Something had to give sooner or later with the St. Louis Blues and defenseman Robert Bortuzzo. It came to a head Friday afternoon when the Blues dealt the 33-year-old to the New York Islanders for a 2024 seventh-round pick. Blues trade Robert Bortuzzo to Islanders The 34-year-old played in just four games this season, and it was all due to a numbers game and the fact the Blues were looking to get younger and get more looks at Scott Perunovich and Tyler Tucker. He last played Nov. 18 against the Los Angeles Kings and was a plus-2 with seven penalty minutes in limited playing time. Bortuzzo is also in the final year of a two-year, $1.9 million contract ($950,000 average annual value) and gives the Blues some cap flexibility moving forward [https://puckpedia.com/trade/743]. Bortuzzo was originally acquired from the Pittsburgh Penguins on Mar. 2, 2015 along with a seventh-round pick for Ian Cole and spent parts of 10 seasons with the Blues and finished with 54 points (16 goals, 38 assists) in 424 regular-season games; he was the longest-tenured player on the Blues roster, a distinction that now belongs to Colton Parayko, who debuted in 2015-16. The Islanders, who are in third place in the Metropolitan Division at 11-7-7, have a need for a defenseman after placing Ryan Pulock on injured reserve on Friday. Bortuzzo leaves as an important piece that helped the franchise win its first Stanley Cup in 2019 who was physical, tough, a shot-blocking extraordinaire and exceptional penalty killer. Remember, it was his practice fight with Zach Sanford that many tout as the fuel that stoked the fire in the Blues' resurgence. Bortuzzo scored two memorable goals during that run in Game 2 of the Western Conference Final against the San Jose Sharks and then he scored in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final against the Boston Bruins: [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f958rKV6mAM[/embed] There were plenty of memories for Bortuzzo in a Blues jersey, including a spat with Esa Lindell during Game 3 of the 2019 Western Conference Semifinal: [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kg59vM0rGx4[/embed] And how about the goal he scored in 2018 against the Florida Panthers off the referee and in that of course did not count: [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0M57YJY_fPw[/embed] Image [https://thehockeynews.com/.image/c_fit,h_600,w_600/MjAxNjM1OTI5NTAzMzExNjM2/img_5780.jpg]
