Blues’ Nick Leddy to return to lineup Tuesday after 49-game absence

Credit: © Caean Couto-Imagn Images

St. Louis Blues defenseman Nick Leddy will make his long-awaited return to the lineup Tuesday versus the Edmonton Oilers.

Sidelined since mid-October due to a lower-body injury, Leddy has made just four appearances on the season in which he has posted a minus-three rating while averaging 22:09 in ice time.

Leddy enters the Blues’ lineup in place of defenseman Tyler Tucker who is out day-to-day with an upper-body injury.

Skating in his fourth season with the Blues, Leddy wrapped up 2023-24 with 28 points counting three goals and 25 assists coming in 82 games. Per PuckPedia, Leddy is in the third year of a four-year contract that carries a $4-million annual average value.

Originally chosen 16th overall by the Minnesota Wild in the 2009 NHL Draft, Leddy has seen 1,015 career contests counting stops with the Chicago Blackhawks, New York Islanders, Detroit Red Wings, and Blues in which he has tallied 73 goals and 338 assists for 411 points. As part of the Islanders in 2016-17, Leddy reached a career high of 46 points, one of three seasons in which he also notched double-digit goals.

A 33-year-old native of Eden Prairie, Minn., Leddy has also recorded eight goals and 30 assists for 38 points through 130 postseason appearances, underscored by the 2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs when he hoisted Lord Stanley with the Blackhawks.

Leddy rejoins a Blues squad that sits 24-25-4 on the season and seven points shy of the Calgary Flames for the second wildcard seed in the Western Conference. The Blues have not qualified for the Stanley Cup Playoffs the past two seasons and have won a lone postseason series since the franchise captured its first-ever championship in 2019.

For the Blues, Tuesday’s contest versus the Oilers marks the second of three meetups this season. In early December, Edmonton came away with a 4-2 victory, with Blues forwards Jake Neighbours and Dylan Holloway contributing offensively in the losing effort, while netminder Jordan Binnington closed out the contest with 17 saves.