December is shaping up to be a serious test for the St. Louis Blues - not just in terms of schedule, but in sheer survival. The injury bug has hit hard and fast, and now it’s taking a real toll on the lineup.
The latest blow? Forward Nathan Walker is heading to Injured Reserve with an upper-body injury and won’t be re-evaluated for another eight weeks. That’s a significant chunk of the season, and for a guy like Walker - who brings energy, grit, and sneaky offensive value from the bottom six - it’s a tough loss.
Walker might not log the most minutes, but his presence is felt every time he hops over the boards. He’s that type of player who changes the tone of a shift - aggressive on the forecheck, physical along the boards, and a spark plug when the team needs a jolt.
Through 25 games this season, he’s already put up three goals and six assists, putting him on pace to surpass last year’s point total with ease. And he’s done it all while sticking to his trademark physical style.
But now, with Walker joining Jimmy Snuggerud, Pius Suter, and Alexey Toropchenko on the shelf, the Blues’ depth is thinning fast. That’s four regulars out, and the bottom six - which had been a quiet strength early in the season - is starting to look more like a patchwork.
In response, the Blues made a move, sending Nikita Alexandrov to the Los Angeles Kings in exchange for Akil Thomas. It’s a swap of depth pieces on paper, but it could have immediate implications.
Thomas is a player who’s shown flashes of offensive upside and could be called upon to help fill the void left by Walker. He’s not a one-for-one replacement in terms of style, but he brings a different kind of skill set that might help inject some life into a lineup that’s suddenly short on options.
All of this came to a head in the Blues’ recent 4-1 loss to the Anaheim Ducks - a game that made it painfully clear just how thin things have gotten. The offense struggled to generate much of anything, and without that bottom-six energy, the team looked flat. And in a league where depth scoring is often the difference between staying in the playoff hunt or falling out of it, that’s a red flag.
This isn’t just a rough stretch - it’s a potential turning point. December was always going to be a grind, but now it’s become a battle of attrition.
The Blues will need to find answers quickly, whether that’s internal growth, lineup creativity, or more moves like the Alexandrov-Thomas swap. Because if the injuries keep piling up and the depth continues to erode, this season could slip away faster than expected.