St. Louis Blues Recall Dmitri Samorukov
The St. Louis Blues have made a roster swap this morning, recalling Dmitri Samorukov under emergency conditions. Matthew Kessel, who recently made his NHL debut, has been returned to the Springfield Thunderbirds.
Samorukov, 23, was acquired from the Edmonton Oilers in the deal that saw Klim Kostin sent out of town at the beginning of the season. Should he enter the Blues lineup, it would be his St. Louis debut and just the second game of the young defenseman’s career.
The 6’3″ Samorukov was a third-round pick in 2017 and is on a one-year, one-way contract worth $775K. He’ll be a restricted free agent this summer, so a late-season showcase might be valuable for his negotiations.
Kessel, meanwhile, signed last spring after his college career ended and had played well enough for the Thunderbirds that he earned a call-up. The 22-year-old averaged 15 minutes in his two NHL contests and recorded three shots on net.
Injury Notes: Kane, Harpur, Buchnevich
Before their game, tonight against the Tampa Bay Lightning, Andrew Crane of the New York Post reports that trade deadline acquisition Patrick Kane will be a “game-time” decision. On Tuesday, Kane took a maintenance day but participated in an individual practice this morning.
At the beginning of this season, it was clear that Kane was not playing at the same speed as in previous seasons. There were many pundits noting an apparent hip injury, but Kane was simply not living up to expectations even on a last-place Chicago Blackhawks team. But on an expiring contract, and his team in the basement, Kane was set to be one of the most sought-after deadline acquisitions.
He made his interest in the Rangers known, but after their acquisition of Vladimir Tarasenko from the St.Louis Blues, Kane being traded at all was now in question. The veteran phenom re-sparked the Rangers’ interest, scoring three goals and seven assists in his last four games in Chicago.
Although he got off to a slow start in New York, he has refound his form primarily playing on the second line, scoring ten points in 16 games. If he is still dealing with a nagging hip, it will be vital for the Rangers to give him the rests he needs, as Kane has been an incredible playoff performer in the past.
Other injury notes:
- In the same report, Crane also mentions that the only other player on the ice with Kane at practice was defenseman Ben Harpur. Shortly after the season began, the Rangers signed Harpur to a 1-year, $750K contract. Primarily playing as a depth defenseman, Harpur has skated in 40 games for the Rangers this year, posting six points and a 0 +/-. Almost three months to the date that he signed this year’s contract with New York, the team signed him to a 2-year, $1.575MM extension.
- Although this is a season to forget for the organization, Lou Korac of NHL.com announces that Pavel Buchnevich will return to the Blues tomorrow night when they take on the Rangers. Buchnevich has been a bright spot on a struggling St.Louis team this year, scoring 25 goals and 41 assists, good for second on the team in scoring. Buchnevich has found himself on the injured reserve a handful of times this year, missing a total of 19 games so far for the Blues.
Latest On Blues' Offseason Plans
TSN’s Pierre LeBrun offered some new developments on today’s Insider Trading program, developments specifically regarding the priorities of three teams in possession of multiple 2023 first-round picks: the Columbus Blue Jackets, St. Louis Blues, and Montreal Canadiens.
Another team reported to be listening to trade offers for spare first-round picks is the St. Louis Blues, who own the New York Rangers* and Toronto Maple Leafs’ 2023 first-rounders from the Vladimir Tarasenko and Ryan O’Reilly trades, respectively. Since the Blues have over $16MM in contract extensions kicking in this summer for core players and key veterans such as Colton Parayko, Justin Faulk, Brayden Schenn, and Torey Krug (among others) still under contract for a few more years, a full rebuild may not be on the table for GM Doug Armstrong.
So since a prospect drafted late in the first round may not make an impact for the Blues until the second half of the 2020s, it’s definitely reasonable for the Blues’ front office to prioritize dealing those late first-rounders for up-and-coming players who are closer to NHL-ready.
*Note: the 2023 first-rounder the Blues acquired from New York in the Tarasenko deal is actually conditional, meaning the Blues could technically receive the Dallas Stars’ first-rounder (owned by the Rangers due to the Nils Lundkvist trade) if the Stars’ first-rounder ends up later in the draft order than the Rangers’ pick.
Latest On Robert Thomas, Pavel Buchnevich
- NHL.com’s Lou Korac relays updates from St. Louis Blues head coach Craig Berube on two of the team’s most important players. Per Berube, top center Robert Thomas is a game-time decision tonight against the Philadelphia Flyers, while the Blues’ leading scorer on a point-per-game basis, Pavel Buchnevich, remains out. Both Thomas and Buchnevich have not played since the Blues’ March 28th overtime victory over the Vancouver Canucks, and in their absence St. Louis has lost two of three games, with their sole victory coming over the last-place Chicago Blackhawks.
Marco Scandella Out For Season
Jim Thomas of the Post Dispatch reports today that St.Louis Blues defenseman Marco Scandella was seen in a walking boot on Sunday, and head coach Craig Berube confirms that he will be out for the rest of the season. The Blues currently have five games remaining in their season and are eliminated from playoff contention.
In a season to forget for Scandella, and largely the Blues as well, the St.Louis defenseman will only manage to play in 20 games this year, scoring two points in the process. At the beginning of the season, it was announced that Scandella would be out for six months with a hip injury. On February 20th, he was cleared to play but was once again injured with a lower-body injury in the team’s loss against the Nashville Predators.
Acquired during the season after their 2019 Stanley Cup-winning year, Scandella spent that year split between the Buffalo Sabres and Montreal Canadiens as well. He was originally acquired by the Sabres during the summer before the 2017-18 season, as he was sent to Buffalo along with Jason Pominville from the Minnesota Wild for Tyler Ennis and Marcus Foligno.
Spending a few more seasons in Buffalo, he was shipped to Montreal for a draft pick shortly before the 2020 trade deadline. As the deadline rolled around, Scandella was finally acquired by the Blues for a few draft picks. Although this season hasn’t gone as planned, Scandella has played in a total of 150 games wearing the blue note, scoring seven goals and 19 assists with a very respectable +37 +/-.
St. Louis Blues Recall Vadim Zherenko Under Emergency Conditions
The St. Louis Blues recalled netminder Vadim Zherenko under emergency conditions from the AHL’s Springfield Thunderbirds on Monday, the team said in a release. Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that backup Thomas Greiss is injured, necessitating the recall of a goalie from the minors.
This is the first recall of Zherenko’s career. Drafted 208th overall in 2019, it’s a rapid rise to relevance for a player picked less than 10 spots away from the end of the draft.
However, the 22-year-old has earned a brief NHL look with his play this season. Zherenko has been a more-than-capable backup in Springfield to Joel Hofer, who earned a long look at the NHL level last month. In 24 games with Springfield, Zherenko has a record of 10-8-3, a .918 save percentage, and a 2.96 goals-against average. This is his first season in North America after a development path through Russia and Finland post-draft.
With Springfield’s season in crunch time on the verge of clinching a Calder Cup playoff berth, the Blues likely opted to leave Hofer in the minors to continue to gain meaningful experience in stretch run games.
Latest On Brayden Schenn
- St. Louis Blues forward Brayden Schenn had a bit of an injury scare during today’s game against the Boston Bruins, but seems to have moved past it. As covered by The Athletic’s Jeremy Rutherford, Schenn took a skate to the hand, and then left to the locker room with a team athletic trainer to repair some damage caused by what may have been a high stick. Schenn did return to the ice, though, and managed to notch an assist on teammate Jordan Kyrou‘s goal despite a cut finger and having stitches on his face, per Rutherford. It seems what has hurt Schenn this game won’t keep him out of any future contests, but given his importance to the Blues as a whole (he has 21 goals and 59 points this season) his status may be worth monitoring.
Matt Kessel Recalled By Blues
- Because defenseman Marco Scandella left Saturday’s game with a lower-body injury, the St.Louis Blues have recalled Matt Kessel on an emergency loan. Kessel currently has 31 points in 66 games played this year in the AHL but has yet to crack the Blues’ roster.
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Marco Scandella Out With Lower-Body Injury
Matt Porter of the Boston Globe reports that Boston Bruins’ captain Patrice Bergeron will not play in tomorrow’s game against the St.Louis Blues. Bruin’s head coach Jim Montgomery shares that Bergeron is dealing with both lower and upper-body “issues”.
- As the team finished today’s game against the Nashville Predators, the St.Louis Blues announced that defenseman Marco Scandella will be out with a lower-body injury. Unfortunately for the Blues and Scandella, he was only recently activated from the team’s long-term injured reserve on February 20th of this year. In only 19 games played this season, the defenseman has scored two points total.
Scott Perunovich To Remain In AHL
- Speaking with St.Louis Blues head coach Craig Berube today, Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic reports that St.Louis defenseman Scott Perunovich will finish his season with the Springfield Thunderbirds, the Blues AHL affiliate. Since being activated from LTIR on February 20th of this season, Perunovich has scored one goal and 10 assists for the Thunderbirds in 17 games.
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