St. Louis Blues Recall Kenny Agostino from AHL Chicago Wolves
Kenny Agostino rejoins the Blues to provide depth at the forward position.
The St. Louis Blues announced on Saturday afternoon that they’ve recalled forward Kenny Agostino under emergency conditions from the AHL Chicago Wolves. The 24-year-old Agostino leads the AHL with 79 points (22 goals and 57 assists) in 63 games this season.
This will be the second stint in the NHL this season for Agostino, who had a goal and two assists in seven games while the Blues’ forward corps were decimated by injuries earlier this year. His ability to move the puck and make plays was quite impressive, but he got outplayed by Magnus Paajarvi, and when Kyle Brodziak and Paul Stastny returned from injuries, the Blues weren’t going to get rid of Nail Yakupov or Dmitrij Jaskin to keep Agostino on the roster.
Agostino was the second player the Blues recalled under emergency conditions on Saturday. They’d already brought up defenseman Petteri Lindbohm from the Wolves earlier in the day.
Players can only be recalled under emergency conditions if a team is in jeopardy of not having enough players to field a full game roster of 12 forwards, six defensemen, and two goalies. Though the Blues have played their past five games with the same group of forwards as Stastny, Jaskin, and Jori Lehtera have dealt with injuries, it appears as if Jaskin may be ready to return to game action.
As the St. Louis Post-Dispatch‘s Jeremy Rutherford suggested on Twitter Saturday, that could mean that the Blues have two players who are questionable for Sunday’s game against the Nashville Predators:
Blues didn't practice so it's not known who is hobbled. Jaskin is available so for Agostino to be emergency they could have 2 question marks
— Jeremy Rutherford (@jprutherford) April 1, 2017
The Blues could have recalled Agostino without the “emergency conditions” stipulation, but that would have prevented them from recalling any other players from the Wolves this season without making those players eligible for the AHL playoffs. Since the Blues only have five regular season games left, that’s not too huge of a concern, but with the Wolves primed to possibly make a long playoff run this year, it’s better not to take any chances.
Next: Blues Sign Jake Walman to Entry-Level Deal
It’ll be interesting to see if Agostino can further add to his case for an NHL opportunity next season if he gets a chance to suit up for the Blues on Sunday.