Despite the best efforts of the injury bug the Blues continue their stellar winning streak which now stands at seven games. The streak looked to be in jeopardy late in the third on Saturday in Calgary as the Blues allowed two unanswered Flame goals in the last half the third period to send the game to overtime. The Blues once again managed to let a comfortable lead slip away, but the team did not shy away from the adversity. Much as they have had to do over the past year and a half the Blues buckled down and were rewarded with a bit of luck as they found themselves on the power play just before the halfway point of overtime. As the power play got set up the Blues closed in and David Perron capped off the win with his third overtime winner of the season.
While the Blues have been able to keep the streak going thanks to their resiliency, the holes left open due to the injuries to Vladimir Tarasenko and Alexander Steen are starting to bleed through. In response to this Blues GM Doug Armstrong announced on Monday that the club has signed veteran forwards, Jamie McGinn and former Blue, Troy Brouwer to 10-day PTO contracts. When speaking with the media Monday morning Armstrong said, “We have 12 healthy guys that are here and well see where they fit in. Its not a competition for one job, it could be zero jobs. We’ll see how they play; it could be two”.
The first thing that can be taken from this move is Armstrong feels that the Blues young prospects in San Antonio are not quite ready for the bright lights of the NHL just yet. This move makes a lot of sense given the Blues youth at the forward position as six players have played fewer than 200 NHL games.
Brouwer is already a very familiar face amongst Blues fans thanks to his heroics in the 2016 Western Conference Quarterfinal helping lift the Blues past the Blackhawks, who at the time were the defending Stanley Cup Champions. In the three years since he left the Blues, he has spent two years with the Flames accumulating 19 goals and 28 assists in 150 games before being bought out in August of 2018. Brouwer was then signed by the Florida Panthers to a one-year deal where he recorded 21 points in 75 games. Brouwer was signed to a PTO this summer by the Panthers but was cut before the season began.
Jamie McGinn is 31 years old and has played 11 seasons in the NHL bouncing around teams including four years with the Colorado Avalanche. During McGinns’ 617 game career he has tallied 117 goals and 103 assists. McGinn comes from a hockey family as him and his three brothers all play professionally. His younger brother Tye currently plays for the Chicago wolves of the AHL and his other younger brother Brock is currently playing with the Carolina Hurricanes.
Between now and the end of the 10-day PTO the Blues will have five games during which both Brouwer and McGinn will be with the team including the one game trip to Columbus on Friday. The Blues look to make their streak 8 games in a row Tuesday night at Enterprise Center where they play the Arizona Coyotes. After the one game trip to Columbus the Blues are coming right back home for a game on Saturday at home versus the Ducks who have lost their last three games despite a stellar start to the year.
