The log-jam at defense isn’t a log-jam any longer.
It’s always rough when a player goes down, but there’s a different kind of frustration at circumstance when that player sustains an off-season injury. For the Blues, off-season injuries often come during training camp or pre-season, but Marco Scandella got the jump on all of that.
Marco Scandella will undergo surgery on his right hip joint and will be re-evaluated in six months. https://t.co/64WDnhsMQY #stlblues
— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) September 20, 2022
Scandella’s injury came during late August training sessions; after consultations with physicians Scandella will be undergoing surgery and will need to be re-evaluated in six months.
The Blues have options when it comes to working around the absence of a key defenseman who has spent three years with the team. They’re able to put Scandella on LTIR and save themselves the $3.275 million cap hit. This could potentially free up enough space for the team to bring in another defenseman if needed.
Another defenseman shouldn’t be needed. Not counting Scandella, the Blues have Robert Bortuzzo, Justin Faulk, Torey Krug, Nick Leddy, Scott Perunovich, Niko Mikkola, and Colton Parayko on defense. The eight player log-jam has loosened up to a discussion of who the seventh defenseman should be. Do the Blues want Perunovich in the pressbox watching, or will there be another candidate?
Will the Blues use the freed up cap space to sign Tyler Pitlick or another free agent up front? They should have, by now, enough confidence in their young guns to at least allow Zach Bolduc a cup of coffee or to give Jake Neighbours a longer look before venturing out of the organization for solutions.
Decisions like this are why God invented training camp. All of a sudden, pre-season in-game evaluation seems a little more important.