St. Louis Blues Make Final Cuts, Finalize Roster
The St. Louis Blues made their final cuts of training camp several hours prior to the 4:00 PM CT deadline on Tuesday and now have their initial regular season roster assembled. The four players trimmed from the training camp roster were forward Robby Fabbri, who was returned to his junior club in Guelph, Ontario; forward Dmitrij Jaskin, and defensemen Chris Butler and Petteri Lindbohm, all of whom were assigned to the AHL Chicago Wolves.
It was somewhat surprising to see the 21-year-old Jaskin be sent to Chicago rather than veteran forward Chris Porter, who has been on a shuttle back and forth from Chicago to St. Louis for pretty much his entire career with the Blues. But financially, it makes more sense to keep Porter, who’s on a one-way deal, and it allows Jaskin to play every game in a top-nine role with Chicago, rather than being relegated to the press box on a nightly basis, which was the likely scenario had he stayed with the Blues.
Fabbri’s assignment to Guelph was not nearly as surprising as the fact that he lasted until the final cutdown. The 18-year-old, who was the Blues’ first selection in this year’s draft, obviously made a great impression on the coaching staff. It wouldn’t be at all surprising to see him join the Blues’ roster at the conclusion of Guelph’s season.
The Blues decided to send both Butler and Lindbohm to Chicago after it was originally thought that they would keep one in the absence of defenseman Carl Gunnarsson, who will be unable to play at the start the year due to a hip injury. Butler, who played in all 82 games for the Calgary Flames last year, will likely be the first player called up in the event of an injury, although the retention of Lindbohm in America is a major addition for the Blues’ depth. The 21-year-old had originally been slated to play in Finland this season, but caught the eye of head coach Ken Hitchcock and ended up lasting until the final cut.
More from St. Louis Blues
- An early projection of the St. Louis Blues’ opening-night roster
- St. Louis Blues sign Klim Kostin to three-year, entry-level contract
- St. Louis Blues: Nail Yakupov signs with Colorado Avalanche
- St. Louis Blues: An homage to Chris Butler
- St. Louis Blues agree to one-year contract with Oskar Sundqvist
The Blues could have elected to keep either Butler or Lindbohm as the seventh defenseman, but instead decided to proceed with a only six since they elected not to place Gunnarsson on injured reserve. This shouldn’t be an issue since the team only has one series of back-to-back games in the month of October, but it should be interesting to see if they’re willing to risk not carrying any extra defensemen when they have a three-game road trip over four days to the West Coast from October 16-19.