The St. Louis Blues announced Saturday afternoon that defenseman Kent Huskins is out with a broken bone in his ankle. According to the organization, Huskins suffered the injury on Thursday during the Blues’ 3-1 defeat in Calgary and he’ll be revaluated upon his return to the Gateway City. Since that other game that was going on Thursday night, it doesn’t look like any sports fans in St. Louis even knew the Blues were playing that night (let alone seeing Huskins get hurt).
The importance of losing Huskins may have less to do with his play on the ice, and more to do with the guys he plays with. Huskins has been paired up with budding superstar Alex Pietrangelo throughout the early going and the two have formed the best defensive pairing for the hot-and-cold Blues. That’s not to say Huskins has been a liability this season though. He’s scored a pair of goals and he’s among the league leaders (among defensemen) with a +6.
With Huskins out, the Blues will need guys like Roman Polak and Nikita Nikitin to step up their game in the short-term. Brian Elliott continuing his hot start between the pipes should help as well. They’ll get a chance to show their stuff Sunday night against the Edmonton Oilers—then they get almost a week of rest before they play against Vancouver Canucks on Friday.
By then, we’ll know just how long Huskins is going to be out of the lineup.
