Leddy will replace Tyler Tucker in his return to the lineup. Tucker left Sunday’s win over Utah late in the third period after falling into the boards and sustaining an upper-body injury. He’s day-to-day and could return Thursday against the Panthers, Lou Korac of NHL.com reports.

Whatever injury Leddy sustained wasn’t apparent during a game, and he hadn’t missed time with a lower-body issue since before the COVID-19 pandemic, it likely wasn’t plaguing him heading into the season. Nonetheless, he only recently ramped up activity in practice after being held out of the lineup since the Blues’ fourth game of the season against the Wild on Oct. 15.

After initially being labeled day-to-day, St. Louis became increasingly doubtful about whether he’d return to the lineup at all in 2024-25. His lingering ailment was a contributing factor in general manager Doug Armstrong’s decision to acquire Cam Fowler from the Ducks, he said at the time, giving them a sixth defenseman with a cap hit of at least $4MM.

Leddy, 33, failed to record a point and had a minus-three rating in his first four outings this season. He averaged 22:09 per game and controlled 53.2% of shot attempts at even strength, a number that now stands second on the team among active skaters behind Tucker.

Now in the third season of a four-year, $16MM deal, Leddy remains a serviceable top-four option. While his possession metrics haven’t been kind, he’s still turned out a +18 rating in 184 games as a Blue since they acquired him from the Red Wings before the 2022 trade deadline. He appeared in all 82 games last season, averaging 22:22 per game and recording 28 points with 127 blocks, second on the team behind Colton Parayko’s 218.

The lefty could return to the lineup playing on his off side on the third pairing with Ryan Suter, Korac relayed. Philip Broberg and Cam Fowler, both of whom have excelled in top-four usage for the Blues this season, will remain in their second-pairing and first-pairing posts, respectively.

St. Louis never placed Leddy on LTIR throughout his absence, so his activation has no salary cap impact. They opened a roster spot yesterday by reassigning Matthew Kessel to AHL Springfield.

The former Stanley Cup Champion has played just four games this season after playing a full slate of games last year. He hasn’t posted any points this year, but he did tally three goals and 25 assists last season, which were his best offensive numbers since the shortened 2020-21 season while he was a member of the Islanders.

In other morning notes:

• Josh Yohe of The Athletic writes that Pittsburgh Penguins superstar Sidney Crosby wasn’t thrilled with some fans who attended last night’s 6-2 loss to the Colorado Avalanche. Crosby, who is notoriously positive, commented on the Penguins winning five of their last seven games, saying, “You wouldn’t know it tonight. Would you? I mean, getting booed on the power play (in the third period.)” The Penguins were down 4-2 at the time and weren’t generating much with the man advantage. However, the club has turned around in recent weeks and was coming off arguably their best game of the season on Saturday against Toronto. Crosby showed visible frustration at the end of last night’s game, smashing his stick after Colorado scored an empty netter to clinch the game.
• Penguins’ backup goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic took a puck to the face while sitting on the bench last night in the Penguins’ loss (as per Josh Yohe of The Athletic). The 28-year-old was hit under his right eye by a puck in the first period and came back out in the second period sporting a black eye. Nedeljkovic told reporters that he would be fine, so it doesn’t appear to be a cause for concern going forward. The Penguins haven’t received great goaltending this season from Nedeljkovic as he has struggled to a 4-5-3 record with a 3.37 goals-against average and a .882 save percentage.

Meanwhile, Korac added that winger Mathieu Joseph and defenseman Nick Leddy also skated before practice as they work their way back from lower-body injuries that cost them the last two and seven games respectively; they are also listed as out day-to-day.  However, neither of them nor Kapanen is expected to play against Toronto on Saturday.

Other injury news from around the hockey world:

• Sharks defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic has resumed skating on his own as he works his way back from a back injury, relays Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News. The 37-year-old was only hoping to miss part of training camp with the issue but instead, he has yet to play this season.  Vlasic has seen his role drop sharply in recent years as he’s no longer the high-end shutdown defender he was in his prime but is rather more of a depth piece now and is likely to be in a sixth or seventh role when he returns; head coach Ryan Warsofsky didn’t have a timeline for when Vlasic could start to skate with the team.
• After spending the last two seasons in the minors, veteran forward Greg McKegg decided to sign in the Czech Extraliga this summer. However, he won’t play for BK Mlada Boleslav after all as the team announced that he is dealing with a significant knee injury, one that appears to have been pre-existing before he came to the team before it flared up in practice early in training camp.  The 32-year-old will now undergo surgery for the injury.  McKegg has 233 NHL appearances over nine seasons and 454 career AHL games under his belt and might look to try to sign with a North American team again next summer.

Before Leddy’s injury, it was a tough start to the season for him. The 33-year-old went without a point and posted a -3 rating in four appearances, including a team-leading eight giveaways at the time of his injury. While he averaged over 22 minutes per game, he’s arguably already been usurped as the team’s top left-shot defender by Philip Broberg, who’s on an early-season tear with six points and a +6 rating through six games.

Texier, 25, will suit up tonight for the first time since sustaining an upper-body injury in St. Louis’ season opener against the Kraken two weeks ago. The offseason trade pickup from the Blue Jackets had an assist and two shots in 13:03 of ice time in his Blues debut. He’s coming off a career-high 12 goals and 30 points in 78 games for Columbus last year.

Meanwhile, defenseman Nick Leddy, who missed Thursday’s game with a lower-body injury, has been ruled out for tonight’s contest against Carolina and is questionable to return on Tuesday versus Winnipeg.  The veteran has logged over 22 minutes a night in his first four appearances of the season, good for third among Blues blueliners.

More from out West:

• Still with the Blues, Lou Korac of The Hockey News wonders if winger Kasperi Kapanen could be the odd man out up front when St. Louis gets their full complement of forwards back. The 28-year-old did well after being claimed off waivers in 2023 but struggled in his only full season with them, collecting 22 points in 73 games last year.  Kapanen has been held off the scoresheet in four games so far this season.  Still, the Blues opted to give him a one-year, $1MM contract in the summer, one that could be appealing if he lands on the waiver wire in the coming weeks as other players return.
• The Sharks are likely to be without center Macklin Celebrini for at least a couple more weeks, reports Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli. The first-overall pick back in June, Celebrini played in San Jose’s opener and fared well, picking up a goal and an assist.  However, he hasn’t suited up since with what’s believed to be a nagging hip issue that the team is opting to try to let him fully recover from over having it flare up at times throughout the year.  It appears that a full recovery is still at least a couple of weeks away.
• Wild center Ryan Hartman is listed as a game-time decision for tonight’s game against Columbus, relays Sarah McLellan of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune (Twitter link). The 30-year-old is dealing with an upper-body injury sustained on Tuesday against St. Louis.  Hartman has two goals through four games so far this season while logging 15:21 per night.

Leddy has not been good to start the season, as he and his defensive partner Colton Parayko have not had a lot go right in the first four games of the season. Leddy has been on the ice for a total of eight goals this season through four games and is -3 plus/minus with no recorded points.

In other Blues news, forward Oskar Sundqvist has been cleared for contract as he tries to work his way back into the lineup from an ACL tear he suffered back in March (as per Chris Pinkert of NHL.com). Sundqvist underwent surgery shortly after the tear and was expected to require six months to recover. The news that he is cleared means that his return should happen in the next week or two, putting him right on schedule to return.

Sundqvist returned to the Blues in the summer of 2023, signing a one-year deal with a club that had traded him just 17 months prior. Sundqvist did enough in his first year back with the team to earn a two-year extension worth a total of $3MM. It was less than three weeks later that he would suffer the ACL tear.

The Blues are cap-compliant but barely – CapFriendly projects them with roughly $290K in space with a full 23-player roster. They’ve expressed a clear desire to move out one of their aging top-four defensemen via trade, but nothing’s manifested yet, and it’s becoming less and less likely as the offseason trods on. It’s entirely possible general manager Doug Armstrong could choose to execute a buyout for someone like Nick Leddy, who’s struggled during his time in St. Louis and carries a $4MM cap hit through 2026. It would be a hefty buyout, running through 2028-29, but it wouldn’t carry a cap penalty of more than $2MM in any of the six seasons – it might be appealing.

More from around the NHL this weekend:

• The Tampa Bay Lightning are also granted a second buyout window after settling with forward Tanner Jeannot before arbitration. The team has cut costs wherever possible, but they still have less than $1MM in cap space, even taking into account Brent Seabrook’s long-term injured reserve relief. Unfortunately for them, there are no possible candidates here – all of their players carrying a cap hit of $4MM are core parts of the team and won’t be considered for a buyout. General manager Julien BriseBois is prepping for another long season of cap management on a day-to-day basis.
• PHNX Sports’ Craig Morgan today offered updates on a pair of Arizona Coyotes RFA forwards – Jan Jenik and Jack McBain. Morgan notes that Jenik’s deadline to accept his qualifying offer passed yesterday, meaning the team now has to negotiate a new deal with him to return to the desert. The 22-year-old was a 2018 third-round pick and notched 23 points in 30 games with the AHL’s Tucson Roadrunners last season. Morgan also notes that there hasn’t been any progress between the Coyotes and McBain on a new contract with his arbitration hearing looming at the end of the month, although they still have about two weeks to come to a deal before the hearing.

As of right now, there is no knowledge on what assortment of players, picks, or prospects will be headed back in either direction, but we do know a couple of players that will not be included in the deal on the Blues side of the action. Renaud Lavoie has already reported that St. Louis defenseman, Marco Scandella, is not the one holding up the trade, as the Flyers are not on his no-move list. Additionally, Lavoie notes that Colton Parayko and Nick Leddy have also not been asked to waive their no-trade clauses.

A few moments after the news from Lavoie, Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic reported that defenseman Justin Faulk has also not been asked to waive his no-trade clause as well. This news is important for a couple of reasons. With some deductive reasoning, these reports could reasonably be interpreted as the Blues are trying to send a defenseman to the Flyers, and there is only one more St. Louis defenseman that has a sizeable contract, that player being Torey Krug. It appears that if the Blues are indeed trying to send Krug the other way, the no-trade clause in his contract appears to be holding up the deal, which may cause Philadelphia to seek out a third team to facilitate the trade.

Other notes:

• As the trade market starts to heat up in the Western Conference, the Los Angeles Kings are fervently in the mix. David Pagnotta of TheFourthPeriod reports that not only have the Kings engaged in multiple discussions to acquire a top-six forward, but they would love to get a trade made before the draft. The Kings and Montreal Canadiens have been the two teams most heavily linked to Pierre-Luc Dubois this summer, and he would be an acquisition that would undoubtedly improve Los Angeles’ forward group. Aside from Dubois, it is unknown who else the Kings would be targeting, but they are letting most teams know what they are looking for.
• Continuing on with the Dubois speculation, Frank Seravalli of the DailyFaceoff notes that the Kings and Winnipeg Jets are indeed engaged in conversations, but nothing seems imminent on the trade front. Los Angeles did create some room to add in their earlier trade of Sean Durzi to the Arizona Coyotes, but the reasoning behind a trade not being close may not entirely be their fault. Mark Scheifele, Connor Hellebuyck, Blake Wheeler, and Dubois have all seen their names in the rumor mill this summer, and the Jets likely have plenty of teams calling for their services.

Elsewhere in the Central:

• The Blues could have defenseman Nick Leddy back in the lineup tonight against Tampa Bay, notes Joe Lyons of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The 31-year-old has missed the last four games due to an upper-body injury.  Leddy has 11 assists in 39 games so far this season and with Torey Krug out for a while, he’ll likely be called upon to play a bigger role offensively for St. Louis which is something he has been able to do with success in the past.
• While he has another year of NCAA eligibility remaining, goalie Drew Commesso is likely to turn pro for next season, suggests Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times. The 20-year-old was the 46th pick in 2020 by the Blackhawks and has had a bit of an up-and-down third season with Boston University.  His GAA (2.58) and SV% (.910) are actually a little worse than last season although a pair of rough starts out of his 14 appearances skew that somewhat.  Commesso has also dealt with a hamstring injury which has limited his playing time thus far.

More from the West:

• Blackhawks prospect Colton Dach is on the move as Seattle of the WHL announced that they’ve acquired the 20-year-old from Kelowna for two players and three draft picks. The center was injured while playing for Canada at the World Juniors but is expected to recover well before the playoffs begin in March.  Dach has already signed his entry-level deal with Chicago and will be able to play in the minors next season making this a pure rental on the part of the Thunderbirds.  Dach has 17 points in 14 games so far this season.
• Sharks defenseman Nikolai Knyzhov appears to be well ahead of schedule as he works his way back from Achilles surgery, reports Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News. Knyzhov has yet to play in nearly 20 months due to a variety of injuries with this latest one coming in August and carrying a six-month recovery timeline.  The 24-year-old was a regular on San Jose’s blueline when he last played in 2020-21 and while he’ll undoubtedly need some time in the minors to get back up to speed, he has been participating in full practices which suggests that game action could be coming sooner than later.
• Stars prospect Gavin White is on the move in the OHL as Peterborough announced that they’ve acquired the blueliner as part of a multi-player swap. The 20-year-old was a fourth-round pick by Dallas last year (112th overall) and was quite productive for Hamilton before this move, averaging a point per game in 22 contests.  White, who hasn’t signed yet with Dallas, is eligible to play in the minors next season but could also return for his overage year in junior.

In St. Louis, Leddy provided what he’s provided at pretty much every stop of his 851-game NHL career. He’s a defenseman who’s at his best with the puck on his stick, moving the play up the ice in order to get his team into the offensive zone. Leddy is among the smoothest-skating veteran defensemen in hockey, and although his offensive production hasn’t been where one might assume it would be for a defenseman of that profile, he’s no slouch there either. Leddy had a healthy eight points in 20 games in St. Louis and five in the team’s playoff run. Leddy could be routinely counted on for 40-plus points in his days as a New York Islander, although those days are likely over.

At 31 years old, the Blues are likely getting a defenseman who can help ease some of Justin Faulk’s transition-game load. A point total of around 30 would be a reasonable expectation for Leddy, and the hope has to be that he doesn’t age too poorly, as this deal will take him until he’s 35 years old. The Blues will need to shelter Leddy a bit, as he’s far from an effective defensive defenseman, but if coach Craig Berube can deploy him effectively he’ll be a strong addition to a Blues club intent on competing for a Stanley Cup in the near future.

One note is the structure of the deal: the contract is mostly front-loaded, with the salary declining by around $500k per year, per reports. With that in mind, the Blues could be structuring the deal so it can be easily traded in a cap-dumping move similar to the ones we have seen already this offseason.

More from the Central:

• While Nick Leddy isn’t the top-pairing player he once was, NHL.com’s Lou Korac suggests in his latest blog that the blueliner could still command a four or five-year contract on the open market later this month. The 31-year-old picked up 24 points in 75 games between Detroit and St. Louis during the regular season while averaging over 21 minutes a night while chipping in with five points in nine playoff contests.  While the Blues would certainly like to keep him around, it’s unlikely they’ll be able to free up the type of money it will cost to sign Leddy to that long of a contract.
• While Derek King is no longer Chicago’s head coach following the hiring of Luke Richardson, GM Kyle Davidson told reporters, including Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times, that the Blackhawks are looking to retain King in a yet-to-be-determined role. It’s possible that King goes back to AHL Rockford which is where he was before he was called on to replace Jeremy Colliton while he also could become an assistant on Richardson’s staff or transition into a role in their front office.

On veteran forward David Perron, Rutherford writes that the two sides are not close to an agreement, but nothing has changed in the two sides’ desire for a reunion. Rutherford points out an interesting fact, though perhaps an unfortunate one for Perron: he has signed five multi-year deals in his NHL career, and played for five NHL teams, but all five of those contracts were signed with St. Louis. Now 34, with 15 NHL seasons and a Stanley Cup on his resume, Perron will likely be in search of stability and while he has, and ultimately has not, had that in St. Louis, it would be foreseeable that he could ask for some sort of tight no-movement clause, however those have been a key sticking point in Armstrong’s negotiations in the past. When asked, Armstrong did not disclose the status of the negotiations, but Rutherford adds a source close to the negotiations informed him that the offer is likely two-years at an AAV much lower than Perron would like.

Breakout goaltender Ville Husso, after just his second NHL season, is set to hit the UFA market and as Rutherford writes, is probably not returning to St. Louis. Rutherford adds that Husso and the Blues are going to begin some sort of dialogue shortly, however the team may be priced out of re-signing him, with The Athletic forecasting a $4.1MM AAV for the 27-year-old. That figure is technically within the Blues’ range given their cap space, but given Jordan Binnington’s rebound performance and the emergence of young goaltender Joel Hofer in the AHL, St. Louis may ultimately be better-off focusing their cap space to address needs, rather than perhaps creating a logjam in net.

Nick Leddy’s value on the open market seems to be a popular debate topic, and rightfully so. A young Leddy compiled several strong seasons with the Chicago Blackhawks before being traded to the New York Islanders, having another excellent season ahead of a seven-year, $38.5MM extension on Long Island. The defenseman had several down years before reviving his career as a steady defenseman who excelled in transition under Barry Trotz, but was traded to the Detroit Red Wings in the summer of 2021 to alleviate cap concerns for the Islanders. Leddy struggled in Detroit, but was again dealt, landing with the Blues where he appeared to return to form.

His struggles in Detroit appear to have taken a toll on his value, with The Athletic projecting just a $1.7MM salary next season, Rutherford chalking that up to Leddy’s time in Detroit, adding that Leddy is seeking a four or five year deal at around $5MM per season. Whether or not he hits his goal, that price-tag may prove too expensive for the Blues, Rutherford adding that a discount, rooted in comfort playing for the Blues, would be what it takes to keep Leddy in the fold most likely, though that is not expected.

Lastly, Rutherford touches on Tyler Bozak, who had signed a one-year, incentive-laden $750K contract for the 2021-22 season. Bozak has seen more limited time and production since coming to St. Louis as compared to his time with the Toronto Maple Leafs, however his ability to play a complete 200 foot game combined with his on and off-ice leadership, has made him a much-appreciated asset for St. Louis. Still, Rutherford says that while Bozak may be had on a similar contract for next season, a return is unlikely given the emergence of forward Alexey Toropchenko, re-signing Logan Brown, and a full-time debut of Jake Neighbours.

At $9MM in cap space, St. Louis is going to be forced to make tough decisions, and must also consider two RFAs this summer in defensemen Niko Mikkola and Scott Perunovich. Further, all of this goes without mentioning their 2023 free agent class that they have to be mindful of, which includes the likes of Jordan Kyrou and Robert Thomas on the RFA side and Ivan Barbashev, Ryan O’Reilly and Vladimir Tarasenko on the UFA side.

At 31-years-old, Leddy has never had the opportunity to hit the open market, initially signing extensions as a RFA with the Chicago Blackhawks, and then the New York Islanders after an October, 2014 trade. Leddy’s expiring contract, a seven-year, $38.5MM deal, was signed with the Islanders in 2015 before Leddy was set to become a RFA. That contract proved to provide good value to the Islanders, for whom Leddy played 518 regular season games and 67 playoff games, many of which were as one of the team’s top defensemen. However, with cap concerns creeping up this past offseason, Leddy would find himself once again traded, this time to the rebuilding Detroit Red Wings. The veteran was tasked to be a leader in a young dressing room, with the organization hoping they could take the next step. On the outside of the playoff picture once again, Detroit dealt Leddy at the trade deadline, where he would become a key piece on the blueline for the St. Louis Blues, who have their eyes set on their second Stanley Cup in four seasons.

Now an UFA, Leddy will look to parlay his experience into another contract to cover his early and mid-30’s. What Leddy’s next contract will look like is an interesting discussion however, as he has plenty to admire, but does pose some concerns for a team that would be committing to him. First, looking at the positives, Leddy can be described as a durable defenseman who skates and moves the puck well, and who has developed his defensive game nicely in the past few seasons. Over the course of his career, Leddy has missed very few games and would average over 40 points-person-season in his prime. After a tough 2017-18 season which would see Leddy accumulating a minus-42 rating despite having 42 points of his own, Leddy was able to reinvent his game under coach Barry Trotz. Though the strong point totals did not come back to their previous form, the defenseman showed his ability to work diligently in his own end and move the puck out routinely.

On the other hand, after being traded to Detroit and away from the system that saw him take steps forward defensively, Leddy again struggled in his own end, and played to a minus-33 rating in Detroit before being traded to St. Louis. With the Blues, Leddy would rebound, posting eight points to go with a plus-3 rating in 20 regular season games down the stretch. Still, as a 31 year old defenseman who relies heavily on his skating, Leddy’s prime is likely behind him and even with the steps he has taken to round out his game, his occasional struggles defensively do raise concern.

All of this is to say, Leddy is more than a capable NHL defenseman, but these factors will play into what his next contract looks like. He almost certainly will not receive the seven-year term he has on his current contract, and the $5.5MM AAV it carries is potentially out of the question too. However, on a shorter-term contract of three or four years, Leddy could push a number that is close to his previous salary even if he cannot reach it.

One name to look at as a potential comparison for Leddy is Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman T.J. Brodie. The former Calgary Flames blueliner signed his four-year, $20MM contract with Toronto just after turning 30 years of age, a year younger than Leddy is now, but on a similar trajectory. Brodie, like Leddy, made a name for himself in his mid-20’s as a smooth skating, puck moving defenseman who could regularly provide point totals in the mid-40’s. Then, like Leddy, Brodie’s defensive struggles would become apparent before making adjustments to solidify his defense.

Unlike Leddy, when Brodie’s defensive game took a change for the better between 2017-18 and 2018-19, his offensive output would stay the same. However, the next season, 2019-20, Brodie’s offensive numbers would dip severely, albeit still playing a sound game in his own end. It was after this season that Brodie hit the UFA market and signed with Toronto. Now for Leddy, much as it was for Brodie after making impressive changes to his defensive game, but hitting some bumps in the road, he will hit the UFA market.

Ultimately, Leddy’s market should come down to a combination of factors that should include the flat salary cap, how teams believe his game will fit in their system, and perhaps most importantly, how those teams feel his game, which is particularly skating-reliant, will age over the life of the contract. What may be his biggest selling point, however, is something mentioned in the beginning of this article: his 125 games, and counting, in the Stanley Cup playoffs, accumulated over 10 of his 12 NHL seasons, including a Stanley Cup, experience which, of course, cannot be taken away with age.

Fortunately for the Blues, youngster Scott Perunovich was ready to go for today’s game after almost four months’ worth of inactivity, permitting them to dress seven defensemen. However, this now means the entirety of the Blues’ top three left defensemen are out of the lineup (Scandella, Torey Krug, Nick Leddy). Right-shot man Robert Bortuzzo is out of the lineup as well.

It’s an incredible turn of bad luck for the Blues, who had a strong start to Game 4 but trail in the series 2-1. Against a team like the Wild who can roll three lines, that many injuries on defense are almost a death sentence for the Blues.

They’ll need Perunovich, Calle Rosen, and Niko Mikkola to step up in a big way, in addition to whatever goalie is in net, in order for the Blues to come back in the series and complete what at this point would be a very large upset.