Blues activate veteran defenseman from injured reserve

Blues veteran defenseman Nick Leddy will play Tuesday against the Oilers after a nearly four-month absence, according to a team announcement. He’s been activated from injured reserve following a 49-game absence due to a lower-body injury.

Leddy will replace Tyler Tucker in his return to the lineup. Tucker left Sunday’s win over Utah late in the third period after falling into the boards and suffering an upper-body injury. He’s day-to-day and could return Thursday against the Panthers, Lou Korac of NHL.com reports.

Whatever injury Leddy suffered wasn’t apparent during a game, and since he hadn’t missed time with a lower-body issue since before the COVID-19 pandemic, it likely wasn’t plaguing him heading into the season. Nonetheless, he only recently ramped up activity in practice after being held out of the lineup since the Blues’ fourth game of the season against the Wild on Oct. 15.

After initially being labeled day-to-day, St. Louis became increasingly doubtful about whether he’d return to the lineup at all in 2024-25. His lingering ailment was a contributing factor in general manager Doug Armstrong’s decision to acquire Cam Fowler from the Ducks, he said at the time, giving them a sixth defenseman with a cap hit of at least $4M.

Leddy, 33, failed to record a point and had a minus-three rating in his first four outings this season. He averaged 22:09 per game and controlled 53.2 percent of shot attempts at even strength, a number that now stands second on the team among active skaters behind Tucker.

Now in the third season of a four-year, $16M deal, Leddy remains a serviceable top-four option. While his possession metrics haven’t been kind, he’s still turned out a +18 rating in 184 games as a Blue since they acquired him from the Red Wings before the 2022 trade deadline. He appeared in all 82 games last season, averaging 22:22 per game and recording 28 points with 127 blocks, second on the team behind Colton Parayko’s 218.

The lefty could return to the lineup playing on his off side on the third pairing with Ryan Suter, Korac relayed. Philip Broberg and Cam Fowler, both of whom have excelled in top-four usage for the Blues this season, will remain in their second-pairing and first-pairing posts, respectively.

St. Louis never placed Leddy on LTIR throughout his absence, so his activation has no salary cap impact. The Blues opened a roster spot Monday by reassigning Matthew Kessel to AHL Springfield.