Is St. Louis Blues’ Dmitrij Jaskin Destined for the AHL Once Again?
For a while during the past month, it appeared that 21-year-old St. Louis Blues forward Dmitrij Jaskin had finally earned himself a regular spot in the team’s lineup. After being recalled from the AHL Chicago Wolves on December 17, Jaskin, who has seen limited action over parts of three seasons, subsequently dressed in 12 straight games. When the Blues returned to maximum roster capacity following the return of injured goalie Brian Elliott, the Blues decided to let Jaskin stay with the NHL club and instead decided to put 23-year-old forward Magnus Paajarvi, who had spent the past year-and-a-half with the NHL club, through waivers and send him to the AHL.
Unfortunately, it seems like Jaskin has once again become a victim of coach Ken Hitchcock’s quick hook for young players. Though Jaskin had three goals and three assists in his first nine games back in the NHL, he had some notable hiccups over his last three games in the lineup, including a minus-3 rating against the Carolina Hurricanes and a tripping penalty against the Edmonton Oilers.
Jaskin was held pointless in all three of those games, and come Thursday against the Detroit Red Wings, he was made a healthy scratch for the first time since his most recent recall, being replaced in the lineup by 31-year-old forward Joakim Lindstrom, who had sat for the previous six games. Despite the fact that the Blues lost on Thursday, Lindstrom remained in the lineup on Saturday while Jaskin sat once again. With that inactivity, it’s time to start wondering: is Jaskin destined for yet another minor-league stint?
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Based on Jaskin’s activity during his previous NHL stint this season, the answer would be yes. After starting the season in the minors, he was recalled on October 24, then sent down on November 13. His demotion followed two straight games in which he was a healthy scratch, though a huge factor in the decision to send him down was the need to subtract a player from a full 23-man roster with the return of T.J. Oshie from injured reserve. That won’t be a factor this time, as Chris Porter is the Blues’ only injured player and isn’t scheduled to return for quite a while. In fact, the Blues are technically operating under maximum capacity with Martin Brodeur on a one-week leave of absence, though he still counts against the 23-man roster.
It’s probably unrealistic to expect that Jaskin is going to win back his spot from Lindstrom any time soon. Despite the fact that Lindstrom hasn’t gotten onto the scoresheet since his return to the lineup, Hitchcock praised his play following Thursday’s game. He’d previously raved about how well the Swede was practicing, being quoted by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Tom Timmermann as saying “If he goes in, the way he’s going at it now, I don’t think he’s going to come out.”
With that in mind, the best solution is to allow Jaskin to continue to get regular playing time at the AHL level and allow one of the NHL-tested veterans who is currently stuck in Chicago, such as Colin Fraser, Phil McRae, or Jeremy Welsh, to get back to hockey’s highest level and serve as an emergency depth option. That’s not to criticize Jaskin’s ability in any way—he did more than enough to earn a regular lineup spot and has produced offensively at a greater rate than guys like Patrik Berglund, Steve Ott, and Maxim Lapierre—but if he’s not going to play in the NHL, he should be continuing to develop since he’s a high-ceiling player who’s still just 21.