Recapping the St. Louis Blues’ Top 5 First Half Storylines
Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports
4. Injuries and Illness Strike; Youth is Served
Whereas the Blues’ bout of injuries mainly came at the end of last season, with eight of the team’s 18 regular skaters missing the season finale due to injury, they instead absorbed a large string of injuries and illness over the first half of 2014-15.
The trouble started in the season opener, when forwards Patrik Berglund and Paul Stastny both had to leave due to injuries. Berglund missed the next game, and while Stastny came back immediately, he went on to suffer a shoulder injury in the fourth game of the season, a blowout win at Arizona, that caused him to miss the next eight games.
Around the same time as Stastny’s injury occurred, a bacterial infection (which was speculated, but never confirmed, to be the mumps) spread to many members of the team. Forward Jori Lehtera was the first to miss a game, and Joakim Lindstrom and T.J. Oshie were also forced to miss games later on. While they didn’t miss any games, many others, including forwards Ryan Reaves and Vladimir Tarasenko and defenseman Alex Pietrangelo, were significantly affected by the illness.
As if the illness wasn’t enough, the Blues dealt with several other long-term injuries. Starting goaltender Brian Elliott hurt his knee on November 25 and was out until December 30 while recovering.
Defenseman Carl Gunnarsson, who missed the first seven games of the year while continuing his recovery from offseason hip surgery, also was knocked out for 10 games in December and early January after suffering a concussion. Oshie and David Backes both also missed games with concussions. Defenseman Jay Bouwmeester missed eight games due to a lower-body injury (his first missed games since the 2003-04 season), forward Jaden Schwartz sustained a broken foot that cost him seven games, Alexander Steen missed two games with a lower-body injury, and Steve Ott missed one with a pulled groin. Most recently, forward Chris Porter suffered an ankle injury that will keep him out for a long period of time.
Fortunately, the Blues were able to get some nice contributions from younger players in the absence of their trusted regulars. Forward Dmitrij Jaskin, who was first called up to replace Stastny and later re-emerged to take the place of Schwartz, has been very impressive. While the 21-year-old still seemed to be getting up to speed during his first tour of duty, he’s fit right in during his second recall, and he now has four goals and three assists over 16 games this year. Jaskin was good enough to earn the roster spot of forward Magnus Paajarvi, who was waived and sent to the minors in late December.
21-year-old defenseman Petteri Lindbohm, who was originally expected to spend this season playing in Finland, instead came to America and was quickly pressed into duty in the NHL. Though he had a few rookie mistakes, as should be expected of a player as inexperienced as he is, Lindbohm was very solid overall, providing a much-needed physical presence as well as an assist over nine games.
After the Blues’ collapse to conclude last season, they’ll be hoping that they endured the worst of their struggles during the first half of this season. If they suffer more injuries, however, they now know that guys like Jaskin and Lindbohm can be counted on to reliably contribute at the NHL level.
Next: 3. Paul Stastny Remains Quiet