St. Louis Blues Recall Cody Beach, Release Ryan Whitney from PTO

The St. Louis Blues made two rather minor roster moves on Friday afternoon, bringing forward Cody Beach back into training camp and releasing defenseman Ryan Whitney from his professional tryout contract. Beach had been sent out of camp last Saturday.

Beach, a 6-foot-5, 200-pounder, is definitely a guy who could end up on the NHL roster at some point. He’s likely back with the team to provide physicality in the second game of a preseason back-to-back with the Minnesota Wild, due to the fact that enforcer Paul Bissonnette may be out for the game due to injury. It would be extremely surprising if Beach stuck around and rallied to make the opening roster. His offensive skills haven’t been fully developed yet; he had just five goals and six assists in 34 games for the AHL Chicago Wolves last year, plus an additional two goals and one assist in seven games for the ECHL Kalamazoo Wings.

More from St. Louis Blues

Whitney, a 31-year-old former Olympian, was in camp with the Blues for the second straight year on a professional tryout contract, and he hadn’t really gotten a great opportunity to establish himself, as he played in just one preseason game and was behind guys like Petteri Lindbohm, Nate Prosser, and Chris Butler in a race to win a final spot on the opening 23-man roster. With Prosser having been claimed on waivers by the Minnesota Wild yesterday, it wouldn’t be too surprising to see Whitney signed to a two-way contract and sent to the Wolves as a depth player.

With these moves, the amount of players on the roster remains at 32, though forward Peter Mueller and defenseman Chris Butler have already cleared waivers and likely will be headed for Chicago to begin the season.

Home/St. Louis Blues