Blues hit with another brutal injury update

The St Louis Blues are barely out of the basement of the NHL standings as December begins. A screaming match between Jordan Binnington and Jim Montgomery seemingly capped a wild week in the Show Me State. That week included a wrist surgery for Jimmy Snuggerud and an off-ice injury to Alexey Toropchenko. But it wasn’t over yet, as the Blues added another injury to the pile with Nathan Walker hitting the shelf.

“St. Louis Blues President of Hockey Operations and General Manager Doug Armstrong announced today that forward Nathan Walker has been placed on injured reserve and will be re-evaluated in eight weeks due to an upper-body injury,” the team announced on Tuesday.

Walker is a bottom-six center who has been with the Blues since the 2019-20 native. He is one of the few players in the league not from a traditional hockey country, as he was born in England and raised in Australia. At this point in the year, every injury has Olympic considerations. But not this one, as those countries won’t qualify.

Walker is the third forward to hit the shelf for the Blues in a matter of days. Snuggerud’s injury is a big setback for their top prospect. The Minnesota Golden Gophers product was not off to a great start offensively, and wrist surgery will not help that. Walker and Toropchenko represent pieces of the bottom six, which is not a positive group for the Blues right now.

A lot has to change for the Blues to turn this season around. Last year, when they were struggling, Jim Montgomery came around and turned the team around. Now the goalie is yelling at the coach, and they are closer to the Nashville Predators near the bottom than the Seattle Kraken in the last playoff spot.

The Blues are back in action on Thursday on the road against the Boston Bruins.