Blues place Paul Stastny on IR with upper body injury
ST. LOUIS -- The Blues will have to find a way to survive without their top center for at least a little while longer.
St. Louis placed Paul Stastny on injured reserve Friday, making him ineligible to play in Saturday night's game against Chicago. He suffered an upper body injury during his first shift of last Saturday's 6-1 win over Arizona, meaning he could still be eligible to play as early as next Tuesday's game at Dallas.
Coach Ken Hitchcock said Tuesday that Stastny would be re-evaluated by the team this weekend, and he has skated without shooting the puck the last two days. Since the win against Arizona, the Blues have scored just one goal in two games, and that came from defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk on the power play against Vancouver on Thursday night.
"He's a top player on our team, top player in the league, and to have a guy like that out doesn't help anybody, but we're going to have injuries this year," captain David Backes said Tuesday. "If you thought we were going to go the whole year without any injuries, you're kidding yourself."
The Blues have recalled forward Dmitrij Jaskin from their American Hockey League affiliate in Chicago, where he shares the team lead with four points and a plus-3 rating in four games. St. Louis general manager Doug Armstrong said Jaskin's job with the Blues was his to lose last spring after the 21-year-old Russian had a goal and an assist in 18 games, but he just missed making the roster this October.
