St. Louis Blues Place Magnus Paajarvi on Waivers

With goalie Brian Elliott on track to return as soon as Tuesday against the Nashville Predators, the St. Louis Blues needed to clear a spot on the roster for him. That clearance wasn’t going to come from the goalie position, as general manager Doug Armstrong has expressed a desire to keep both Jake Allen and Martin Brodeur in the fold until the Blues are completely sure that Elliott is healthy.

The Blues could have exercised the “last in, first out” policy and sent forward Dmitrij Jaskin back to the AHL. That move would have been complicated by the fact that the 21-year-old has dressed in the Blues’ last four games and contributed a goal and two assists. In the end, the Blues decided to expose 23-year-old forward Magnus Paajarvi to waivers with the intention of sending him to the minors if he clears.

Paajarvi has been little more than a practice squad member this season, dressing in just 10 of the Blues’ first 35 games despite maintaining full health throughout the season. At times Paajarvi has even been scratched in favor of a seventh defenseman, and during both of Jaskin’s stints in St. Louis this year, Paajarvi has sat while Jaskin has played.

Throughout his time with the Blues, Paajarvi has been a victim of his lack of a defined skill set. While he has the size to be a fourth line contributor at 6-foot-3 and 208 pounds, he has not shown a ton of aggression when he’s been given those types of chances. He has potential as a top-nine player–he showed it in his rookie year with Edmonton, when he scored 15 goals and notched 19 assists over 80 games–but he’s never been able to consistently put it together with the Blues, scoring six goals with seven assists over 65 games with a Bluenote on his chest.