ST. LOUIS — The St. Louis Blues have been able to avoid any quagmire when it comes to their roster due to players being injured.
It’s allowed the Blues to wait to make roster decisions on those that would be on the fence whether they are safe at the NHL level or risk being exposed to move to the American Hockey League.
That time is about up with Alexandre Texier (upper-body injury) and Oskar Sundqvist (torn right ACL) each about ready to return to the active roster.
So what do the Blues (3-2-0), who host the Carolina Hurricanes (2-1-0) on Saturday, do? They can only carry 23 players and will have 25 ready to go.
Decisions will need to be made, but which ones?
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Let’s take a look:
* Do the Blues trim from their forward crop — Should the Blues want to keep eight defensemen on the active roster, they will have to trim from their forward crop.
The candidates will likely include: Zack Bolduc, Kasperi Kapanen, and perhaps Nathan Walker.
My feeling is if the Blues go this route, they will assign Bolduc to Springfield and put Kapanen and his $1 million cap hit on waivers.
I think Walker is too valuable to this team for a variety of reasons and someone that can go up and down the lineup where necessary and needed.
Bolduc, in my opinion, has played his way onto this roster. Now, I get that the kid needs to start showing a semblance of scoring and having his name on the scoresheet (one assist through four games), but I don’t think it’s in his best interest to go to Springfield, especially if the Blues are going to keep showcasing him on this roster as a top six forward.
The kid just keeps to keep playing, keep growing and keep expanding his role.
Coach Drew Bannister was impressed with Bolduc’s all-around play on Thursday, particularly utilizing some physicality and contributing in other areas if the puck isn’t going into the net. That bodes well for what the coaching staff and management team think.
As for Kapanen, I’m still in the camp of those that was surprised when the Blues re-signed him this past summer. I honestly thought they were moving on from him, but to the 27-year-old’s credit, he worked himself onto the opening night roster and filled in adequately while Brandon Saad was on paternity leave. However through four games, he hasn’t registered a point and is a minus-3 and was a healthy scratch this past Tuesday.
I say the Blues put the veteran on waivers and should he get claimed, best of luck. If not, the option to send him to Springfield to play and have as a safety net should someone get hurt be there.
* Do the Blues trim from the defensive group — If the Blues don’t trim two players from their forward crop, then the likely scenario is one forward and one defenseman gets trimmed.
When training camp began, there was a battle of three to claim one of two available spots.
The Blues decided to keep eight defenseman and Tyler Tucker was the odd man out of a camp battle with Scott Perunovich and Pierre-Olivier Joseph.
Honestly, if Bolduc stays with the big club, the Blues are going to have to go one forward and one defenseman, which would give them 14 forwards, seven defensemen and two goalies.
I think P.O. Joseph has firmly grabbed that seventh position, even borderline sixth slot depending on how Matthew Kessel is playing.
That leaves Perunovich for waivers and let’s be honest, he’s the eighth d-man on this roster and hasn’t even gotten a sniff of playing this season, and with Joseph making himself more noticeable each and every time out and without any injuries on the blue line (aside from Nick Leddy being day to day with a lower-body injury), it’s going to be tough for Perunovich to crack the lineup.
As with Kapanen, if Perunovich goes on waivers and gets claimed, it may be the best for him to begin new somewhere else. And if not, he needs to play games and would go to Springfield and play a lot. At 26, he’s played a grand total of 73 regular-season games in the NHL and that’s nothing. He simply needs to play. Period.
* Prediction — If the Blues feel Leddy is a matter of when, not if he plays soon, they put Kapanen and Perunovich on waivers and take their chances when Texier and Sundqvist each is activated. But if Leddy misses time, then they do have the luxury of sending Bolduc down because he’s waivers-exempt, but only if Leddy misses any amount of time. And in that case, they would have to keep an extra d-man and that would be Perunovich.
Again, the feeling is the 21-year-old Bolduc has played his way in as a regular NHL player and deserves to be here. So in a perfect — and healthy world — it’s Kapanen and Perunovich that get exposed.
But we shall see.
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