Terrible news for Blues fans to have to wake up to on a December Sunday morning.
Blues leading scorer Jaden Schwartz has a broken ankle and will be out indefinitely. Team doctors will re-evaluate Schwartz in six weeks.
Next man up: Ivan Barbashev.
Filling Schwartz’s skates on the top trio will be a Herculean effort for Barbashev, who has 4G,4A in AHL Chicago this season.
Jaden Schwartz will be re-evaluated in six weeks after sustaining an ankle injury Saturday. Ivan Barbashev has been recalled from the Chicago Wolves. https://t.co/edkOQIjRAE #stlblues
— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) December 10, 2017
Prior to the Schwartz injury, the Blues have been actively scouting the league looking for a scoring, two way winger. For instance, I have seen the Blues’ director of player personnel in Buffalo in recent weeks. Evander Kane has been the shiny toy that several NHL teams have been window shopping for.
Since 12/3/16, Kane has scored 41 goals and 28 assists in 99 games played. Entering play Saturday, those 41 goals tied for 20th in the NHL during that span and his 34 even-strength goals tied for ninth.
If Schwartz can’t make a full recovery in 6-8 weeks, I can see a scenario where Blues GM Doug Armstrong makes a serious play for Evander Kane to bolster his top scoring line. Kane-Schenn-Tarasenko would be a sick power trio.
Armstrong would be in a position of weakness and will likely have to deal away a top prospect like forward Jordan Kyrou (19G,38A in Sarnia this season) or Tage Thompson (7G,7A in San Antonio this season). Plus, the Blues would have to include an NHL defenseman in a deal for Evander Kane. Stay at home, physical, steady Eddie defenseman Robert Bortuzzo played for Sabres GM Jason Botterill at AHL Scranton Wilkes Barre. Botterill was GM of the Baby Penguins for a decade before being hired last spring to succeed Tim Murray as Sabres GM. Bortuzzo is 28 and has eight years on NHL service in his hockey bag.
Kyrou, the leading scorer in the Ontario Hockey League today, is entering his fourth season with the Sarnia Sting. A second round pick of the St. Louis Blues in 2016, Kyrou is the Sting's most dynamic player. In 66 regular season games last year, Kyrou had an outstanding 94 points, ranking sixth in OHL scoring league-wide. Kyrou won a gold medal for Canada in the 2016 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament. The Toronto, Ontario native is expected to star for a scoring role on Team Canada at the 2018 World Junior Championship in Buffalo later this month.
Botterill would have to absorb 40% of Kane’s 2017-18 salary, which is $6 million. Kane is a $5.25M AAV this season and will become UFA on July 1, 2018.
Kane for Kyrou or Thompson, and, Bortuzzo.
Would you do it?
Armstrong better figure it out quick. Evander Kane is at the top of the Christmas list of a dozen NHL GMs today.
Thanks, Blues TV
To add insult to the Schwartz injury, Norris Trophy candidate Alex Pietrangelo will miss tonight’s game against the Sabres.
Per the Blues website, Pietrangelo left Saturday's game against Detroit briefly in the first period but returned and finished the game. Blues Head Coach Mike Yeo labeled the Blues captain as day-to-day during his pregame press conference on Sunday.
"He's going to try to skate (Monday) and try to go to the rink and see how that goes, but we'll call it day-to-day right now," Yeo said. "Every time a guy comes out of the lineup is an opportunity for somebody else. We'll have someone else ready to step up here tonight and we'll step up with our team game."
A win in St. Louis would give the Sabres 5 of a possible 6 points on this Western roadie that ends tonight in The Loo. The Sabres defeated Colorado and got an OT loser point in Chicago.