Stastny placed on IR with broken right foot

Center injured blocking shot against Vancouver, will be re-evaluated in five weeks

By LOU KORAC
ST. LOUIS -- For the second straight season, the Blues will have to do without center Paul Stastny for a period of time.

The team announced Wednesday afternoon that Stastny will miss a minimum of five weeks with a broken right foot, an injury sustained Oct. 16 in a 4-3 victory at the Vancouver Canucks.

Stastny, who missed eight games last season with a shoulder injury sustained in the fourth game of the season against the Arizona Coyotes, had one goal and four assists through five games this season; he had four points through four games last season and could never quite get back to the form he had at the start of the season. He finished with 16 goals and 46 points in 74 games.

(St. Louis Blues photo)

Paul Stastny was placed on injured reserve with a broken

right foot. He will miss a minimum of five weeks.

Stastny, 29, blocked a shot by the Canucks' Matt Bartkowski with 4 minutes, 10 seconds remaining in the second period. He played another shift after the shot block but left the ice for the remainder of the period. He returned for a test skate between the second and third period but immediately left and did not return.

The Blues sent him to St. Louis for the remainder of the trip to be evaluated by team doctors. 

Stastny, who missed the past two games, will miss at least the next 16 games based on the timeline of when he would be re-evaluated. The earliest possible return date would be Nov. 28 against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Stastny joins forwards Patrik Berglund (shoulder) and Robby Fabbri (concussion) on injured-reserve; defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk is listed as day-to-day with a lower-body injury.

With Stastny out of the lineup, it will likely leave veteran Scott Gomez in the lineup along with that of veteran Scottie Upshall; both were brought in during training camp on professional tryouts and signed one-year contracts.

Stastny began the season as the Blues' top-line center between Alexander Steen and Vladimir Tarasenko and the trio was playing at a high level before the injury.

The Blues made no roster call-ups from the Chicago Wolves as of early Wednesday afternoon and don't play again until they begin a five-game homestand Saturday against the New York Islanders. They are likely to recall a forward closer to the game Saturday.