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West Notes: McGinn, Grundström, Krug, Joshua

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The Anaheim Ducks have announced that forward Brock McGinn has undergone successful back surgery, focused on his intervertebral discs (Twitter link). This operation is expected to hold McGinn out for four months, ending his season early. McGinn has been on injured reserve since February 17th and absent from Anaheim’s lineup since January 25th.

This news marks the final blow in what was a difficult season for McGinn – who suffered a significant lower-body injury just days before Anaheim’s first game of the season that held him out for a month. That injury, as well as a brief departure for the birth of his first child in late December, held McGinn to just 24 appearances in the first half of the season. Those games will now stand as his only this year, marking the least he’s played since turning pro in the 2014-15 season. McGinn managed one goal, three points, four penalty minutes, and a -5 this year while averaging roughly 11 minutes of ice time. Anaheim has utilized a variety of talents in his place – with the Ducks debut of Ben Meyers, the return of Trevor Zegras from injury, and bottom-six stalwarts like Ross Johnston and Benoit-Olivier Groulx working to fill open minutes. McGinn will look to rejoin the bottom-six mix next season, with one year remaining on his contract.

Other notes from around the league:

  • Gritty forward Carl Grundström is progressing from injury, joining the Los Angeles Kings on their three-game road trip through Western Canada, per The Athletic’s Eric Stephens (Twitter link). Grundström has been out since February 13th with a lower-body injury that’s earned him a place on long-term injured reserve. He’s managed eight goals and 12 points in 50 games this season. Stephens adds that Grundström is still wearing a no-contact jersey at practice – but his attendance on the trip is nonetheless encouraging progress towards his return from a 21-game absence.
  • Defenseman Torey Krug could be held out of the St. Louis Blues’ lineup on Thursday with the flu, per NHL.com’s Lou Korac (Twitter link). Blues head coach Drew Bannister shared that he’s hopeful Krug will be good to go but designated him as questionable. Krug played in the first 69 games of St. Louis’ season but recently missed his first game of the year with a lower-body injury. He’s been a pivotal piece of St. Louis’ lineup when healthy, managing 34 points and 30 penalty minutes in 71 games. The Blues will hope he’s feeling better come tomorrow, as they gear up for a fight with the Calgary Flames.
  • The Vancouver Canucks upgraded forward Dakota Joshua to full-contact at their Wednesday-morning practice (Twitter link). Joshua has been out since February 13th, suffering an undisclosed injury in the midst of a three-point night. He’s flirted with a return many times since, but ultimately landed on Vancouver’s long-term injured reserve. While no official designation was provided, Joshua could have a chance to return as soon as Thursday, when the Canucks take on the Dallas Stars.

Oskar Sundqvist To Undergo Knee Surgery, Out Six Months

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Blues forward Oskar Sundqvist will miss the rest of the 2023-24 season after sustaining a torn ACL in his right knee in Monday’s game against the Golden Knights, the team announced. The tear requires surgery, which carries a minimum recovery time of six months.

If his recovery timetable holds, Sundqvist won’t be ready when training camps begin ahead of the 2024-25 season in September. However, he hasn’t been ruled out for the beginning of the regular season.

Sundqvist sustained the injury midway through the second period of the eventual 2-1 overtime loss. After he cycled the puck behind the goal line in the Vegas zone, Golden Knights defenseman Brayden McNabb attempted to cross-check him into the boards but approached Sundqvist at an indirect angle that caused both players to fall awkwardly. Sundqvist’s right leg buckled during the fall, and he could not get up without assistance from Blues Head Athletic Trainer Ray Barile. Officials did not assess McNabb a penalty on the play.

The 30-year-old had a middling season after returning to the Blues in free agency for his second stint with the club. He appeared in 71 of St. Louis’ 72 games, posting six goals, 15 assists, and 21 points while averaging 13:15 per game. It was his worst offensive showing on a per-game basis since 2017-18. After breaking into an everyday top-nine role the following season, Sundqvist recorded 48 goals, 66 assists and 114 points in 285 games for the Blues, Red Wings and Wild from 2018-19 to 2022-23.

He was never a particularly strong possession player at even strength but often did good work on the penalty kill for the Blues, whose 80.9% success rate with the man disadvantage was 10th in the league, with Sundqvist averaging regular minutes there across four seasons. A fan favorite who posted nine points in 25 playoff games en route to St. Louis’ first Stanley Cup in 2019, the Blues traded Sundqvist to the Red Wings at the 2022 deadline as part of the package that landed them defenseman Nick Leddy. He was traded again at last season’s deadline as a pending UFA with Detroit out of the playoff picture, heading to Minnesota for a fourth-round pick.

Despite Sundqvist’s decline in both the points and possession departments this season, Blues GM Doug Armstrong decided earlier this month that he wanted to keep him around through their pending retool, inking him to a two-year, $3MM extension. The Blues hope he can recover from surgery in time to start that $1.5MM AAV deal off on a high note next fall. He’ll be a UFA in 2026 after the extension expires.

Snapshots: Graves, St. Ivany, Krug, Oshie, Protas

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The Pittsburgh Penguins have shared that defenseman Ryan Graves will be stepping away for a paternity leave, opening the door for rookie Jack St. Ivany to make his NHL debut. St. Ivany has flirted with his inaugural game for much of March, getting moved between the NHL and AHL four different times in the last week. He was clearly motivated by the string of moves, recording a career-high three-point night in his latest AHL game – his first since receiving the first NHL call-up of his career. The performance broke a 10-game scoring drought and accounted for a fifth of St. Ivany’s 15 points on the season. He’ll now have a golden chance to build on the hot night, potentially poised for a big role with Graves’ average of 19 minutes a night now up for grabs.

Other notes from around the league:

  • St. Louis Blues defenseman Torey Krug is expected to return to the lineup on Friday after sititng out with a chest injury on Thursday, per NHL.com’s Jessi Pierce. It was Krug’s first absence of the year, after appearing in the Blues’ first 69 games. He’s managed three goals and 34 points in those games. This is Krug’s first time playing in more than 65 games since the 2017-18 season.  His return is expected to bump Scott Perunovich back out of the lineup.
  • The Washington Capitals will continue to be without T.J. Oshie and Aliaksei Protas, head coach Spencer Carbery told The Hockey News. Both players sat out of the team’s Wednesday night loss against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Oshie is bearing with an upper-body injury, while Protas has a lingering lower-body injury suffered on March 9th. The team will eagerly anticipate their return, now left to lean on Michael Sgarbossa and Ivan Miroshnichenko as top-six fill-ins.

Central Notes: Vilardi, Pionk, Krug

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During this week’s iteration of 32 Thoughts with Elliotte Friedman and Jeff Marek, the two have reported that the Winnipeg Jets are operating under the belief that forward Gabriel Vilardi will return before the end of the season. Vilardi has been out since the team’s March 2nd game against the Dallas Stars with an upper-body injury.

It has been a difficult season in Manitoba for Vilardi, who is in his first year with the organization since being acquired in the trade that sent Pierre-Luc Dubois to the Los Angeles Kings. In a separate injury at the beginning of the year, Vilardi injured his MCL which led to his absence for a total of six weeks.

When healthy, Vilardi has been a valueable forward for the Jets, scoring 16 goals and 30 points in only 38 games on the year. Now that Winnipeg is squarely in the race for the Central Division crown, Vilardi will be an important piece to get back into the lineup during the home stretch.

Other Central notes:

  • Staying in Winnipeg, although his status was questionable for tonight’s matchup against the New Jersey Devils due to an illness, defenseman Neal Pionk was able to enter the lineup (X Link). Still operating as a solid two-way defenseman in his fifth year with the Jets organization, Pionk has scored five goals and 25 points for Winnipeg this season, averaging just under 21 minutes of ice time per night.
  • In tonight’s tilt against the Ottawa Senators, the St. Louis Blues will be without defenseman Torey Krug, who was suffering from a lower-body injury (Article Link). Nevertheless, it has still been one of the healthiest years to date for Krug, who has not broken the 64 games played mark since the 2017-18 NHL season. Once again putting up quality offensive production, Krug has scored three goals and 34 points over 69 games this season.

Blues Agree To Terms With First-Round Pick Theo Lindstein

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The Blues have signed 2023 first-round pick Theo Lindstein to a three-year, entry-level contract, per a team release. The team did not disclose financial terms.

St. Louis selected the left-shot defenseman from Brynäs IF of the Swedish Hockey League with the 29th overall pick. The 19-year-old was viewed as a potential top-10 choice in early 2023 prospect rankings as a shutdown blue liner but dropped down public boards throughout the year and was graded as low as a third-round pick by a few notable public scouting outfits, including Elite Prospects and McKeen’s Hockey. Elite Prospects’ final scouting report called him “safe, calm and a play killer with his stick” but criticized his ability to process plays quickly and said he “lacked initiative, often deferring to his partner on breakouts.”

Others are more optimistic about the 6-foot-1, 180-lb defender, such as Dobber Prospects, who list him as one of the Blues’ premier defense prospects and believe he has a top-four ceiling. Those who had him ranked lower tab his projection as a bottom-pairing, penalty-killing utility player at his peak. The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler ranked Lindstein as the Blues’ best defense prospect and their fifth-best overall prospect, calling him an “unspectacular but solid two-way defenseman” with a “high likelihood of becoming a solid D partner to someone in the NHL long term.”

Even for shutdown players, a lack of point-producing ability at lower levels, such as what Lindstein displayed in his draft season, is generally indicative of a tough path to NHL minutes. His totals on the scoresheet improved markedly this season, however, leading all defensemen at the 2024 World Junior Championship with six assists and eight points in seven games for Sweden en route to a silver medal, as well as 15 points and a +13 rating in 49 games for Brynäs, who were demoted to the second-tier HockeyAllsvenskan after losing last year’s SHL relegation series.

Lindstein was the last of three first-round picks the Blues had in last year’s draft, selected after centers Dalibor Dvorský (10th overall) and Otto Stenberg (22nd overall). The Blues acquired the pick they used to select Lindstein from the Rangers in February 2023’s Vladimir Tarasenko trade, and the Rangers had previously acquired the pick from the Stars in exchange for defenseman Nils Lundkvist in September 2022.

Doug Armstrong Named Canada GM For 2026 Winter Olympics

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Hockey Canada has named St. Louis Blues general manager Doug Armstrong as General Manager for the upcoming 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy. Other announced roles include Ryan Getzlaf as the Player Relations Advisor, Scott Salmond as Senior Vice-President of High Performance and Hockey Operations, Katherine Henderson as President and CEO, and Pat McLaughlin as COO and Executive Vice-President of Strategy.

Armstrong has become a key piece of Canada’s representation overseas. He’s been a part of two other Olympic Games, both in an assistant general manager capacity, and seven different World Championship or World Cup tournaments. Canada has won big under his leadership, with Armstrong boasting two Olympic gold medals and three World Championship gold medals. He’ll now get a chance to field what may be one of the best Canadian teams of all time, with the end of Sidney Crosby’s career, the prime of Connor McDavid’s career, and the start of Connor Bedard’s career all lining up perfectly. The team could also bring star defenseman Cale Makar, if the restrictions placed on members of Canada’s 2018 World Juniors Championship team are lifted before 2026.

One question that Armstrong will face is who the proper goaltender for Team Canada really is. His appointment is great news for Jordan Binnington, who served as a pivotal piece of Armstrong’s sole Stanley Cup win and continues to thrive in St. Louis. But Binnington isn’t the best Canadian goaltender on paper, with Vegas’ Adin Hill also championing his team to a Stanley Cup and consistently fighting for the NHL’s lead in save percentage, when he’s healthy. There’s also 25-year-old Stuart Skinner, who emphatically claimed an NHL starting role last season and has since posted 59 wins and a .911 in 98 games. Skinner hasn’t found his way into any hardware yet, but could offer a stronger impact when the Olympics role around in two years. With Team USA boasting Connor Hellebuyck and Jeremy Swayman, and Russia likely to bring Igor Shesterkin or Ilya Sorokin if they participate, Team Canada will need to make sure they’re as strong in net as they will be everywhere else. Those decisions will now be left up to one of the NHL’s longest-tenured general managers in Doug Armstrong.

Blues Sign Matthew Kessel To Two-Year Extension

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The Blues have signed right-shot defenseman Matthew Kessel to a two-year, one-way contract extension worth $1.6MM ($800K AAV/cap hit), GM Doug Armstrong announced Wednesday.

Kessel, 23, was in the final season of his entry-level contract and was set to be an RFA with arbitration rights this summer. It’s a significant raise for the young blue-liner, whose cap hit decreased from $884K but will earn more in actual cash after spending most of his ELC in the minors, where he earned $80K per season.

A fifth-round pick of St. Louis in 2020, Kessel was recalled earlier this week and re-entered the lineup for the first time since late February on Monday against the Bruins. He’s played in a career-high 23 games for the Blues this year after only dressing twice in 2022-23, posting three assists and 8 PIMs with a -2 rating. When in the lineup, he’s spent most of his time in a top-four role alongside Torey Krug, filling in for Justin Faulk while he was out with a lower-body injury for most of January and February.

His even-strength possession results have been poor, posting a 42.9 CF% (-1.6% worse than the team’s overall CF% without him) and a 40.6 xGF%. The 6-foot-3, 203-lb defender has been a strong shutdown force in the minors, where he has seven goals, 43 points and a +9 rating since logging his first professional action with the AHL’s Springfield Thunderbirds at the end of the 2021-22 season.

Kessel’s extension walks him to restricted free agency in 2026, and he’ll maintain arbitration rights. He’s currently waivers-exempt, but that will expire after he plays 45 more NHL games (a total of 70).

The Phoenix native becomes the sixth St. Louis defender signed to a one-way deal next season, joining Justin Faulk ($6.5MM), Torey Krug ($6.5MM), Nick Leddy ($4MM), Colton Parayko ($6.5MM), and Tyler Tucker ($800K). The Blues have two pending free agent defenders on the active roster, Scott Perunovich (RFA with arbitration rights) and Marco Scandella (UFA).

Blues Recall Zach Dean

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The St. Louis Blues have recalled top prospect Zach Dean from the AHL. Dean is in his first professional season, scoring eight goals and 13 points in 47 games with the Springfield Thunderbirds. It’s been an up-and-down year for the rookie, who recently heated up after a 12-game scoring drought, managing nine points over his latest 12 games.

Dean was drafted 30th overall by the Vegas Golden Knights in the 2021 NHL Draft, with Vegas dealing him to St. Louis ahead of last year’s Trade Deadline in exchange for forward Ivan Barbashev. The deal has proven fruitful for both sides, with Barbashev scoring 20 goals and 53 points in his first 87 games with Vegas – and adding 18 points in 22 playoff games last season as the Golden Knights chased their first Stanley Cup. Meanwhile, the Blues have landed a former first-round prospect who is now poised to make his NHL debut.

Dean is a lightweight centerman with swift skating and a strong ability to make plays from the middle lane. Much of his first year as a pro has been spent getting used to the physicality along the boards and in the corners, with Dean improving at making plays through contact. His call-up coincides with fellow top QMJHL prospect Zachary Bolduc’s NHL debut, as well as the recalling of 23-year-old Matthew Kessel, making it clear that St. Louis wants to assess their young assets. Bolduc has since managed one goal in nine career appearances, adding 11 shots, one penalty, and a -1.

Blues Recall Matthew Kessel

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The Blues announced that they have recalled defenseman Matthew Kessel from AHL Springfield ahead of tomorrow’s game in Boston. St. Louis only has $485K in cap space, less than the $884K needed to add Kessel’s contract to the roster, so a corresponding transaction is coming in the form of a reassignment or LTIR placement. With no Blues out of the lineup due to injuries, the former is more likely.

Kessel, 23, will look to build on a decent stretch of NHL play earlier this season. Filling in for Justin Faulk when the veteran was out with a lower-body injury for much of January and February, the right-shot youngster notched two assists and a -4 rating in 22 games while logging 17:25 per game. The Phoenix-born blue-liner is in his third season of pro hockey after signing his entry-level deal with St. Louis in 2022.

The 2020 fifth-round pick is in the final season of that contract, which pays him $832.5K in the NHL and $80K in the minors, along with a $92.5K signing bonus paid out last summer. A pending restricted free agent with arbitration rights, Kessel also has two goals, seven points, and a +1 rating in 34 games with Springfield.

Bringing up Kessel burns the second of the Blues’ four post-deadline standard recalls. They used the first of them on 2021 first-round pick Zachary Bolduc, who they briefly ferried to Springfield to make him eligible for the AHL’s postseason, just after the 2 p.m. CT Friday cutoff.

Kessel’s possession numbers weren’t much to write home about in his NHL stint, posting a 43.2 CF% at even strength and a 40.7 xGF% despite receiving more offensive zone time than you’d expect from someone in a shutdown role. Nonetheless, he’s been on a solid development track in the minors will get a few more chances to show he can be an effective shot-suppression talent.

Blues Did Not Trade Pavel Buchnevich, Eyeing Extension

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The Blues did not trade star winger Pavel Buchnevich ahead of the 2 p.m. CT trade deadline, per Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic.

Buchnevich was undeniably one of the market’s top forwards, boasting 24 goals and 48 points in  61 games this season and 191 points in his 197 games since joining the Blues ahead of the 2021-22 season. St. Louis acquired him by sending Sammy Blais and a 2022 second-round pick to the Rangers. It was a cheap sale at the time but Buchnevich quickly made it look downright foolish, scoring a career-high 30 goals and 76 points in his 73 games during his first season with the Blues. His cerebral playmaking and quick shot proved dominant, and he made sure they stayed consistent as well – earning 26 goals and 67 points in 63 games last year. He was also a potent playoff performer, scoring 11 points in 12 games during the 2022 Stanley Cup playoffs.

Buchnevich was seemingly the dream of any team in need of a scoring winger, made even better with a modest $5.8MM cap hit through the end of next season. But with high production came a high asking price, with the Blues reportedly looking for as much as two first-round picks for their star winger. And St. Louis is okay standing pat, with general manager Doug Armstrong telling Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic that the team is now eyeing an extension in the off-season. Armstrong said, “He’s eligible for a contract extension on July 1. There’s no real rush for us to get us to get the cart ahead of that horse… He’s been a top player for us… So he’s a valuable piece of our team. In July, we can sit down with he and his representative and make sure he wants to be here and we can work something out.”

A Buchnevich extension likely comes at a high price, with the winger emerging as one of St. Louis’ stars over the last three seasons. But with Buchnevich soon to turn 29, any long-term extension will likely carry him through the majority of his remaining career. The Blues will walk the line between overpaying and overcommitting, as they look to secure a crucial piece of their top line.

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