Buchnevich Clears COVID Protocol, Perunovich Has Minor Injury
Blues winger Pavel Buchnevich has been cleared from COVID protocol, reports Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. As a result, St. Louis – who has had 21 different players unavailable due to positive tests in recent weeks – now doesn’t have anyone missing for that reason (though defenseman Scott Perunovich is out with an unspecified injury). Buchnevich will be a welcome addition back to the lineup for the Blues as he sits tied for second in team scoring with 14 goals and 21 assists in 34 games. St. Louis had an open roster spot so they didn’t need to make any corresponding roster move to bring him back onto the active roster.
Pavel Buchnevich Enters COVID Protocol
The St. Louis Blues have lost another key player, as Pavel Buchnevich is now in the league’s COVID protocol. Buchnevich played more than 21 minutes last night against the Seattle Kraken. The team has recalled Dakota Joshua under emergency conditions to fill the roster spot, while Alexei Toropchenko and Calle Rosen have been assigned to the taxi squad.
Buchnevich, 26, actually scored the winner last night against the Kraken, his 14th goal of the season in just 34 games. A trade from the New York Rangers in the offseason has given him an even bigger offensive opportunity and the third-round pick has run with it, scoring 35 points already. That’s just 13 shy of his career-high, a number he set last season in just 54 games.
While he’ll miss tomorrow’s game against the Toronto Maple Leafs and Monday’s match against the Nashville Predators, Buchnevich could potentially exit the protocol before the Blues head out on the road next week. In the meantime, the team will need to find a different option on the top line and someone to replace Buchnevich on the powerplay and penalty kill.
What Your Team Is Thankful For: St. Louis Blues
In the spirit of the holiday season, PHR will take a look at what teams are thankful for as the season approaches the midway mark. 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.
What are the Blues thankful for?
The return to form from Vladimir Tarasenko.
His trade request has been well-publicized but after he struggled upon returning last season, there was next to no trade market for him while Seattle took a pass on picking him up in expansion. As a result, St. Louis wasn’t able to honor that request. They’re certainly glad about that now. The 30-year-old is having a resurgent season, averaging a point per game through 34 games. That’s the best point per game average of his career.
While it still seems like Tarasenko wouldn’t mind moving on, the Blues – and GM Doug Armstrong, in particular – have to be quite pleased that the veteran has helped on the ice this season (including a team-high four game-winners) and off the ice as his trade value has only gone up. Whether it’s later on this season or in the summer, St. Louis will be better-positioned and will have considerably more leverage in any Tarasenko trade discussions.
Who are the Blues thankful for?
After a strong showing last season that saw him pick up 35 points in 55 games, the hope was that he had turned the corner and could become a consistent top-six scorer. It’s fair to say he did that and even more. So far this season, the 23-year-old leads St. Louis in scoring, averaging more than a point per game and sits tied for 12th in points among all NHL players heading into Tuesday’s action. All of a sudden, he’s a key cog in their offensive attack and with him under team control for at least the next three seasons after this one, he’s someone that can be built around for a while.
What would the Blues be even more thankful for?
Jordan Binnington getting back to his old form. This is only the third season since his improbable stretch that helped lead the Blues to the Stanley Cup but his numbers have ticked down each season since then. This year, while he has held the .910 SV% he had from last season, his GAA has gone up by 35 points to 2.90 which is below average for a starter. With Ville Husso still relatively unproven in the NHL (just 23 career starts), it would be hard for them to lean on him too heavily in the second half and considering this is the first of a six-year commitment to Binnington, they need him to improve his performance. They’re already one of the highest-scoring teams in the NHL this season and if Binnington can pick up his play, St. Louis could become a contender really quick.
What should be on the Blues’ wish list?
With minimal cap space, any sort of move is going to be difficult to make. But if Armstrong can find a way to bring someone in, an upgrade on the back end would certainly go a long way. Robert Bortuzzo is more of a depth player at this point, Marco Scandella has had a quiet season, and youngsters Jake Walman, Niko Mikkola, and Scott Perunovich are unproven and have had varying degrees of success this season. In a perfect world, someone that could step into their top four would be ideal but again, their cap situation would make that tricky. If they can’t do that, then an upgrade on the third pairing would still be one worth pursuing.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Schenn, Parayko, Perron Placed In COVID Protocol
Jan 11: David Perron has now been placed in the protocol, taking another key player out of the lineup. Perron is having another big season, scoring 20 points in 25 games for the Blues.
Jan 10: The St. Louis Blues are still likely celebrating from their last-minute regulation win yesterday, but when they start preparing for Thursday’s tilt against the Seattle Kraken it’ll be without two key players. Brayden Schenn and Colton Parayko have both been placed in the COVID protocol.
They’ll join Vladimir Tarasenko, Scott Perunovich, and Jake Walman there, though those players will be soon eligible to return. Schenn and Parayko will not be eligible for Thursday’s game if they tested positive, whether they’re symptomatic or not. The next game against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday is also in jeopardy and likely won’t have at least these two active.
That’s a big blow, especially given how much Parayko has played this season for the Blues. The 6’6″ defenseman is averaging more than 24 minutes this season, the highest of his career, and has 16 points in 36 games. Schenn meanwhile is having a disappointing year and has played just 22 games, only activated from injured reserve a week ago.
Blues Place Tarasenko, Perunovich, Walman In COVID Protocol
After icing a nearly fully healthy team last night against Pittsburgh for what felt like the first time in forever, the St. Louis Blues got hit with bad news today. The team released a statement Thursday saying they’ve placed forward Vladimir Tarasenko and defensemen Scott Perunovich and Jake Walman in the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol.
These are large absences for this team, especially Tarasenko. He’s been a somewhat unexpectedly huge contributor to the lineup after requesting a trade this past offseason, potting 14 goals and 20 assists in 34 games, seemingly fully recovered from years of shoulder issues.
Perunovich and Walman have been valuable depth pieces on defense, especially Perunovich. The young 23-year-old has impressed during his first NHL stint, scoring six assists in 18 games and averaging 15:33 per game. The 45th overall pick in 2018 will have to wait a little longer to score his first NHL goal, however.
Walman, through 18 games, has a goal and two assists in 12:06 of ice time per game.
James Neal Clears Waivers
Jan 3: Neal has cleared waivers according to Friedman meaning he can now be sent to the taxi squad or minor leagues.
Jan 2: The St. Louis Blues placed forward James Neal on waivers today, per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.
Neal did have an impressive training camp with the Blues which led to a one-year, league-minimum contract, but he hasn’t retained that same magic in the regular season. The embattled former 40-goal scorer has just two goals and two assists through 17 games this season.
With the Blues continuing to get back to full health, there’s no clear spot for Neal at the NHL level anymore. He’s been surpassed on the depth chart by names like Logan Brown and Klim Kostin, making him expendable.
Teams have until 1 p.m. CT tomorrow to put in a claim for Neal.
Brayden Schenn Likely Out For Winter Classic
Per the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Jim Thomas, St. Louis Blues forward Brayden Schenn seems to be unavailable for the Winter Classic tonight in Minneapolis. He didn’t take warmups.
Schenn’s been day-to-day with an upper-body injury since the middle of December, but many were hopeful he could return in time for the biggest outdoor game of the year.
His absence is compensated for by the return of other key portions of the team. Pavel Buchnevich and Ivan Barbashev are back in the lineup and will be counted on to play larger roles tonight.
Schenn’s struggled to stay healthy this year. Through just 19 games, he still has 10 points.
Mike Van Ryn Placed In COVID Protocol
The St. Louis Blues have placed assistant coach Mike Van Ryn in the COVID protocol, meaning in all likelihood he’ll unfortunately miss tomorrow’s Winter Classic. The Blues are holding their breath hoping no other players or coaches will be ruled out at the last minute, while the Minnesota Wild are just hoping that Jonas Brodin will be able to test out of the protocol before the game.
Minnesota Wild, St. Louis Blues Complete Minor Trade
The Minnesota Wild and St. Louis Blues have completed a minor trade, with Will Bitten and Nolan Stevens changing organizations.
The Wild will receive Stevens, a 25-year-old forward that has 12 points in 20 games for the Springfield Thunderbirds this season, his fourth in the AHL since signing out of Northeastern University. Standing 6’3″, he offers some size and skill as a potential depth player for Minnesota. More likely though he’s headed for Iowa where he can continue his season in the AHL. Stevens is on a one-year, two-way contract that carries a cap hit of $750K at the NHL level.
For St. Louis, Bitten comes to town after scoring eight points in 23 games for the Wild. A third-round pick of the Montreal Canadiens in 2016, he is still just 23 but has yet to make an appearance at the NHL level. Like Stevens, Bitten is on a one-year, two-way contract with the Wild but his actually carries a cap hit of $840K at the NHL level–not exactly the easiest to fit in for a team like St. Louis that is battling cap issues.
In all likelihood, both players spend the majority of the season in the minor leagues, perhaps seeing some time on the taxi squad if needed.
Armstrong, Guerin Among Staff No Longer Involved In Olympic Selections
Dec 27: As expected, Quinn will take over the head coaching duties of Team USA. John Vanbiesbrouck, assistant executive director of USA Hockey, will serve as general manager–a position he already holds for the National Junior Team that is currently competing in Alberta. Without NHL participation, several members of that junior group could find themselves on the Olympic team in a few months.
Dec 22: The NHL isn’t going to the Olympics, and that doesn’t mean just Sidney Crosby and Patrick Kane. The active NHL executives and coaches that had previously been announced will also be pulled out, meaning, for instance, that Bill Guerin is no longer the general manager of Team USA and Doug Armstrong is no longer with Team Canada.
For the U.S. the announcement that the managers and coaches will no longer be involved was made this morning, though no direct replacements have been officially named. David Quinn, formerly of the New York Rangers, has been linked to the head coaching position by several reports, including Chris Peters of Daily Faceoff. The U.S. management group is expected to name the final roster–one that will now be made up of players from college, the minor leagues, and European leagues–by mid-January. Peters projected a potential “Plan B” roster earlier this month.
For Canada, Armstrong confirmed to Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic that he will step down as general manager. He’s handing the reins to Hockey Canada’s Scott Salmond who will now have to find a roster outside the NHL to compete at the Games, one that doesn’t have the luxury of the Spengler Cup later this month to prepare. In LeBrun’s interview with Armstrong, the St. Louis Blues manager confirms that Crosby would have been the team’s captain, something that was decided very early on. He also explained that they had already locked in “three full forward lines and two sets of D” with January 12 the date they would reveal the entire group.
The managers and coaches involved will all now have to focus on their own NHL schedules–ones that are currently on hold and seemingly changing by the hour.