The NHL’s second-leading scorer will have to spend a little more time watching instead of skating. St. Louis’ Alex Steen has been placed on injured reserve after missing several games with concussion-like symptoms.
Blues beat writer Jeremy Rutherford of the Post-Dispatch reported this morning that Steen’s injury first began with an illegal check by Ottawa’s Zach Smith on December 16. He hasn’t played at all this week, last playing a week ago against Edmonton. With 24 goals this season, only Alexander Ovechkin is ahead of him and through 35 games played he’s already matched his career-high. He has 38 points, which ties him with Jonathan Toews of the Chicago Blackhawks at 12th in the league.
The Blues are currently second in the Central and sit seven points behind Chicago. If the playoffs started today they would be the fifth seed. The Blues could have a difficult time replacing his output, but will look to Chris Stewart, Vladimir Tarasenko, Jaden Schwartz and captain David Backes to pick up the slack.
If there’s anything Blues fans should keep their head up on, it’s that coach Ken Hitchcock had said yesterday his team is far from healthy due to the amount of injuries they have suffered this season. If the Blues can remain in the top-3 of the division when Steen returns and they are fully healthy, they can cause damage in the Western conference.
