Injury news seems to be a daily affair in St. Louis as the St. Louis Blues are dealing multiple injuries at once, especially after the team learned that defenseman Jay Bouwmeester is expected to miss the weekend after he was put on injured reserve Friday with an unspecified injury, according to Tom Timmermann of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Now, Chris Pinkert of NHL.com writes that the team has a new injury to worry about as the team’s fourth-line center, Kyle Brodziak, is likely to miss Saturday’s game and is day-to-day with an unknown injury.
“He’s a little dinged up, that’s why he didn’t practice yesterday. We were hoping he could come in and feel better today, but that wasn’t the case,” Blues head coach Mike Yeo said. “Hopefully he feels better tomorrow.”
Timmerman adds in a tweet that defenseman Alex Pietrangelo is making progress, but his status for Sunday’s game (the first game he is eligible for against the Winnipeg Jets is unknown. The scribe points out, however, that since it’s the second game of a home-and-home against the Jets, it’s unlikely the team would carry just six defensemen for two straight games, which suggests the team is confident that Pietrangelo will likely play on Sunday. Another factor on defense was the status of veteran defenseman Carl Gunnarsson, whose status was questionable Friday after taking a shot off his right leg, which forced him to leave practice yesterday. Pinkert adds that he’s OK and is expected to play Saturday.
Other injury notes in the NHL:
- Tampa Bay Times’ Joe Smith tweets that defenseman Braydon Coburn is likely to return tonight against the Avalanche. Coburn has missed seven games and hasn’t played since Nov. 29 with a lower-body injury. The 32-year-old veteran has seven assists in 25 games this season.
- With Minnesota Wild defenseman Jared Spurgeon not playing in today’s matchup against the Oilers, The Athletic’s Michael Russo tweets that it’s likely that Spurgeon will return to the Wild for tomorrow’s matchup with the Blackhawks. He has missed nine games for Minnesota with a groin injury. The 28-year-old has three goals and 12 assists in 23 games this season.
- Las Vegas Review-Journal’s Steve Carp tweets that winger William Carrier, who has missed nine straight games with an upper-body injury, continues to practice in a non-contact jersey, but a return could be coming soon. Carrier’s presence and toughness has been missed. He has one goal and one assist in 20 games.
- The Chicago Tribune’s Chris Hine tweets that Cody Franson and Jan Rutta could be back on the ice soon, possibly even tomorrow, according to coach Joel Quenneville. Franson has missed three games with an upper-body injury, while Rutta missed Thursday’s game against Winnipeg with an apparent head injury.
- Postmedia’s Wes Gilbertson tweets that Jaromir Jagr is expected back into the lineup today after missing the past six games with a lower-body injury. He is expected to play on the team’s fourth line tonight.