Blues continue to shuffle roster amid injuries, COVID absences

The St. Louis Blues continue to move players on and off the roster in an attempt to stay salary cap compliant while they deal with injuries and COVID absences. 

Monday, several transactions were processed to make the puzzle pieces together. The team has moved David Perron to long-term injured reserve, while putting Robert Thomas and Brayden Schenn on normal injured reserve. Tyler Bozak and Justin Faulk have been activated from the COVID protocol, while Alexei Toropchenko has been recalled.

Perron’s LTIR designation is retroactive to November 27, just after the last game he played in, meaning he won’t have to wait much longer if he is healthy enough to return. LTIR requires a player to miss either ten games or 24 days (whichever is longer), meaning he could potentially return for the Blues’ game next Tuesday. That gives the team some time to operate with the extra cap relief and hopefully get Jordan Binnington back out of the COVID protocol.

Faulk and Bozak’s return is a huge positive, given how the protocol affects a team’s cap. Their hits still counted toward the $81.5M cap ceiling despite being unavailable, leading to the Blues playing shorthanded several times. If they’re healthy enough to return, it will be a big help while figuring out the rest of the roster.

Toropchenko meanwhile will be facing his NHL debut should he get into a game. The 22-year-old forward has nine points in 22 games with the Springfield Thunderbirds this season after spending last year in the KHL. The 6’3″ winger hasn’t shown a huge amount of offensive upside, but can add another big body to the Blues’ bottom-six, something head coach Craig Berube has used consistently since arriving in St. Louis.