St. Louis Blues Could Call Up Petteri Lindbohm or Brett Regner Before Friday’s Game
The St. Louis Blues have been working below maximum capacity on the blueline lately, as Kevin Shattenkirk went down with an abdominal injury on Sunday which will leave him sidelined long-term. The Blues haven’t replaced him on the roster, instead just inserting Chris Butler, who had been a healthy scratch for every game since January 10, back into the lineup.
That could change soon, though, if the Blues feel the need to add depth. The team plays three games in four days starting on Thursday night against the Buffalo Sabres, which means that reinforcements may be needed for one of the games.
General manager Doug Armstrong addressed the possibility of a move being made on Thursday morning, as the St. Louis Post-Dispatch‘s Jeremy Rutherford transcribed:
"“We might just have a guy ready if we need to get him,” Blues general manager Doug Armstrong said. “It’s an easy trip from Chicago (home of the Blues’ American Hockey League affiliate) to Columbus if necessary.”“(Petteri) Lindbohm and (Brent) Regner have both played very well,” Armstrong said. “(Jani) Hakanpaa was playing very good, but he’s out right now, he got injured. So one of those two guys.”"
The 21-year-old Lindbohm has the edge in terms of NHL experience, having played in nine games with an assist and a minus-2 rating earlier this year for the Blues. He performed well for most of his tenure, although an embarrassing turnover in his own end and a few costly penalties showcased his experience near the end of his stint in the lineup. Lindbohm has six goals and eight assists and a minus-1 rating in 36 games for the Chicago Wolves this year.
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Meanwhile, Regner has been pushing all season for his first call-up to the NHL. Over 46 games, the 25-year-old (who was recently appointed as the Wolves’ captain) has five goals, 13 assists, and a plus-minus rating of 14. If the Blues want someone who can simply accompany the team on a road trip and be ready to enter the lineup if necessary, Regner might have the edge in that he’s currently playing his sixth AHL season and wouldn’t be missing out on crucial experience, while Lindbohm is playing his first season in America and really needs to be on the ice regularly for the best interest of his development.
For salary cap purposes, the Blues may want to stick with the minimum six defensemen on the roster for as long as possible. With Shattenkirk and Chris Porter on IR, Ty Rattie in the NHL to replace the injured Jori Lehtera, and Magnus Paajarvi still making an impact against the NHL cap because of his one-way contract, the Blues’ cap space is a bit tight, and they’ll want to create some breathing room so that they have more space to call up extra players after the trade deadline and for the postseason.
The first point at which it would be really risky to go with six defensemen would be starting next Thursday, when the Blues take a two-game road trip to play the Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning, creating a distance of roughly 1,000 miles from Chicago if the Blues quickly need to replace an injured player.