St. Louis Blues’ Steve Ott Hit with Adversity Again, Dealing with Colitis

Oct 24, 2015; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Blues center Steve Ott (9) looks to deflect the puck as New York Islanders goalie Thomas Greiss (1) defends the net during the third period at Scottrade Center. New York defeated St. Louis 3-2 in overtime. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 24, 2015; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Blues center Steve Ott (9) looks to deflect the puck as New York Islanders goalie Thomas Greiss (1) defends the net during the third period at Scottrade Center. New York defeated St. Louis 3-2 in overtime. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports /
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Steve Ott, who has missed the past four months while recovering from double hamstring surgery, can’t seem to catch a break and is now dealing with colitis.

St. Louis Blues forward Steve Ott has basically just been dealt endless adversity over the past four months. Ott, who has been out since December 5 (the past 53 games) while recovering from double-hamstring surgery, has been diagnosed with colitis (inflammation of the inner lining of the colon), according to a release from the team on Wednesday evening. The team said that he’ll be re-evaluated in two weeks, so he’s certainly out for the rest of the regular season.

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Considering the fact that he still has yet to play in 2016, this probably knocks him out for the postseason as well.

Ott had been skating again with the team for nearly a month, and he was thought to be just about ready to enter the lineup again if necessary. With Scottie Upshall, Kyle Brodziak, and Ryan Reaves playing very well as the team’s fourth line and coach Ken Hitchcock trying to get wingers Dmitrij Jaskin and Magnus Paajarvi some occasional game action, there weren’t really any obvious spots to insert Ott, so the Blues seemed to be “slow-playing” him to an extent in his recovery.

In 21 games earlier this season, Ott had no goals, two assists, a minus-3 rating, and 34 penalty minutes. With that said, Ott was a nice piece in the Blues’ lineup because of his physicality, his ability to play all three forward spots on either of the bottom two lines, and his ability to agitate the opponent.

Next: Blues' David Backes, Jake Allen Out for Rest of Regular Season

With Ott out, it seems possible that the Blues could add another forward for this weekend, seeing as they’ve been operating with no extras since David Backes and Robby Fabbri have been out with injuries.