Team could turn to young, inexperienced defenseman in Adam Jiricek to fill void if Tucker is out for any length of time, veteran Calle Rosen if needed
MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. -- Jim Montgomery didn't have any new information on the status of Tyler Tucker, who tweaked a knee on Sunday during practice and has not been on the ice since.
But the St. Louis Blues coach also felt good about the possibility of having someone fill in should Tucker not be available for the start of the regular season, and it appears that battle will come down to Adam Jiricek, a first-round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft, or veteran Calle Rosen after the Blues also assigned six more players to Springfield of the American Hockey League on Wednesday, including Arseny Koromyslov and Quinton Burns, two players Montgomery said he was impressed with in training camp.
“We’re very fortunate. We have a lot of options,” Montgomery said. “Do you want to keep maybe someone that has no experience in the NHL to see what NHL life is like for a little bit and stick around, or do you want to keep a veteran like Rosen around? We have a lot of options, and they’re really good options, so right now, that will be a GM decision obviously at the end.”
Rosen, who last played in the NHL with the Blues in six games during the 2023-24 season who has 93 games’ worth of experience, could be that guy that can sit as the extra D-man or get into a game should it warrant the situation, but the Blues have indicated all along that Jiricek would be given every chance to make the opening night roster.
But would they want him sitting for the time being or playing big minutes in Springfield?
“He loves to play the game,” Montgomery said of Jiricek. “He wants the puck, he wants to make plays. The learning curve for him, it’s two-fold for him to just make the game easy. He doesn’t have to hit a home run every time he’s at the plate. Maybe sometimes he needs to just get a sacrifice fly to get the run in from third, but we as coaches have to give him information on how to be like that but not to take away that game-breaking ability. From what I’ve seen having coached players with that game-breaking ability that he has to make plays that are the uncommon, like when he set up (Mason) McTavish for the one-timer in the 6-on-5 (Monday), those players never usually lose that.”
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