ST. LOUIS — Doug Armstrong might not have a lot of movable assets that will yield much of a return at the NHL trade deadline on March 7, but the St. Louis Blues general manager might have to pick a direction to go with his defensive group for the final few months of the season.
Nick Leddy returned to the Blues’ lineup in Tuesday’s 3-2 overtime loss to the Edmonton Oilers. He was making his first appearance since Oct. 15, having missed the last 49 games with an undisclosed injury.
Advertisement Leddy’s presence provided the club with a wealth of experience on the blue line, with the six defensemen combining for 5,309 NHL games and 78 seasons in the league. Ryan Suter led the way with 1,497 games before puck drop against Edmonton, and he’s just one of three Blues defensemen with 1,000-plus games in the league, including Leddy and Cam Fowler. Blues coach Jim Montgomery hadn’t had the luxury of working with those extensive resumes yet because Leddy was injured before he took over in November and Fowler didn’t arrive in a trade from the Anaheim Ducks until mid-December.
“As a coach, it’s very comforting because all of them have played so much because they are good and they’ve handled so many situations,” Montgomery said. “All of them have been top-pairing defensemen, shutdown defensemen, and a majority of them have been relied on to run the No. 1 power play.
“So it’s a situation where they all have been through so many different scenarios, and they’re.
