MARYLANDHEIGHTS, Mo. — Thiswasn’t how the St. Louis Blues envisioned starting the season off,but circumstances force one to alter the hand and the team feels likeit’s in a good spot.
Withgeneral manager Alexander Steen announcing on Monday morning thatdefensemen Logan Mailloux and Tyler Tucker will each start off theseason on injured reserve – Mailloux will be re-evaluated in eightweeks after having a procedure Sunday on his right hand and Tuckerbeing out week-to-week with a right knee injury that will require asecond opinion – the Blues have options that they feel willhopefully make for a seamless transition after recalling AdamJiricek, a first-round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft, and claimingJustin Barron off waivers from the Nashville Predators.
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Butnonetheless, Mailloux’s injury, the result of a first-period fightin a 3-2 preseason loss to the Chicago Blackhawks with Cole Smith –comes at a tough time.
“Verygood. He’s had a great camp,” Steen said of Mailloux. “That’sthe game. These things pop up when things are going good, and it’snot the right timing, but this is part of the game. Logan is in agood head space.
“Everythingwent well (with the surgery). Now his main goal is to rehab and toget himself as prepared as he was for camp for when he’s able toreturn and at that time grab an oar and start rowing with the boysagain.”
Maillouxwas penciled in to begin the season paired with Philip Broberg on thetop pair, as they were to end last season when that duo reallystarted to take off.
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“Ithink he looked great,” Broberg said. “He was moving his feet,passing the puck well, shooting it. He was looking very good, so it’sunfortunate. He’s got to work his way back and get back as quick ashe can.”
Nonetheless,the Blues feel they will have a hole to fill.
“That’sa pretty significant loss just because he was playing soaggressively, trusting his instincts, taking away time and space,impacting the game at both ends of the ice,” Bluescoach Jim Montgomery said of Mailloux, who finished last season with13 points (five goals, eight assists) in 67 games.
Maillouxjumped in to confront Smith after the Blackhawks forward clippedBroberg near his knee that resulted initially into a tripping minorbefore the two scrapped.
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“Yeah,I think we’ve shown a lot of that, not just throughout the preseasonbut discussions going into the year,” Steen said. “The guys feellike they’re growing in those areas and that was obviously a big playby Logan.”
Brobergappreciated his teammate jumping to his defense.
“Ijumped out of the way, I saw (Smith)coming,” Brobergsaid.”He just got a piece of me. It’s hockey. It happens. I appreciate(Mailloux) sticking up for me. Unfortunately, the fight went as itwent and just go from there.”
Rosen, Romanov clear waivers, are assigned to AHL
Rosen, Romanov clear waivers, are assigned to AHLDefenseman, goalie head to Springfield after clearing waivers on Monday afternoon
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