St. Louis Blues: Ivan Barbashev Remains in AHL with Day-to-Day Injury
Ivan Barbashev will remain in the AHL for the time being as he recovers from a day-to-day injury.
The St. Louis Blues’ five-day bye week was costly in more ways than one for rookie forward Ivan Barbashev.
Unlike most of the team’s other players–with the only exception being Magnus Paajarvi–Barbashev wasn’t given the opportunity to go on vacation or kick back and relax at home. Instead, the 21-year-old forward was sent with Paajarvi to the AHL Chicago Wolves for the break.
Barbashev is on a two-way contract, meaning that he’s paid the pro-rated portion of $742,500 for every day that he’s on the NHL roster, while he makes the pro-rated fraction of $70,000 for every day he’s in the minors. Thus, he’ll take a financial loss thanks to his latest debacle.
More from Arch Authority
- St. Louis Cardinals: Randal Grichuk to begin Double-A rehab stint
- John Brebbia deserves a shot as the St. Louis Cardinals’ closer
- St. Louis Cardinals place Randal Grichuk on DL, recall José Martínez
- St. Louis Cardinals release RHP Corey Baker from organization
- St. Louis Cardinals activate Kolten Wong and Kevin Siegrist from DL, option Luke Weaver and Alex Mejia to Triple-A
While playing in Chicago’s game against the Lake Erie Monsters on Wednesday afternoon, Barbashev suffered an upper-body injury and was forced to leave the game. As NHL.com’s Lou Korac relayed on Saturday, Barbashev is still dealing with the injury and won’t play in the Blues’ game against the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday.
Since the Blues stand to gain financially by keeping Barbashev in the minors, the Blues will leave him with the Wolves for at least the next two days. The 6-foot, 180-pound forward will skate with the AHL club in hopes of being ready to return for the Blues’ Tuesday meeting with the Edmonton Oilers. In his absence, either Dmitrij Jaskin (who has played just twice in the Blues’ last 11 games) or Nail Yakupov (who has only played once over the Blues’ last eight games) is expected to take over his spot as the left wing on the third line.
Next: Berglund in Position to Break Federko's Games Played Record
His position is much easier to fill now that Blues centers Kyle Brodziak and Paul Stastny are no longer injured. While those two were out, Barbashev was playing center, and if he had gone down while one of them was still on the shelf, they either would have had to recall Wade Megan or move Alexander Steen to the middle. With Brodziak and Stastny back, they can instead just use one of the players who’s already on the roster.