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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.

Morning Notes: Kakko, Hodgson, Sobotka

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New York Rangers head coach Peter Laviolette has announced that winger Kaapo Kakko is set to make his return from a lower-body injury on Sunday. He has been out of the lineup since November 27th, missing 21 games. The Rangers placed Kakko on long-term injured reserve on November 28th, alongside linemate Filip Chytil, who is also progressing from an expected concussion.

Kakko was off to a slow start before his injury, managing just two goals and one assist in 20 games. He’s continuing to search for his groove in the NHL, scoring a career-high 40 points in 82 games last season. It was only the second time that Kakko has played in more than 50 games in a single season since making his debut in 2019-20.

The New York Rangers have also sent Jake Leschyshyn back to the minor leagues, after bringing him up on an emergency recall on Tuesday. He appeared in one game with the top club, setting a -1 in six minutes of ice time in New York’s Thursday night loss to the St. Louis Blues.

More notes from around the league:

  • 328-game veteran of the NHL Cody Hodgson is reportedly eyeing a return to professional hockey, per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. Hodgson had to step away from the game in 2016 after being diagnosed with malignant hyperthermia. But he’s returned to the ice, skating routinely in an effort to get back on the ice. The 33-year-old was drafted 10th overall in the 2008 NHL Draft – a part of a First Round that’s yielded 12 different players with 700 or more games played.
  • Long-time St. Louis Blues winger Vladimir Sobotka has signed a one-year extension with HC Sparta Praha of the Czechia Extraliga. He’s a 528-game veteran of the NHL, recording 171 points, 362 penalty minutes, and a -22 over his career. Sobotka has been productive in Czechia, with 19 points in 27 games this season, bringing his totals up to 121 points in 148 games with Sparta Praha since joining the team in 2020-21.

Blues Activate Justin Faulk, Assign Jakub Vrána To AHL

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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 Sign Nathan Walker To Two-Year Extension

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The Blues have agreed to a two-year, one-way extension with depth winger Nathan Walker, per a team release. Walker’s new deal carries the league minimum salary of $775K each season and keeps him from hitting unrestricted free agency this summer.

Walker, 29, will remain in St. Louis through the 2025-26 season. The first Australian national in league history is now in his eighth season, having played NHL games every year since debuting with the Capitals in 2017-18. A third-round pick of the Capitals in 2014 after suiting up for their AHL affiliate in Hershey, Walker immediately signed his entry-level contract and spent most of the next five seasons in the Capitals organization aside from a two-game stint with the Oilers, including one appearance in the team’s run to the 2018 Stanley Cup.

After reaching Group VI UFA status, Walker inked a two-year deal with the Blues in July 2019. He’s stayed in the organization ever since, racking up 13 goals and 13 assists for 26 points in 101 games, averaging 10:55 per game. Added to his career regular-season totals with Washington and Edmonton, Walker has 14 goals and 28 points in 113 NHL appearances.

He’s primarily been a tweener player for most of his career, always seeing significant AHL time but consistently finding himself in the mix for NHL call-ups. That changed last season, however, as Walker spent the entire campaign on the NHL roster for the first time, recording two goals, eight assists and ten points in 56 games in a fourth-line/depth role.

It hasn’t been the same story this season, however. Walker cleared waivers on the day before the regular season began and returned to AHL Springfield, where he took the demotion in stride. His 16 assists and 29 points in 30 games are second on the team behind Matthew Peca and Adam Gaudette, respectively, leading the Blues to bring Walker back to the NHL when the calendar turned to 2024 last week. In the two games since his January 1 recall, Walker has one goal and a +1 rating, averaging 8:06 per game.

Walker will likely continue to intermittently factor in on the Blues’ fourth line throughout the deal. Extending him now makes it much less likely that a team will claim him on waivers if he ends up on the wire later this season, as a three-year term (including this season) would make a claim challenging for most teams looking for short-term help. He will be a UFA when his deal expires in the summer of 2026.

What Your Team Is Thankful For: St. Louis Blues

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As the holiday season approaches, PHR will be taking a look at what teams are thankful for in 2023-24. There also might be a few things your team would like down the road. We’ll examine what’s gone well in the early going and what could improve as the season rolls on for the St. Louis Blues.

Who are the Blues thankful for?

Drew Bannister.

The Blues made the surprising decision to fire Craig Berube after a dismal 1-5 start to December. In his place, the Blues promoted their AHL team’s head coach – Drew Bannister. And while plenty is being made about the merit of Berube’s firing, there’s been no denying how effective Bannister has been in his new role. The Blues have gone 6-3-0 under Bannister, boosted by tremendous performances from Robert Thomas and Jordan Kyrou, who have 14 and 10 points in nine games under the new head coach respectively. The push from Bannister has been enough to begin lifting St. Louis out of the depths of the Central Division, with the team passing the Minnesota Wild for seventh place and only one point shy of the Arizona Coyotes’ for fifth in the division. That’s not exactly inspiring for a Blues fanbase that’s only missed the playoffs seven times since 1980 – but positive momentum is all fans can hope for after last season saw the Blues record their worst winning percentage since 2007-08.

But what’s more impressive is that this is Bannister’s first time coaching in the NHL in any capacity. The role comes after four years as a head coach in the AHL that saw Bannister take the Springfield Thunderbirds to the 2022 Calder Cup Championship. It wasn’t his first time reaching a league’s final either, taking the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds to the OHL Championship in 2018. The 49-year-old has proven effective at every level and works his way into head coaching roles quickly. With the early success of his new Blues lineup, there’s reason to think that Bannister could be geared up for a long NHL coaching career.

What are the Blues thankful for?

New and improved goaltending.

The Blues’ goaltending was a sore spot of their 2022-23 season, with both Jordan Binnington and then-backup Thomas Greiss recording save percentages below .900. The season before wasn’t much better either, as the team cycled through five different goalies and only saw true success from Ville Husso. But it seems the Blues are finally finding consistency in the net, with Joel Hofer serving as a tremendous backup to Binnington. Hofer has a .911 save percentage through 14 games this season. He allowed six goals in his first game of the season, though, and carries an even-more impressive .918 save percentage with that game excluded. Either way, he’s confidently shown what he can do at the top level after years of flirting with consistent NHL ice time. And the newfound reliability at backup has gone a long way towards taking the weight off of Binnington’s shoulders. The 30-year-old, former Stanley Cup winner is boasting a .902 save percentage through 27 games played. He’s also only on pace for 54 games this season, a step down from the 61 he played in last year, helping keep him fresher for longer. This also boosts the potency of a St. Louis crease that’s proven they have the ability to turn the tides, with Binnington’s 2018-19 surge carrying the Blues to their first Stanley Cup and Husso’s resurgence in 2021-22 helping force the Blues into the postseason despite a shaky year. With Hofer finally finding his footing in the NHL, it seems the Blues are once again primed with two dangerous goaltending talents.

What would the Blues be even more thankful for?

Patience from their stars.

An off-handed comment from Jordan Kyrou spread around the internet following Berube’s firing, with the top winger refusing to share thoughts on the move and simply saying, “I’ve got no comment, [Berube]’s not my coach anymore.” That remark was enough to earn Kyrou a sea of boos at the team’s next home game – a 4-2 win that saw Kyrou record an assist. The top winger shared a tearful apology after the game, saying, “It’s just tough, right? I love playing here. It’s tough to hear the fans booing me.”

Kyrou’s experience has underlined the amount of patience that the top Blues players have had to provide recently. St. Louis hockey has been defined by very frequent lineup changes over the last two seasons – changes that have required Pavel Buchnevich to step into a rare centerman role, Kevin Hayes to cope with seven different sets of wingers this season, and Thomas and Kyrou bearing through playing apart seemingly every other game. St. Louis is one of only 12 clubs to not feature a line that’s played more than 200 minutes together, with their top line of Thomas, Buchnevich, and Kyrou seeing only 187 minutes of ice time. The Blues’ top brass has held in through a lot, and should be nearing the end of strained days with new head coach Bannister figuring out a winning combination. But they’ll need continued patience and persistence from their stars if they want to complete their push for a playoff spot.

What should be on the Blues holiday wish list?

A top-nine forward.

The Blues have gone out of their way to try and add difference-makers into their top-nine for much of the last year. And while Kevin Hayes, Kasperi Kapanen, and Jakub Vrana have each been strong in their own ways, St. Louis still only has three forwards with 15-or-more points outside of their top line. The Blues could go a lot of different ways if they want to be buyers at the deadline, but a high-scoring winger to compliment Brayden Schenn’s second line could make a big impact on the Blues’ scoring abilities. There’s no shortage of talent available throughout the league, including San Jose’s Anthony Duclair or Vancouver’s Andrei Kuzmenko. The price on these players is sure to get muddy, especially considering both carry a cap hit north of $3MM, but adding a scoring touch could be the piece that elevates St. Louis back into playoff territory. The Blues rank sixth-to-last in goals-for this season.

Blues Place Justin Faulk On Injured Reserve, Recall Jakub Vrana

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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.

St. Louis Blues Recall Nathan Walker

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The St. Louis Blues have announced that forward Nathan Walker has been recalled from their AHL affiliate, the Springfield Thunderbirds.

Walker fills the open spot on the Blues’ roster that was created by yesterday’s reassignment of Mackenzie MacEachern. MacEachern had been on the Blues’ NHL roster since early December and played in a total of eight games for the Blues. They went 5-3 in that span, but after consecutive losses it appears St. Louis has opted to make a change.

Replacing MacEachern is Walker, a veteran of 111 NHL games who has not yet dressed for the Blues in 2023-24. Walker stands just five-foot-nine compared to MacEachern’s six-foot-two, though he offers more recent NHL experience. Walker played 56 NHL games for the Blues last season, while MacEachern’s last extended NHL run came in 2019-20.

Walker won the Stanley Cup with the Washington Capitals, and has been excellent in the AHL this season. He has 13 goals and 29 points for the Thunderbirds, and he leads the team in points scoring. The reward for his success in Springfield is this call-up, and he’ll likely skate on the Blues’ fourth line alongside Sammy Blais and Oskar Sundqvist.

St. Louis Blues Reassign Mackenzie MacEachern

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In the organization’s day off leading into the New Year, the St. Louis Blues have sent down a veteran forward to keep pace with their salary cap management. In an announcement from the team this afternoon, the Blues have sent down Mackenzie MacEachern to their AHL affiliate, the Springfield Thunderbirds.

The demotion will not be foreign territory for MacEachern, as he has regularly been used as an extra forward throughout his time in the NHL, both in his first stint with St.Louis as well as a one-year stop with the Carolina Hurricanes last season. Drafted 67th overall back in the 2012 NHL Draft by the Blues, MacEachern is a veteran of 123 NHL games dating back to the 2018-19 season, scoring 11 goals and 20 points overall.

With about twice the amount of games played in the AHL as compared to his time in the NHL, MacEachern has been much more productive, scoring 47 goals and 104 points in 240 games. Although he only played in the Calder Cup playoffs twice throughout his career in the AHL, MacEachern has been relatively more productive when viewing his scoring ratio, putting up eight goals and 16 points in 28 playoff games.

In only eight games with the Blues this season, MacEachern has tallied one assist overall, averaging just under eight minutes of ice time per night, not receiving any minutes on either unit of the team’s powerplay or penalty kill. When the Blues return to action on January 4th against the Vancouver Canucks, it is more than likely that MacEachern will be recalled to the NHL lineup, as St. Louis currently only has 12 forwards on the active roster.

Blues Recall Matt Kessel

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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 Recall Mackenzie MacEachern

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  • One of those teams is the Blues, who recalled winger Mackenzie MacEachern from the AHL’s Springfield Thunderbirds this morning. After spending last season with the Hurricanes, playing in eight playoff games en route to an Eastern Conference Final appearance, MacEachern returned to the team that drafted him on a two-year deal worth $1.55MM in free agency. A one-way contract structure suggested the Blues envisioned him having a spot on their roster out of the gate. However, he ended up as one of their final cuts before the regular season began and cleared waivers before being assigned to Springfield. He scored four goals and added eight assists for 12 points in 22 games there before the Blues recalled him earlier this month. MacEachern played in five games on his initial recall, recording one assist and averaging 9:04 per game. The Blues then papered him down to Springfield on Christmas Eve. MacEachern will likely be in the lineup tonight against the Stars.

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