St. Louis Blues Send Jordan Caron Back to AHL Chicago Wolves
With Patrik Berglund seemingly ready to come back, the St. Louis Blues cleared up some space on the roster.
Coming off a disappointing 3-1 loss to the Minnesota Wild on Thursday night, the St. Louis Blues made a New Year’s Day transaction, assigning forward Jordan Caron back to the Chicago Wolves of the AHL. Considering that center Scott Gomez was waived earlier this week, meaning that the Blues now have just the minimum 12 forwards on their active roster, it’s safe to assume that Patrik Berglund, who has missed all of the season to date while recovering from shoulder surgery, will be activated from injured reserve before Saturday night’s game at Toronto.
Berglund was a full participant in Thursday’s morning skate, indicating that he’s on the cusp of being ready for game action. It’s by no means a given that Berglund will be in the lineup against Toronto. Obviously, though, the Blues trust him enough to be the extra forward in case they have a situation like the one that occurred Thursday, when Vladimir Tarasenko was expected to play but was declared out due to illness just about two hours prior to face-off.
More from Arch Authority
- St. Louis Cardinals: Randal Grichuk to begin Double-A rehab stint
- John Brebbia deserves a shot as the St. Louis Cardinals’ closer
- St. Louis Cardinals place Randal Grichuk on DL, recall José Martínez
- St. Louis Cardinals release RHP Corey Baker from organization
- St. Louis Cardinals activate Kolten Wong and Kevin Siegrist from DL, option Luke Weaver and Alex Mejia to Triple-A
It’s the second time the Blues have made the holidays a bit depressing for Caron in recent weeks; he was previously assigned back to the Chicago roster on December 23 so that the Blues could save some cap space and avoid paying him two days’ worth of an NHL salary. He was recalled, however, for the team’s December 26 game against the Dallas Stars.
Caron, a former Boston Bruins first-round pick and six-year NHL veteran, made his Blues debut at Boston on December 22. He’s played in four games as part of the team’s fourth line, accumulating a minus-3 rating while registering one shot on goal. Caron obviously piqued the interest of coach Ken Hitchcock, as he was a healthy scratch for just two of his six games with the club, displacing longer-tenured players like Gomez and Scottie Upshall from the lineup.
Next: How Much Longer will Blues Wait to Solve Awkward Defensive Logjam?
As long as the veteran forward didn’t do anything to significantly hurt his cause on Thursday night, he should have a solid shot at rejoining the NHL club later in the season, especially with center Gomez now gone from the organization. In an interview with the Blues’ website earlier this week, general manager Doug Armstrong said of the former first-round pick, “I think having Caron up here has given us a good idea that we have a player that can play.”