Blues forward Jamie Langenbrunner will be out of the lineup indefinitely after suffering a broken foot in Sunday's game at Chicago. The injury happened when Langenbrunner blocked a shot in the third period of the team's 3-1 loss.
The Blues say Langenbrunner will be re-evaluated in four weeks, which if healthy would leave him with about nine games remaining in the regular season. Langenbrunner has four goals and 21 points in 57 games, but the loss is a significant one considering his versatility and leadership.
"Lags play has meant everything ... he's done a great job," Blues coach Ken Hitchcock said. "The power play was doing well sequence-wise because he was a guy that calmed it down back there. He’s done a great job killing penalties all year. He’s been good for whoever he plays with.
"If we need a line to either increase its competitiveness or increase its composure, we put him there. So he’s been a guy that’s played up and down from the fourth all the way to the first, so we’re going to miss that. But I think we’ve got other guys, whose games have stepped up and we’ll be all right."
The Blues will insert Chris Porter into the lineup for Wednesday's game against Boston. The club was planning to meet today to discuss the possibility of taking an extra forward on its six-game road trip that begins Thursday in Nashville. The likely candidates are Evgeny Grachev and Adam Cracknell.
"If we have to, we can get down into Grachev, who's more than a comparable player," Hitchcock said. "We've got Cracknell, who's played great for us up here. We've got some flexibility. It's like it's career-ending, it's not like it's season-ending. (Langenbrunner) is probably four weeks maximum."
Langenbrunner becomes the third top-nine forward to leave the lineup. Alex Steen and Matt D'Agostini are both out with concussions and their return dates are uncertain.
"If you're going to lose players, you'd rather lose forwards than defensemen, I'll tell you that," Hitchcock said. "When teams have lost defensemen, their record is evident of that. We're lucky; we've got our healthy defense and our goaltending is in good shape. We've got lots of good workers up front, so we'll just grind it out."
Langenbrunner had been playing on the Blues' second line with Patrik Berglund and Andy McDonald. McDonald missed today's practice with the flu, but is expected to play Wednesday against the Bruins.
With Langenbrunner out, Hitchcock said that he will move Vladimir Sobotka to the top line with David Backes and T.J. Oshie. Meanwhile, David Perron will move to right wing on the second line with McDonald and Berglund. Chris Porter will join Jason Arnott and Chris Stewart on the third line and the fourth line will remain intact with B.J. Crombeen, Scott Nichol and Ryan Reaves.
