Thursday, February 15, 2018

(2-16-18) BLUES NOTEBOOK

Blues acquire Soshnikov from Leafs for 2019 fourth-round 
pick; Sanford activated, assigned to San Antonio on conditioning stint

By LOU KORAC
DALLAS -- The Blues have dipped into the trade market with 11 days remaining until the NHL Trade Deadline and acquired forward Nikita Soshnikov from the Toronto Maple Leafs for a fourth-round pick in 2019.

The 24-year-old Soshnikov, who is on injured-reserve and was on a conditioning assignment stemming from a lower-body injury, has played in just three games with the Leafs this season and apparently got caught up in a numbers game. He will report to the Blues in 7-10 days after he has attained a United States visa and is cleared to play by Blues team doctors.

Soshnikov is a right winger and is in the final year of a three-year entry level contract that carries a $736,666 cap hit. He is set to be a restricted free agent this summer.

This season, Soshnikov, listed at 5-foot-11, 185 pounds, has 17 points (seven goals, 10 assists) in 19 games with the Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League. Overall, Soshnikov has played in 70 NHL games and has 14 points (seven goals, seven assists), including nine points (five goals, four assists) in 56 games last season.

It's a low risk move by general manager Doug Armstrong. The Blues could plug Soshnikov into perhaps a third-line role. 

Soshnikov has been injury-prone, however and was being used in a fourth-line role with the Leafs and simply wasn't ahead of any of their other young, skilled wingers.

Soshnikov just completed a five-game conditioning stint and had five points (two goals, three assists).

* Sanford activated -- After practice Thursday before heading off to Dallas, the Blues activated forward Zach Sanford off injured reserve and assigned him to San Antonio on a conditioning assignment.

Sanford dislocated his left shoulder on the first day of training camp following a check in the corner by Dmitrij Jaskin but has been skating for several weeks now and will likely play in both games with the Rampage this weekend (Saturday in Chicago and Sunday in Rockford) and could join the Blues lineup as early as next week.

"I felt really good lately on the ice and off the ice," Sanford said Thursday after practice at the Ice Zone inside St. Louis Outlet Mall. "I've been doing all the testing and it's going good. I think I'm just about there.

"... I haven't played a game for a while. I'll use that as time to get back to game speed and hopefully be back there soon. I went through it last year, going up and down, and I felt that every time I went down when I came back I felt I had a little more confidence. Hopefully I'll be able to keep that streak going and come back with some confidence and be able to help the team out."

Sanford, acquired last season as part of a package from the Washington Capitals for Kevin Shattenkirk, has played in 13 regular-season and four playoff games with the Blues; he had two goals and three assists in his 13 regular-season games.

The final hurdle of his rehabilitation was absorbing contact to the shoulder, and teammates have seemed to accommodate that in the limited practice time they've had.

"I keep having the guys come up and saying, 'Are you good? You good?' " Sanford said jokingly. "Yeah, I'm good. There's been a little bumping. It's been tough to get in a regular practice, but the guys have been helping out in morning skates, staying out there extra and bumping me around and giving me pressure. They've been good, too."

Sanford can take up to 14 days on a conditioning assignment.

* On the road again -- After a day off Wednesday to recover from Tuesday's disastrous 4-3 overtime loss at Nashville after the Blues squandered a 3-0 third-period lead, the Blues (34-21-4) next focus is on the Stars (33-20-4), who are two points behind the Blues for third in the Central Division.

"We prepared today to get two points tomorrow," defenseman Alex Pietrangelo said. "We talked about (Tuesday's loss). We had Wednesday to reflect on it, find a way and learn from it and get better. Another divisional game, right? So another big two points.

"... You've got to have a chip on your shoulder. They're going to come with one. I think these points are too important on both sides."

Blues goalie Carter Hutton wanted no part of talking about Tuesday. 

"You guys are the only ones talking about it," Hutton said. "We got a point in a tough building. We moved up the standings a little more. Now we have to worry about Dallas.

"We play Dallas now, so we're on the Dallas kind of thing. That's the way it goes. It's hockey. We win some games like that, too. It's an 82-game season. We got a point, so we've got to go now to a tough building in Dallas."

Yeah, of course, you always have to have some sort of thing that gets you through. Now we've got to play Dallas, so it's a big game in Dallas now."  

It is OK to use a game like that as motivation, though.

"Yeah, of course, you always have to have some sort of thing that gets you through," Hutton said. "Now we've got to play Dallas, so it's a big game in Dallas now.

"... I think if you talk to every single player, the sun came up again yesterday. Life goes on. You have to. I don't know, that's the way it works. I understand that you need storylines and things to go on, but we're already onto Dallas."

* Notes -- Blues defenseman Colton Parayko left practice a few minutes early on Thursday in what Yeo termed as "tightness."

Parayko didn't seem to be in any real discomfort but the Blues elected to send him off right away.

Center Oskar Sundqvist and defenseman Jay Bouwmeester were the only absentees from practice. 

Bouwmeester has regularly taken practices off, but Sundqvist, recalled from his conditioning stint with San Antonio earlier in the week, was sick and the Blues elected to not have him around the team and sent him home.

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