St. Louis Blues’ Thomas Greiss to miss rest of season with a lower-body injury

The St. Louis Blues will be without their backup goalie for the rest of the season, as Thomas Greiss will miss the rest of the season with a lower-body injury.

Greiss suffered the injury during last Saturday’s game against the Nashville Predators, and Blues head coach Craig Berube announced on Monday that Greiss had a procedure done and was looking at his options injury-wise. It appears he’s decided to give it time to heal over the offseason, as he will not be playing in the Blues final three games of the season.

Greiss has struggled in his first season with the Blues, sporting a 7-10-0 record with a shutout, an .896% save percentage, and -1.73 goals saved above expected at even strength. That said, starter Jordan Binnington hasn’t completely outplayed Greiss this season with a 27-25-6 record, an .893% save percentage, and only 0.37 goals saved above expected, so it could also just be an effect of playing for a bad Blues team this year.

Vadim Zherenko has been Greiss’ replacement in the backup role since he was initially announced as out on Monday, as the Blues called him up from their AHL affiliate, the Springfield Thunderbirds, on an emergency loan. Zherenko has yet to draw into an NHL game this season, but has a 10-8-3 record with a .918% save percentage in the AHL this year.

What was likely part of the reason that the Blues felt comfortable with sitting out Greiss in the final days of their season is due to the fact that they don’t have a lot to play for this season. They currently sit in sixth in the Central Division with a 37-35-7 record, so they are well out of playoff contention and don’t need to worry about winning until the start of next season.