No Update on Mayich as Camp Approaches

Matthew Mayich is still hospitalized. That's where things stand as training camp draws closer, and there is nothing more to report on his condition beyond what paramedics described at the time of his collapse: a heat-related illness that struck during an outdoor workout at Arizona State. The Blues drafted the defenseman and will be monitoring his situation, but there is no timeline for his return to activity, and right now that is a secondary concern to his health.

The timing is lousy for a back end that was already short on certainty. Brandon Carlo, acquired to stabilize the defense after the Blues allowed 3.1 goals per game over their final ten games last season, still has no clear recovery timeline of his own. The two situations are different in nature, but they land in the same place: St. Louis is heading into camp with fewer reliable defensive options than it had on paper in June.

Mayich was never going to be a camp-roster lock. He's a prospect, not a solution. But depth is depth, and the Blues don't have much of it on the back end right now. At some point the organization will need something to go right in this area. It hasn't yet.