Zach Dean among latest of notable cuts, leaves Bolduc, Perunovich, Tucker, P.O. Joseph among notables fighting to remain on opening night roster
The St. Louis Blues assigned 10 players to the Springfield Thunderbirds of the American Hockey League on Sunday.
Forwards Dalibor Dvorsky, Aleksanteri Kaskimaki, Mathias Laferriere, Mackenzie MacEachern, Hugh McGing and Dylan Peterson were expected, but the most notable among this round of cuts was that of 2021 first-round pick Zach Dean.
Also, defensemen Samuel Johannesson and Hunter Skinner, and goalie Vadim Zherenko were sent down.
That still leaves 29 players here, which includes injured forward Oskar Sundqvist (ACL), who is likely to start the season on injured-reserve; defenseman Adam Jiricek (knee), who will be assigned to Brantford of the Ontario Hockey League once cleared to play and forward Simon Robertsson (upper body), who will be officially assigned to Springfield once cleared to resume activities.
Defenseman Corey Schueneman is a likely candidate to be assigned to Springfield also if he clears waivers.
That leaves a group of forwards Zack Bolduc, and possibly Kasperi Kapanen and Nathan Walker (although Kapanen and Walker are good bets to make the team), and defensemen Tyler Tucker, Scott Perunovich and P.O. Joseph fighting to stay on the 23-man roster that needs to be set by 4 p.m. (CT) on Monday.
The Blues will open the season on Tuesday to begin a three-game road trip against the Seattle Kraken at 3:30 p.m.
