QUESTION: Who do you see getting more ice time this year, Bortuzzo or Edmundson? I never got the hype or reasoning behind playing Edmundson (above left) over Bortuzzo (No. 41).
RUTHERFORD: Let's look at this assuming Shattenkirk stays on the roster. The Blues like to have the lefty-righty thing, and you have to imagine that the pairs would look something like this: Bouwmeester-Pietrangelo, Edmundson-Shattenkirk and Gunnarsson-Parayko. In that picture, Edmundson would get the ice time ahead of Bortuzzo.
That said, I have mentioned in this chat a conversation I had with Armstrong this offseason, where he said he thinks Bortuzzo can be a regular and could play more this year. So there's that. I like Bortuzzo and thought he was going to play more last year, but Edmundson and Parayko were really impressive as rookies. Either way, it will be interesting this year.
