Kasperi Kapanen will be out at least four weeks for the St. Louis Blues because of a lower-body injury.
The 27-year-old forward was injured when he blocked a shot by Nick Seeler with 7:25 left in a 4-2 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers at Enterprise Center on Monday. He was placed on injured reserve and will be reevaluated in four weeks.
"Lower-body injury, probably week to week, which will push him, because we have the break, that will push him until after the break," Blues coach Drew Bannister said. "I don't foresee any miracle happening. There's always a possibility there, but probably more or less he'll be ready for us after the break."
Kapanen has 13 points (four goals, nine assists) in 42 games for the Blues (21-19-2), who play the Washington Capitals at Capital One Arena on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; MNMT, BSMW). He was moved to the first line in St. Louis’ loss to Philadelphia.
“I didn’t mind [Kapanen’s] game,” Bannister said. “I thought we got what I needed from him in that position at that time of the game. It seemed to give him a little bit of life and that line a little bit of life.”
St. Louis recalled forward Adam Gaudette from Springfield of the American Hockey League.
Gaudette leads the AHL with 24 goals and has 36 points in 37 games for Springfield this season. The 27-year-old has 70 points (27 goals, 43 assists) in 218 NHL games for the Vancouver Canucks, Chicago Blackhawks and Ottawa Senators from 2017-22.
"He shoots the puck," Bannister said. "He likes to shoot it, he likes to score. He's obviously had a lot of success when I was there and has continued that success.
"There's not a lot of give-and-go with him. Once you give it to him, just get to the net because if it's not in the back of the net, there's usually going to be a rebound. He's had a lot of success down there and now he gets the chance to be rewarded by coming up here and getting in games and then hopefully he can have the same success up here as he had down there."
Kapanen has 199 points (82 goals, 117) assists in 429 games for the Toronto Maple Leafs, Pittsburgh Penguins and Blues from 2015-24. After the Blues claimed him off waivers from the Penguins on Feb. 25, he finished last season with 14 points (eight goals, six assists) in 23 games for St. Louis.
NHL.com independent correspondent Lou Korac contributed to this report
