Blues Injuries, Kapanen, Celebrini, Hartman

The Blues announced (Twitter link) that winger Alexey Toropchenko is listed as day-to-day due to a lower-body injury.  The 25-year-old was a quality secondary scorer last season, notching 14 goals along with 165 hits while playing in all 82 games, predominantly in a bottom-six role for St. Louis.  Toropchenko has been deployed similarly through the first five contests of 2024-25 where he has an assist and a dozen hits in a little under 11 minutes a night.

Meanwhile, defenseman Nick Leddy, who missed Thursday’s game with a lower-body injury, has been ruled out for tonight’s contest against Carolina and is questionable to return on Tuesday versus Winnipeg.  The veteran has logged over 22 minutes a night in his first four appearances of the season, good for third among Blues blueliners.

More from out West:

• Still with the Blues, Lou Korac of The Hockey News wonders if winger Kasperi Kapanen could be the odd man out up front when St. Louis gets their full complement of forwards back. The 28-year-old did well after being claimed off waivers in 2023 but struggled in his only full season with them, collecting 22 points in 73 games last year.  Kapanen has been held off the scoresheet in four games so far this season.  Still, the Blues opted to give him a one-year, $1MM contract in the summer, one that could be appealing if he lands on the waiver wire in the coming weeks as other players return.
• The Sharks are likely to be without center Macklin Celebrini for at least a couple more weeks, reports Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli. The first-overall pick back in June, Celebrini played in San Jose’s opener and fared well, picking up a goal and an assist.  However, he hasn’t suited up since with what’s believed to be a nagging hip issue that the team is opting to try to let him fully recover from over having it flare up at times throughout the year.  It appears that a full recovery is still at least a couple of weeks away.
• Wild center Ryan Hartman is listed as a game-time decision for tonight’s game against Columbus, relays Sarah McLellan of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune (Twitter link). The 30-year-old is dealing with an upper-body injury sustained on Tuesday against St. Louis.  Hartman has two goals through four games so far this season while logging 15:21 per night.