St. Louis Blues Recall Petteri Lindbohm from AHL Chicago Wolves, Reassign Joel Edmundson

After last night’s loss to the last-place Maple Leafs, the Blues brought back a familiar face and sent a struggling rookie back down for a reboot.

The St. Louis Blues committed what can be considered nothing less than a mortal sin by NHL standards on Saturday night, losing to a team (the Toronto Maple Leafs) that came into the game tied for the fewest wins in the entire league and failing to even keep things competitive, dropping the game 4-1. That obviously necessitated a shakeup early Saturday morning, as defenseman Petteri Lindbohm was recalled from the Chicago Wolves of the AHL, while another defenseman, Joel Edmundson, was reassigned to Chicago.

Lindbohm, who played in 23 games as a rookie last year, scoring two goals and collecting one assist with a rating of minus-1 and 26 penalty minutes, was expected to make the Blues’ roster this year at the outset of the season. But Edmundson, who had been a top defensive prospect for a while before seeing his star fade a bit coming into this camp, had an out-of-his-mind preseason and forced his way onto the opening night roster, combining with fellow surprise rookie Colton Parayko to force Lindbohm back to Chicago.

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While Parayko immediately established himself as one of the top scoring defensemen in the NHL, though, Edmundson settled into a bottom-pairing role. While he was consistently steady as a defender up until the last few games, Edmundson didn’t really show a whole lot of special skill other than his aggressive edge and an ability to fight (which provided for a humorous moment earlier this season when he fought in front of his grandma while facing the Winnipeg Jets):

Over 23 games, Edmundson had no goals, two assists, and a minus-4 rating with 20 penalty minutes. After dressing for 20 of the Blues’ first 21 games, he’d rotated with Robert Bortuzzo as of late and had been a healthy scratch for three of the past six. After drawing back into the lineup for the second game of a back-to-back on Saturday night against Toronto, Edmundson had a minus-2 rating in 11:58 of ice time.

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He’ll now get an opportunity to reboot at Chicago, where he played 94 games combined over the previous two seasons. While it’s surely frustrating for a young player like the 22-year-old Edmundson to return to the minors after cracking the NHL roster for the first time, the consistent ice time and every-night usage that he’ll receive at Chicago will be valuable as he attempts to get his game back on the right track.

The 22-year-old Lindbohm, meanwhile, kept grinding even after a surprise demotion and will now get another chance in the NHL. Over 20 games with the Wolves, Lindbohm had two goals and five assists with a plus-2 rating and 22 penalty minutes.

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It’s unknown whether Lindbohm or Bortuzzo will receive more time in the lineup as the Blues move forward. With Lindbohm, whom both GM Doug Armstrong and coach Ken Hitchcock have long talked about needing to play consistently and develop on a game-by-game basis, back in the NHL, it would make sense that he’d get a majority of the time. As we saw with Bortuzzo’s usage this weekend–playing Friday night at New York, registering six hits, and then sitting on Saturday–it appears that the Blues like to get his energy and physicality in short bursts, but don’t necessarily need to see him play every night.