St. Louis Blues Place Alex Pietrangelo on IR, Will Lose Him for at Least Three Weeks
The St. Louis Blues will be without their top defenseman for at least three weeks after he suffered a knee injury late in Saturday’s game.
The St. Louis Blues suffered yet another devastating loss due to injury on Monday, as defenseman Alex Pietrangelo was placed on injured reserve with a knee injury. The team announced that he will be re-evaluated in three weeks. That means that he could be back within that timetable, but if he takes a recovery path more similar to that of Jaden Schwartz, who Tuesday will miss his fourth straight game since he resumed participating in full practices with the team, he could be out longer.
Pietrangelo, who had played in all 55 games to date in 2015-16 and has missed just seven games in his five full seasons with the Blues, will be a major loss for the team. He consistently logs ice time in the high 20s and low 30s, and with him out of the lineup, the Blues will have to rely more on Kevin Shattenkirk, who makes major contributions on the power play but usually is in the low 20s in ice time. They’ll also need a bit of a bounce-back from Colton Parayko, who was perhaps the team’s best player though the first couple months of the season, but has seen his production plummet as his ice time has decreased. For reference, five goals and six assists in 14 games up to November 7, as he consistently logged ice time in the 20s with Shattenkirk injured. In 38 games since then, however, Parayko has just one goal and seven assists, though he has remained defensively stout. Now, with increased ice time, the pressure will be on him to start producing offensively again.
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The Blues didn’t recall anyone immediately following Pietrangelo’s injury, though it’s highly possible that they’ll recall a seventh defenseman, especially as they head on a two-game road trip to Florida this weekend. Chris Butler and Andre Benoit, both of whom have logged time with the NHL club this season, would be prime candidates to come up and fill the role, as would Peter Harrold, a longtime NHLer who’s at AHL Chicago and would provide protection for Shattenkirk, Parayko, and Robert Bortuzzo as a righthanded shooter.
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Whereas the possibility of having to send a player through waivers again upon their demotion was previously a concern when the Blues sought to recall Butler, Benoit, or Harrold, Pietrangelo will likely be out until the NHL’s February 29 trade deadline and accompanying roster expansion, meaning that the Blues could just keep the extra player on hand in the NHL for the rest of the year if there’s a concern about waivers.