Bouwmeester to miss rest of season, Upshall out at least four weeks;
Schmaltz gets big chance; Edmundson practices in full; Thomas receives award
HAZELWOOD, Mo. -- If the Blues are to push back into the Western Conference playoff picture, they'll for sure do so without one veteran and likely miss another for most, if not all, of the remainder of the regular season.
Blues defenseman Jay Bouwmeester will miss the remainder of the season with a left hip injury and left wing Scottie Upshall will miss at least four weeks before being reevaluated with a left MCL sprain. Both were injured in a 3-2 loss at the Dallas Stars on Saturday.
Bouwmeester will have surgery and is expected to need 4-6 weeks to recover; he initially sustained the injury Dec. 10 against the Buffalo Sabres that forced him to miss nine games.
The initial thought process was either play through the injury and receive injection shots in the hip and play through it, which Bouwmeester decided to do, or have surgery then and perhaps try to salvage any part of the season.
"I've had, hopefully the same thing on my other hip, so I know kind of the whole deal with what goes on with that," Bouwmeester said referring to a hip injury he sustained earlier in his career. "You do what you can to play until you can't play anymore. ... I think at a certain point you just have to think down the road and for me, that's just the best thing is to get it fixed and move on."
Blues general manager Doug Armstrong said he was fine with Bouwmeester trying to play through the injury.
"Jay wanted to get the injection and play through it," Armstrong said. "That's why he has been limited to no practice time. We were trying to work him the best way possible with that hip."
Bouwmeester was injured in the second period on Saturday.
"He sustained the injury in Dallas to the point where another injection wasn't possible and the surgery was going to be required," Armstrong said. "Our hope is to get the surgery done now and we'll get an update after the surgery on what they find in there, but we're hoping within 4-6 months he'll be ready to resume playing."
Bouwmeester missed the first 19 games to start the season with a fractured ankle blocking a shot during a scrimmage in training camp.
"I came back and played the next 10 games and this kind of happened," Bouwmeester said. "At that point, you want to play. That's what you do, you want to play. It was OK for a while and then it just kind of deteriorated over the last little bit. I knew it was going to be something kind of awkward that would set things off. It kind of is what it is."
Bouwmeester had seven points (two goals, five assists) in 35 games this season. In 1,106 career games, Bouwmeester has 398 points (84 goals, 314 assists).
"We knew he was kind of playing on borrowed time," Blues coach Mike Yeo said of Bouwmeester. "We were hoping he was going to get through the season, but we knew that there was really only so much life left in that hip of his. Very safe to say he gave us absolutely everything he had.
"... It's a good example of ... it's good for your culture as far as your young players seeing he is such a pro the way he conducts himself, the way he shows up to the rink, his conditioning level, his preparation. Him playing through pain, him playing through that without complaining. He was in way more pain than he was letting anyone know that he was. He's a hockey player and I think it's a really good example and certainly one that you hope your young players look to and try to model themselves after. There's a reason why he's played 1,200 games in this league and you play in world championships and Olympics because of the way that he's conducted himself."
Upshall also was injured against the Stars on Saturday.
Upshall, 34, has 18 points (seven goals, 11 assists) in 61 games this season.
"We'll get him training and we'll get him back as soon as we can," Armstrong said of Upshall. "... He'll work as hard as he can to get back as quick as possible. Hopefully we've gone on a nice run at that point."
The Blues, who don't play until Thursday when they begin a California road trip against the San Jose Sharks, are two points behind the Los Angeles Kings for the second wildcard in the Western Conference.
* Next man up -- With Bouwmeester gone for the season, defenseman Jordan Schmaltz may never get an opportunity as good as the one in front of him to make an impact on the Blues.
Schmaltz, the Blues' first-round pick in the 2012 NHL Draft (25th pick), has played in seven games this season with no points and 16 during the regular-season of his NHL career; he played in one Stanley Cup playoff game last season in Game 1 of the conference quarterfinals against the Minnesota Wild.
Schmaltz, 24, will get regular playing time at least until Joel Edmundson returns.
"That's a big loss for us with 'Bouw,' but I think it's kind of a next man up here," Schmaltz said. "Whenever 'Eddy' gets back and whatever the team needs, I've got to bring it.
"... I think for me, the time is now. I've got to assert myself and prove that I can play in this league. ... For me, I've got to bring what I can and prove I can play in this league and assert myself."
Schmaltz is in his third season in the Blues organization after playing three years at North Dakota and the Blues need to figure out just what they have and if Schmaltz can become an every day NHL player.
"I would say that we're pretty close to that point," Yeo said. "I would say that's more of a management question than a coaching question. For me, I look at our situation and I know that inside our locker room there's still a lot of belief, there's still a lot of character. We're on a day-by-day basis right now. We're still going to do everything we can to fight and push and try to give ourselves a chance to get in. We know the odds, we know what we're up against, we know all that kind of stuff. But for me, certain people seem to find a way when things are like this and obviously we're hoping to prove that we're a group of those people.
"There's an opportunity there. Certainly you would look to a guy like that and expect them to be prepared to take advantage of it. hen I see 'Schmaltzy,' I see a guy who's been looking for this opportunity. His whole career, I would say that we've had a real strong group of defensemen for a long time. Not easy to get in the door here, but at the same time, you're not going to get a better situation than what we have right now."
With the Blues in the playoff hunt, it makes it more motivating for Schmaltz to see what role he can play during an important time.
"I think, especially here, it's time for me to prove I can play," Schmaltz said. "I need to show this team what I can do and not kind of be a body out there. I need to move my feet, I need to be a player, so it's a big test for me.
"The race is tight, every team is good. This next road trip, all three games in Cali are huge for us. I can't just be a body out there. I've got to assert myself."
* Edmundson, Soshnikov, Gunnarsson updates -- Edmundson, who sustained a broken right forearm blocking a shot by former teammate Nail Yakupov Feb. 8 against the Colorado Avalanche, participated in practice for the first time today.
The initial prognosis was for Edmundson to be reevaluated in six weeks, which would put the timeline at March 22, but depending on the process of healing and Edmundson getting caught up to speed, that may be pushed up perhaps.
"I think today was the first step," Yeo said. "We'll have conversations as far as where he felt that he was at. He was a little bit limited, but for the most part, it was pretty much a full practice for him. I think that that's good and obviously we'll continue to ramp it up here this week. This is a great opportunity for him. Not often during a course of a season a guy like 'Eddy' can get close to coming back and all of the sudden get three straight days of good practice time so this will be good for him."
With Bouwmeester now sidelined, the Blues are missing two of their top left-handed defensemen.
As for forward Nikita Soshnikov, he was a non-participant in practice Monday with what Armstrong and Yeo both called a sore neck.
The injury initially occurred Feb. 27 against the Minnesota Wild in a collision at the Wild net with Minnesota goalie Devan Dubnyk.
It was originally thought that Soshnikov, acquired from the Toronto Maple Leafs in a trade for a 2019 fourth-round pick on Dec. 15, was ill.
"Bad neck and so today was a little bit of progress and we'll see how he makes our tomorrow as far as his treatment and whether he's able to come into practice or not," Yeo said. "When I said he wasn't feeling well, I didn't necessarily say that he was sick."
Defenseman Carl Gunnarsson missed practice with illness, something Yeo with a smile confirned.
"Gunny's sick and not feeling well, but he is sick," he said.
* Yeo's honestly about Thompson -- Yeo was asked about rookie Tage Thompson and the lack of minutes he's received in the past certain amount of games.
Thompson, the Blues' first-round pick in 2016 (26th pick) who has six points (three goals, three assists) in 28 games, played 6:54 against the Stars and 7:11 against Detroit last Wednesday.
"Physically, he's OK," Yeo said. "We had a conversation with Tage before last game and we thought that he was better in the game. It's got to be, the way I see it, you've got to bring more than potential and we know that he has potential. We really do believe that he's going to be a guy that scores a lot of goals in our league and is a real solid, effective NHL player for a long time, but you have to bring something to the table. The conversation was pretty honest as far as, (Thompson's) played 28 games and we've got three goals. You've got to make sure that you're bringing more to the table than the potential of scoring a goal because if you're not getting that much offense, then you need to find a way to contribute to the team and contribute to the game and be effective. I thought he was a little bit better last game. For me, it's competitiveness. He's minus-10 right now, so we've go to improve his defensive play and make sure ... you're going to have some games where you don't score, but make sure you're not on the wrong end of it."
With the Blues in the thick of a playoff race, the scenario came up whether it would be beneficial to stick Thompson with Brayden Schenn and Jaden Schwartz, two of the top workers on the team, and allow their habits to rub off on Thompson instead of Dmitrij Jaskin.
"We tried him up there, and we're not giving up on the season," Yeo said. "I've been in this league for a long time and I know that, and with good reason, I think our fans should be excited about the future and our young players and their potential. This is the NHL, it's a hard league, and I've seen a lot of players get hurt by playing in positions that they're not quite ready for. If he shows us that he's ready for it and he earns his way up throughout the lineup, good on him and we'll be happy to put him there, but also don't think we're in a position where we're going to give people things that either that they haven't earned or e don't think that they're ready for. Certainly we're waiting on people to step up, we need secondary scoring, goals are going to be important for us and I hope that he can prove that he can be one of those guys."
* Anyone else getting a look? -- With Bouwmeester and Upshall out, the Blues have available at their disposal two more recalls from the American Hockey League of their alloted four after using two following the trade deadline in Thompson and Schmaltz.
The Blues could use a recall in an emergency basis if they fall below the 12 forward/six-defenseman threshhold but Armstrong was asked about 2017 first-round pick Klim Kostin, who's playing at San Antonio.
"I think when you watch him down there, he's finding his way in the American Hockey League now," Armstrong said. "I think there's a lot of level of growth for him at that level now."
In other words, don't expect to see the 18-year-old who has 19 points (six goals, 13 assists) in 50 games at San Antonio.
* Thomas receives honor -- Blues prospect Robert Thomas, one of two 2017 first-round picks (20th), was named the Ontario Hockey League's player of the week on Monday.
Thomas had seven assists in three games for the OHL's Hamilton Bulldogs in the week ending March 4 and helped the Bulldogs to their sixth straight win and their first division title since 1976.
Through 45 games this season with the London Knights and the Bulldogs, Thomas has 68 points (22 goals, 46 assists).
Thomas joins Jordan Kyrou, who has been named the OHL player of the week three times this season.
Kyrou, the Blues' second-round pick in 2015, plays for the Sarnia Sting and became the first OHL player to reach 100 points.
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