St. Louis Blues Recall Chris Butler from AHL Chicago

The St. Louis Blues had an open roster space Saturday following the trade of defenseman Jordan Leopold to the Columbus Blue Jackets. They quickly filled that spot, bringing up defenseman Chris Butler from the AHL Chicago Wolves.

The 28-year-old Butler is an experienced NHL veteran, and prior to this season he had spent every full season in the NHL since 2009-10, also splitting time between the Buffalo Sabres and the AHL Portland Pirates in 2008-09. The 6-foot-1, 196-pounder played all 82 games in the NHL last season for the Calgary Flames, scoring two goals with 16 assists, so it certainly was a luxury for the Blues to be able to give him a two-way deal and pass him through waivers to the minors for the beginning of the season.

More from St. Louis Blues

• An early projection of the St. Louis Blues’ opening-night roster
• St. Louis Blues sign Klim Kostin to three-year, entry-level contract
• St. Louis Blues: Nail Yakupov signs with Colorado Avalanche
• St. Louis Blues: An homage to Chris Butler
• St. Louis Blues agree to one-year contract with Oskar Sundqvist

It always seemed that Butler was going to be in the Blues’ plans at some point this season, since they utilized his status as a St. Louis native to play into their marketing campaign, celebrating Butler and his much more high-profile former Chaminade College Prep classmate Paul Stastny’s return to the city they grew up in.

When he was sent down at the end of training camp, Blues general manager Doug Armstrong acknowledged that the veteran defenseman had been solid, but simply hadn’t done enough to stand out during a training camp that was filled with standout performances. But Butler went down to Chicago and got the job done, scoring one goal with eight assists and a plus-minus rating of plus-15 in 14 games. Armstrong said that with Butler’s performance in Chicago, the Blues are comfortable utilizing him necessary, saying that the reports from Chicago management indicated that Butler”played very good” and that he has “proven that he’s in the wrong league” playing in the AHL as opposed to the NHL.

Armstrong also mentioned rookie Petteri Lindbohm and Brent Regner as players in the organization who could come up and contribute to the NHL team if the Blues need more depth later in the season.