Pietrangelo out at least 3 weeks - Knee

[cprice12]

https://twitter.com/jprutherford/status/696772140218060800

Pietrangelo placed on Blues' injured-reserve list
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/hockey/p ... 38960.html

Blues defenseman Alex Pietrangelo, who was injured in Saturday's 4-1 win over Minnesota, has been placed on the injured-reserve list.

The club announced Monday that he has suffered a right knee injury and will be re-evaluated in three weeks.

Pietrangelo left Saturday's game with 7 minutes, 20 seconds remaining in regulation after a hit from the Wild's Charlie Coyle. Pietrangelo was standing near the side boards when Coyle skated into him, causing their right knees to collide. Coyle was not penalized on a play that many within the club feel was late.

"When I saw him go down in the game, I didn't really see the play because he moved the puck far before he got hit," Blues goalie Brian Elliott said. "But he said he kind of got knee on knee a little bit. That's what it looked like in the video."

Pietrangelo, who lay on the ice briefly before skating to the locker room, did not return. The Blues were off Sunday, and the club learned the diagnosis late Sunday night.

It is the latest in a season of setbacks for the Blues, who rank No. 5 in the NHL in man games lost to due to injury with 197, according to Mangameslost.com. Pietrangelo joins a long list of Blues who have missed extended time this season, including Paul Stastny, Kevin Shattenkirk, Jake Allen, Jaden Schwartz, Patrik Berglund, Steve Ott.

"We've dealt with it all year," Blues coach Ken Hitchcock said. "I don't want to say that we're numb to it, but we've done a helluva job in dealing with injuries to significant players and this is another one. We'll adjust and keep going. Not much you can do about it. Big thing for us is just mentally move forward as quick as you can.

"I think the experience of having gone through this with other players, I think, helps us in this one. Our guys were good at practice today. They've already moved on. We were able to practice with some of the adjustments that we're going to make offensively, defensively, pairs, everything. Now it's time to play."

Pietrangelo currently ranks No. 4 in the league in average ice time per game (26 minutes, 40 seconds). He averages 3:16 on the penalty kill and 2:15 on the power play.

"When you deal with players who play on both ends of special teams and five on five roles, no one person can absorb those minutes, so you're going to have to make adjustments everywhere," Hitchcock said.

On Monday, the Blues paired Jay Bouwmeester with Kevin Shattenkirk, Carl Gunnarsson was with Colton Parayko and Joel Edmundson was with Robert Bortuzzo.

"We don't need somebody to just all of the sudden take a big step up," Hitchcock said. "What we need is 10 percent more across the board. We don't need 50 percent from some player, we need 10 percent from everybody ... 10 percent more responsibility, 10 percent more ice, change 10 percent of your role. We'll be able to absorb this. This isn't forever. It's not like a three-month injury. This is something that if we have the right attitude, we think we can handle this."

***

SCHWARTZ STILL OUT

In other practice news, Jaden Schwartz skated with the club, but will not play Tuesday against Winnipeg.

His recovery from a fractured left ankle continues to make progress, but he's simply not 100 percent.

"It feels pretty good, getting better and better," Schwartz said. "I don't want to go out and hurt the team or re-injure it. I want to make sure I'll be able to do mostly everything. It's more the physical aspect right now and that's something I still don't feel comfortable yet."

Hitchcock said that Schwartz looks like he is fitting in.

"He looks good," Hitchcock said. "We're hopeful we get the knock on the door real quick that he's read to play, but he looked good today. This is now three days in a row where he's looked pretty close to a normal hockey player. We'll see here in the next couple of days whether we get the knock or not."

[cprice12]

This should effectively squash any more Shattenkirk trade rumors.

Which is for the best. He wasn't getting traded anyway.

[theohall]

The "at least" part is concerning.

[glen a richter]

Who the hell is Hitch going to run out there for 50 minutes a night now?

[Kerfuffle]

This means Armstrong has to make an acquisition before trade deadline

[APOD]

Polak

[cardsfan04]

This means Armstrong has to make an acquisition before trade deadline

I don't think so, unless they're worried about him being out for the season. Hell, if he's back in 3 weeks when he's reevaluated, he'd be back around the trade deadline anyway.

[WaukeeBlues]

This means Armstrong has to make an acquisition before trade deadline

I don't think so, unless they're worried about him being out for the season. Hell, if he's back in 3 weeks when he's reevaluated, he'd be back around the trade deadline anyway.

Yea I don't think so either.

Edmunson and Parayko entering the big league has given us depth at D that we haven't had the luxury of in quite some time. It won't be a "fun" three weeks but we're not going to get run out of the building either.

[Kerfuffle]

Don't you think that Armstrong would want an insurance policy in case he's not back? I'm not saying make a major trade but rather find a journeyman vet at the trade deadline as a 'just in case'.

[ecbm]

Don't you think that Armstrong would want an insurance policy in case he's not back? I'm not saying make a major trade but rather find a journeyman vet at the trade deadline as a 'just in case'.

I think you're quite possibly right. Related: he's not back in three weeks; he's to be re-evaluated in 3 weeks. Big, big difference. Kinda like with Schwartz. Seems like quite a coincidence that they're going to have him re-evaluated right before the deadline. Then again, someone else could step up in that period. Joel Edmundson: this is your shot...don't (Frank) it up...

[cprice12]

Don't you think that Armstrong would want an insurance policy in case he's not back? I'm not saying make a major trade but rather find a journeyman vet at the trade deadline as a 'just in case'.

We are deep at defense.
If he were out for the season, maybe he acquires someone.
Once the trade deadline nears, I imagine they'll see where Petro is with his recovery, see how the defense has played without him, and then make a decision then if to acquire someone or not.

To be perfectly honest, I don't think they'll miss him all that much. It's not going to be the doom and gloom that the media say it will be...or it shouldn't anyway. I think Petro is highly overrated. He makes far too many mistakes that never seem to get mentioned by...anyone. He is a very frustrating player to watch when you are expecting #1 d-man type play...even though the national guys do nothing but praise him on a national broadcast.

Yes, he plays a lot of minutes. But I think he plays too many for what he does on the ice.

As long as Parayko and Edmundson can step up and take his minutes, and if Bortuzzo plays solid on the 3rd pairing, I think we'll be fine.

This could be a blessing in disquise as well. He was being used A LOT...probably too much. This will give him some time off and he could be much fresher for the playoffs.

[glen a richter]

The blessing in disguise may well be that we see the team is better without Pie. Maybe Hitch and Army see this too, and the conversation can shift from "Hey, let's trade Shatty!" to "Hey, let's trade Pie!"

[cprice12]

The blessing in disguise may well be that we see the team is better without Pie. Maybe Hitch and Army see this too, and the conversation can shift from "Hey, let's trade Shatty!" to "Hey, let's trade Pie!"

Something I have been touting here and on our podcast for a while now.
I think trading Petro to fill an offensive need would be brilliant. But that won't happen now..at least not until the deadline and then only if he is healthy. But let's be honest...they aren't trading him. We drafted him so it's like we are committed to him no matter what...which is ridiculous.

[glen a richter]

We drafted Johnson too. Sure, the circumstances were different. Pie never played kickball with a moving golf cart, but there's no harm in trading a guy who was a former high draft pick.

I don't think Pie is good for this team, at least as he's currently being played--you know, run out there for obscene minutes. He can be good for a lot of teams. Edmonton obviously, the Islanders will have a void when they finally trade Hamonic, I'm sure there are at least a dozen teams out there who would entertain trading for Pie. I don't really see a problem. I keep throwing out names like Schmaltz, Walman, Dunn... the thing those guys all have in common is the clear potential to be an offensive catalyst, just like Parayko and just like Shattenkirk. I know Pie is supposed to be that player too, but I don't get excited about the prospect of him being on the team long term. I get that he's only 26, but it seems to me his best years as a Blue are behind him. Could be a coaching thing, could be a Pie thing. I'd not be against changing both.

[theohall]

The good:
More power play time for Parayko.
More ice time for Parayko,

The bad:
More ice time for Gunnarson
More ice time for Edmundson

Gunnarson is actually 2 full minutes behind Parayko in time on ice per game. More exposure is not necessarily what the Blues want with him, even though he is +9. I suspect that will change in a negative way. Certainly hope it doesn't.

Edmundson, while every once in awhile makes a good play, seems completely average in the defensive zone.

[glen a richter]

I don't like Edmundson, not because I don't like the physical aspect of his play but that I don't like his complete non-contribution on offense. We need more two way defensemen on this team.

[ecbm]

I think trading Petro to fill an offensive need would be brilliant.

I could get down with a Petro trade and it would be great to get a useful player. But to be honest, I think this teams offensive needs all come from behind the bench. So many 20-30 goal guys underperforming this season...

If I'm GM though, I'm making getting rid of Bouwmeester and his contract a high priority on general principle. His best years-for any team-are certainly behind him.

[theohall]

Judging from last night's game...

Shattenkirk isn't as good defensively as Pietrangelo.

Normally, Shattenkirk takes about 43% of D zone faceoffs. Last night he took considerably more and did not do as well playing against the top line of the Jets. His turnover led to the one goal against in regulation. Is this due to the pairings, increased ice time, adjusting to play against the opponents best? I don't know. He just seemed to struggle where as Parayko had no issues whatsoever, but he was playing with a regular partner.

Give it time, but I wouldn't be surprised to see Parayko starting to get the assignments against an opponents top line.

PK - should be Parayko, Gunnar, Bortuzzo, and Edmundson. Shatty and Bouwmeester seemed to struggle getting the puck away on the PK.

[cardsfan04]

Don't you think that Armstrong would want an insurance policy in case he's not back? I'm not saying make a major trade but rather find a journeyman vet at the trade deadline as a 'just in case'.

I don't see it that way. Here's how I would approach most trades right now. I would make a trade based on what we expect to have in the playoffs.

If Pietro is expected to be out for the playoffs, then you make a move to replace him, and not a minor move. You need something major (if it's there).

If he's expected back for the playoffs, I'd rather rely on our depth at D (which is reasonably solid) than part with tradeable assets, just to jockey for playoff seeding.

The big variable here is that none of us know when to expect him back, but the Blues probably have some sort of idea. If he has a 4-6 week kind of injury, 6 weeks puts him at March 19, which is exactly 3 weeks prior to the last game of the season. I don't feel the need for a just in case move in that hypothetical scenario. If it's an 8-12 week injury, maybe you make a move (if it's there) based on how he reevaluates.

[thekortehaus]

No trades. If we end up in the bottom half of the seeding, maybe we'll actually see some postseason hunger and urgency from this group.


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