St. Louis Blues Recall Joel Edmundson and Jordan Caron, Demote Petteri Lindbohm to AHL Chicago

The St. Louis Blues undid the defenseman swap that they performed two weeks ago, while also adding an extra forward for their upcoming East Coast swing.

The St. Louis Blues made several roster moves on Sunday morning, shaking up a roster that’s managed to win three straight games. Defenseman Petteri Lindbohm was demoted to the AHL Chicago Wolves, with defenseman Joel Edmundson being recalled from Chicago. This transaction reversed a swap of the two blueliners that was made two weeks ago. Forward Jordan Caron was also recalled from Chicago, marking his first stint with the Blues this year.

Lindbohm, who was initially thought to be firmly in the Blues’ plans this year, was a surprise cut from the opening roster, but he played well at Chicago and earned a promotion to the NHL in place of the struggling Edmundson earlier this month. After getting off to a strong start, particularly when he delivered some strong momentum with a fight against Dallas’s Antoine Roussel on December 12, he’d struggled lately. The 22-year-old committed several costly turnovers and was a minus-5 in his past six games.

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Edmundson, who had a minus-4 rating with no goals and two assists in 23 games for the Blues earlier this year, spent six games with Chicago as the Blues attempted to get him back up to speed following a stint as a healthy scratch which appeared to adversely affect his performance in the NHL. With the Wolves, Edmundson had no points, an even rating, and 15 penalty minutes, including a fight in Saturday night’s game.

Seeing as Edmundson was just sent down for an apparent inability to stay sharp as a healthy scratch, it’s likely that he’ll hop right back into the lineup and keep Robert Bortuzzo in the press box. Bortuzzo, who was one of the Blues’ greatest providers of energy down the stretch last year after being acquired from the Pittsburgh Penguins, has now been a healthy scratch for eight straight games.

While the concept of “showcasing” is one that is much more real on social networks than it is in the minds of real-life front office personnel, it is curious that Lindbohm made a short appearance in the NHL while Tampa Bay Lightning officials were reportedly scouting the Blues. Edmundson didn’t do anything particularly great at Chicago to deserve a promotion, at least that the stat sheet shows, so it should be interesting to see how this storyline progresses moving forward.

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Caron, a 25-year-old who is a former Boston Bruins first-round pick, will join the Blues as they head out on a two-game East Coast trip to Boston and Philadelphia. Center Kyle Brodziak‘s status is uncertain at the moment, due to the fact that he missed Saturday’s game with an injury. With that in mind, the Blues likely didn’t want to travel so far from Chicago without having an extra healthy forward on hand. They’ve had an open roster spot that’s been vacant since Steve Ott went down with multiple hamstring tears two weeks ago, and that spot won’t be needed again until forward Patrik Berglund returns next month, so it was no issue to bring Caron up to the NHL.

While Caron serves a distinct purpose in giving the Blues extra protection for the trip, he wholly deserved the promotion back to the NHL. Caron had been on fire at Chicago, scoring goals in seven of his past nine games, including his past three straight. Over five NHL seasons with the Bruins and Colorado Avalanche, the 6-foot-3, 204-pounder has played in 153 games and scored 12 goals with 16 assists.

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Caron is the fourth different forward who began the season with the Wolves to be promoted to St. Louis this season, following Ty Rattie and Jeremy Welsh, who have since been reassigned to the minors, as well as Magnus Paajarvi, who remains with the Blues.