shots in that limited time. He added a goal and 12 hits in the first three games of the series before going down with a lower-body injury. If the Blues are able to advance, there is no public timeline on Tucker’s potential return outside of his “day-to-day” status.

Ryan Suter is expected to remain in Tucker’s place in the lineup tonight, skating alongside fellow veteran Nick Leddy. A veteran of over 1,500 career-games, Suter produced two goals and 15 points in 82 games this season—maintaining his streak of four consecutive seasons without missing a game—but was a healthy scratch in games two and three of the series. In the four games he has dressed for, Suter has one assist and a minus-one rating while averaging 16:45 of ice time per game.

Addressing the decision to initially scratch Ryan Suter and then reinsert him following Tucker’s injury, Blues head coach Jim Montgomery praised the veteran’s professionalism, noting that the team will benefit from Suter’s penalty-killing ability and wealth of experience. The 40-year-old has logged 137 career playoff games, averaging an impressive 24:52 of ice time. While his days as a top-pairing workhorse are behind him, Suter’s veteran presence could prove invaluable in a high-stakes Game 7.

Blues Sign Tyler Tucker To Two-Year Extension

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The St. Louis Blues have signed defenseman Tyler Tucker to a two-year, $1.85MM contract extension. The deal will carry a $900K salary in year one and a $950K salary in year two. Tucker was set to be a restricted free agent this summer.

The Blues drafted Tucker with the 200th-overall pick in the 2018 NHL Draft. He followed his draft selection with 59 points and 105 penalty minutes in 68 games during his age-19 OHL season. The performance stamped Tucker as a bruising enforcer – a role he embraced in full when he moved to the pros two years later. Tucker played his rookie AHL season during the shortened 2020-21 campaign and posted a quaint seven points and 34 penalty minutes in 27 games as a result. But he came to life in 2021-22, leading the Springfield Thunderbirds with 114 penalty minutes in 72 games – over 40 more than anyone else on the team.

Tucker made his NHL debut in the following year and very quickly found his role as St. Louis’ bruiser in reserve. He split the 2022-23 season between recording four points and 31 PIMs in 26 NHL games; and posting 21 points and 79 PIMs in 41 AHL games. He returned to the role of seventh-defender last season, posting two points and 42 PIMs in another 26 games – though routine injury held him to just six AHL games. Tucker has found a better balance between scoring and penalties this season, with four points and 30 PIMs in 20 NHL games and 10 points and 39 PIMs in 19 AHL games.

Tucker’s 72 career NHL games are more than anyone else drafted in 2018’s seventh round. His impact has proven fairly minimal, and is often limited to the defensive zone, but the Blues have clearly taken to the physical presence he brings to the lineup. Tucker is still only 24 years old. With a lineup spot carved out, this two-year deal will represent a chance for him to truly hone his style and push for routine minutes before he hits his prime years.

Central Notes: Heinola, Dickinson, Blues, Wilsby

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It has been a rough few years for Jets defenseman Ville Heinola.  Once considered one of their top prospects, frequent injuries derailed that and now that he’s waiver-blocked, even playing time is hard to come by.  Accordingly, Sportsnet’s Jacob Stoller argues that the time is right to move the 23-year-old even though his value is at an all-time low.  Heinola has been a frequent healthy scratch in recent weeks and has just one assist in 16 games with Winnipeg when he has played this season.  With the Jets atop the standings in the West, it stands to reason that they’re going to look to add some defensive depth before next month’s trade deadline which will push Heinola further down the depth chart and possibly out of a roster spot altogether.  Accordingly, perhaps it makes sense to take what they could get for him now over potentially losing him for nothing later on via waivers.

More from the Central:

  • Blackhawks center Jason Dickinson will be out a little longer than originally anticipated. Head coach Anders Sorensen told reporters including Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times (Twitter link) that the middleman will likely be out a couple of weeks after the break due to a high left ankle sprain.  After a breakout effort that saw him pot 22 goals and 35 points last season, Dickinson has been quieter offensively this year with just seven goals and nine assists through 53 games.
  • The Blues could have winger Alexandre Texier back in the lineup on Saturday versus Chicago, relays NHL.com’s Lou Korac (Twitter link). He missed Thursday’s game versus Florida due to illness.  It has been a bit of a quiet first year in St. Louis for Texier as he has just nine points in 27 games while averaging a career-low 12:35 per contest so far.  Meanwhile, Korac adds that Tyler Tucker’s upper-body injury will keep him out of the lineup for at least one more game.  The defenseman has missed the last two games after leaving early on Sunday against Utah.  He has two goals and two assists in 19 NHL appearances so far.
  • The Predators announced (Twitter link) that defenseman Adam Wilsby was scratched tonight versus Chicago due to an upper-body injury. He’s listed as day-to-day.  The 24-year-old has impressed in his first season at the top level, logging over 18 minutes a night through his first 23 outings.  Nashville has one more game before the break, that coming on Saturday so it’s possible they rest Wilsby for that one, allowing him two full weeks of recovery time.

Blues Recall Tyler Tucker

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The Blues announced Thursday morning that they’ve recalled defenseman Tyler Tucker from AHL Springfield. He takes Pierre-Olivier Joseph’s spot on the active roster after the fellow left-shot was traded to the Penguins last night for future considerations.

It’s Tucker’s first recall of the season after he landed on waivers in early October. The 24-year-old was the odd man out in a battle for depth spots that included Joseph, Matthew Kessel and Scott Perunovich. The pending Group VI unrestricted free agent is now in his fourth season as an alternate captain for Springfield and is on pace for a career-best season offensively, posting 10 points in 19 games with 39 PIMs and a +6 rating.

Tucker, a seventh-round pick out of the Ontario Hockey League’s Barrie Colts in 2018, has 52 NHL appearances with the Blues in the past two seasons. The 6’2″, 205-lb checker has two goals and four assists with a -8 rating while averaging a light workload at 13:33 per game. Tucker also leads Blues defensemen in hits per 60 minutes (9.71) since the beginning of the 2022-23 season.

Unfortunately, his physicality hasn’t translated into an effective defensive presence, at least at even strength. Despite Tucker starting 54.4% of his shifts in the offensive zone, St. Louis has only controlled 45.5% of shot attempts and 45.3% of expected goals with him on the ice.

Tucker will likely stick around on the Blues’ roster as a No. 7 option until Nick Leddy is ready to return from the lower-body injury that’s kept him out for over two months. He can remain on the active roster for up to 30 non-consecutive days or appear in 10 games until he requires waivers again to head back to Springfield.

Waiver Wire: 10/6/24

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Today is the major day for the waiver wire as most teams in the NHL are preparing the 23-man rosters for the 2024-25 NHL season. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman confirmed that all players on waivers from yesterday have cleared. The following list is each player placed on waivers this afternoon as reported by PuckPedia.

Boston Bruins

F Patrick Brown
G Brandon Bussi
G Jiri Patera
D Billy Sweezey
F Jeffrey Viel

Buffalo Sabres

D Kale Clague
G James Reimer
F Lukas Rousek

Calgary Flames

G Devin Cooley
F Jakob Pelletier
F Cole Schwindt

Carolina Hurricanes

F Josiah Slavin
D Ty Smith
F Ryan Suzuki

Chicago Blackhawks 

D Isaak Phillips

Detroit Red Wings

F Sheldon Dries
D Justin Holl
D William Lagesson
D Brogan Rafferty
F Joe Snively

Edmonton Oilers

D Josh Brown
F Drake Caggiula
F Raphael Lavoie
G Olivier Rodrigue

Los Angeles Kings

G Pheonix Copley
F Samuel Fagemo
F Jack Studnicka

Nashville Predators

D Marc Del Gaizo

New Jersey Devils

F Shane Bowers
D Nick DeSimone
F Nolan Foote
D Colton White

New York Islanders

D Samuel Bolduc
F Pierre Engvall
F Hudson Fasching
F Liam Foudy
G Marcus Hogberg
D Grant Hutton
F Fredrik Karlstrom
G Jakub Skarek

New York Rangers

D Matthew Robertson

Ottawa Senators

F Adam Gaudette
F Jan Jenik

Pittsburgh Penguins

D Sebastian Aho
F Bokondji Imama

St. Louis Blues

D Corey Schueneman
D Tyler Tucker

Tampa Bay Lightning

F Gage Goncalves
D Steven Santini
F Jesse Ylonen

Toronto Maple Leafs

G Matt Murray
D Marshall Rifai

Utah Hockey Club

G Matt Villalta

Vancouver Canucks

D Erik Brannstrom

Vegas Golden Knights

F Zach Aston-Reese
F Tanner Laczynski
F Jonas Rondbjerg

Washington Capitals

G Hunter Shepard

Winnipeg Jets

F Jaret Anderson-Dolan

Snapshots: Dermott, Tucker, Zelenov

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While there has been plenty of speculation surrounding the Oilers when it comes to adding a right-shot defenseman (either via PTO or a one-year deal) heading into training camp, Postmedia’s Kurt Leavins wonders if they might go a different direction.  He suggests that it might be more likely that veteran blueliner Travis Dermott could wind up in Edmonton for training camp.  While the 27-year-old is a left-shot player, he can play on the right side and he played for head coach Kris Knoblauch in his junior days with OHL Erie while Jeff Jackson, Edmonton’s CEO of Hockey Operations, used to be his agent.  Dermott played on a two-way deal last season with Arizona, picking up seven points in 50 games while logging over 17 minutes a night.

Elsewhere around the hockey world:

  • Matthew DeFranks of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch assesses the defensive situation for the Blues. Even with Torey Krug’s season over before it even started, St. Louis has ample depth with nine players who could plausibly make a case for a roster spot.  Matthew Kessel is the lone waiver-exempt player which could hurt his chances while DeFranks suggests that Tyler Tucker might be the one with the most work to do to maintain his roster spot.  Unless St. Louis wants to carry eight blueliners to start the season, they’ll have to put one of their current rearguards on waivers barring an injury in training camp.
  • Sabres prospect Vasili Zelenov is generating a lot of NCAA interest, reports Mark Divver of the New England Hockey Journal (Twitter link). The 18-year-old was a seventh-round pick in June, going 204th overall after a strong season in Austria, one that saw him put up 37 points in 40 games.  Zelenov is playing with USHL Green Bay this season and will likely look to make the jump to college hockey for the 2025-26 season.

Afternoon Snapshots: Perunovich, Binnington, Skinner, Three Stars

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St. Louis Blues defenseman Scott Perunovich underwent an MRI on Monday for the lower-body injury he suffered in St. Louis’ Sunday night win over the Los Angeles Kings. Team reporter Lou Korac shares that Perunovich will be out on Tuesday but that the team is hoping the All-Star Break will be enough time for Perunovich to recover.

Perunovich has appeared in 31 games this season, netting 12 assists, six penalty minutes, and -4. The 25-year-old also played in 19 games and recorded six assists in the 2020-21 season, though he’s still searching for the first goal of his career. The oft-injured defender missed the majority of last season with a fractured shoulder that required surgery in October. His only action was 22 AHL games, where he scored two goals and 20 points.

The Blues have recalled Tyler Tucker from his conditioning stint in the AHL to replace Perunovich. Tucker appeared in six games with the Springfield Thunderbirds, recording no points, six penalty minutes, and a +2. He’s also managed two points and 22 penalty minutes in 15 NHL games this season

Other notes from around the league:

  • Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman shared on the recent 32 Thoughts Podcast that Jordan Binnington would be a top starting goaltender option for Team Canada, sharing, “Someone was saying to me the other day, if Canada was playing Game 1 of the World Cup right now… Jordan Binnington would be in the conversation to be your starter.” Friedman also mentioned Stuart Skinner as a second option. Binnington and Skinner have both gone through ups and downs throughout their careers but boast winning pedigrees, with Skinner winning the WHL championship in 2018 and Binnington winning the OHL championship in 2011 and Stanley Cup in 2019. Both were also runners-up for the Calder Trophy in their rookie seasons. They have each played in 34 games this season, with Skinner managing 23 wins a .910 save percentage while Binnington has 17 wins and a .907 save percentage.
  • The NHL has announced their ‘Three Stars of the Week’ for the last full week of January. Matthew Tkachuk wins Third Star with eight points, split evenly, in four games; Connor McDavid gets the Second Star by matching Tkachuk’s stat line in just three games; and Nikita Kucherov takes the First Star with four goals and nine points in just three games. The hot week brought Kucherov’s scoring totals up to a league-leading – and frankly dazzling – 85 points in 49 games.

Snapshots: Lightning, Perunovich, Tucker, Myers, Slaggert

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Tampa Bay’s defensive depth has been tested this season with several players having extended stints out of the lineup.  Accordingly, it appears GM Julien BriseBois would like to add some insurance on that end as David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reports (Twitter link) that the Lightning have spoken with several teams in both conferences and that they’d like to add a blueliner over the next six weeks before the trade deadline.  Having said that, cap space is going to be at a premium once Mikhail Sergachev is activated off LTIR which should come soon after the All-Star break so making the finances work could be tricky.  Meanwhile, Tampa Bay only has one pick in the first four rounds of the draft this year (a third-rounder) which limits what they might be able to move out on the trade front if they find a player they like and can afford.

Elsewhere around the NHL:

  • The Blues announced that defenseman Scott Perunovich suffered a lower-body injury during today’s overtime victory over Los Angeles. The 25-year-old has played in a career-best 31 games this season, notching a dozen assists including two today.  There’s no word yet on how much time, if any, Perunovich will miss.
  • Still with the Blues, they’ve recalled blueliner Tyler Tucker from his conditioning assignment, relays NHL.com’s Lou Korac (Twitter link). The 23-year-old played in six games with AHL Springfield while in the minors.  Tucker, who is waiver-eligible, has been limited to just 15 games with St. Louis this season, collecting two points while averaging 12:31 per game.
  • The Department of Player Safety announced that they’ve fined Canucks defenseman Tyler Myers $5K for an elbow on Columbus center Sean Kuraly on Saturday. The incident occurred in the third period and the initial major penalty on the play was given to Ian Cole before being changed to Myers after review.  The fine amount is the maximum allowable under the CBA.
  • Last summer, Blackhawks prospect Landon Slaggert declined an offer to turn pro, raising some concerns that he could opt for free agency this coming summer. However, the forward told Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times that he intends to sign with Chicago once his season with Notre Dame comes to an end.  The 21-year-old was a third-round pick in 2020 and is faring much better offensively this season with 25 points in 26 games after putting up just 13 in 35 appearances in 2022-23.

Blues Loan Tyler Tucker To AHL On Conditioning Assignment

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The Blues have assigned defenseman Tyler Tucker to AHL Springfield on a conditioning loan, Blues president of hockey operations and GM Doug Armstrong announced today.

Tucker, 23, has not played since facing the Panthers on December 21. He has been a healthy scratch in nine straight games.

The 2018 seventh-round pick signed a two-year extension worth $1.6MM last June, shortly before reaching restricted free agency. He had put up strong scoring chance suppression numbers in a 26-game stint while playing depth minutes last season, earning himself a spot on the team’s roster out of training camp to begin 2023-24. His pairing with current Springfield blueliner Calle Rosén led all Blues in expected goals against per 60 minutes last season with 2.32, according to MoneyPuck data.

Tucker scored a goal in the Blues’ season opener against the Stars, but he struggled to replicate last season’s shutdown effectiveness and came out of the lineup by the team’s sixth game of the season. After playing in St. Louis’ first five games, he’s been a healthy scratch in 26 out of 36 contests. Now most commonly paired with veteran Marco Scandella, that pairing has controlled just 37.3% of expected goals when on the ice. Per MoneyPuck, that’s the seventh-worst in the NHL this season among pairings with at least 100 minutes together. Scandella has fared slightly better when paired with the more offensively-inclined Scott Perunovich, boasting a 42.8% expected goals share.

Through his 15 games this season, Tucker has one goal, one assist and 22 penalty minutes with ten shots on goal. He’s averaged 12:31 per game, down from last season’s 14:39.

By consenting to a conditioning loan, Tucker will remain on assignment to Springfield for up to 14 days. He will remain on the Blues’ active roster and count against the salary cap. After 14 days, the Blues must recall Tucker from his loan or, if they wish to keep him in Springfield, place him on waivers.

The Blues also have center Nikita Alexandrov in Springfield on a conditioning loan. That means while their roster size is at the maximum of 23, only 21 players are eligible to suit up in an NHL game. Alexandrov has four days remaining on his loan, which has been successful with two goals and five assists in six games.

St. Louis Blues Sign Tyler Tucker

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The St. Louis Blues have signed defenseman Tyler Tucker to a two-year, one-way contract with a cap hit of $800K, the team announced today.

Tucker, a 23-year-old hailing from Thunder Bay, Ontario, was originally selected by the Blues in the seventh round of the 2018 NHL Draft but has already far exceeded his draft billing. Last season, he made his defensive, physical presence felt in a 26-game callup with the Blues and, as a result, is a very strong candidate to make the team out of camp next fall.

He contributed four points in those 26 games for St. Louis, posting rather strong advanced defensive metrics in the process. He’s the furthest thing from flashy, but there are much worse options for a young, budding shutdown defender at the bottom of your lineup.

That’s not to say he will never put up points. He did have some offensive success in the minors, especially this season, playing 41 regular-season games for the AHL’s Springfield Thunderbirds and tallying 21 points (three goals, 18 assists).

He’ll be fighting for an everyday spot in the lineup, especially if the Blues are able to clear out one of their defenders via trade. He’s able to play both the left and right sides.

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