It’s not like Chief has a choice.
The Blues don’t exactly have a lot of moving pieces right now to adjust as needed. WIth four players on the Covid-19 protocol list and Brayden Schenn injured, the Blues can’t call anyone up to help out. They can’t really make adjustments past line tweaks. What we saw Sunday night against the Anaheim Ducks will more than likely be very similar to what we’re going to see tonight against the Winnipeg Jets.
To note, though, tonight is Jake Neighbours’ ninth game with the club. It’s make or break time, since he can only play in nine games without burning a year of his ELC. He’s hung with the big boys very well this season and clearly has impressed the coaching staff and the veterans alike.
The Blues’ depth is very deep right now, but they need all of the help that they can get. If Neighbours can get regular playing time, it’s worth it for his development to stay up here. If he can’t, then the opposite is true. Simple as that.
Here are tonight’s probable lines, from stlblues.com:
Forwards
Saad – O’Reilly – Perron
Kyrou – Thomas – Tarasenko
Kostin – Barbashev – Buchnevich
Neighbours – Bozak – Neal
Defense
Scandella – Parayko
Walman – Faulk
Rosen – Bortuzzo
Goalies
Binnington