The Blues Head Into Camp With Three Defensive Problems and No Clean Answers

Matthew Mayich remains hospitalized after collapsing during an outdoor workout last Thursday, what paramedics described as a heat-related illness. I wrote about this two days ago, and the situation hasn't changed — he's still there, still without a timeline. For a team that entered this offseason needing to shore up its back end, losing a draft-pick defenseman to a medical situation this serious, this close to camp, is another thing to track.

The compounding is what makes it notable. Brandon Carlo was supposed to be the stabilizing piece — acquired from Toronto to address a defense that allowed 3.1 goals per game in the season's final ten games, up from 2.4 in the twenty before that. He still has no clear return date. That's the primary problem. Mayich is a prospect, not a sure-thing NHL contributor, but his hospitalization removes a developmental option at a position where the Blues can't afford to be thin at any level.

So here's where things stand heading into camp: Carlo's availability is uncertain, Mayich is hospitalized, and the defensive group that gave up goals at an unsustainable rate last spring hasn't been meaningfully reinforced. The offseason energy went into the forward group — McTavish, McMichael, the McMichael extension — and that work may well pay off. But the back end is entering camp looking much as it did when the season ended, minus the clarity of knowing who will actually be available.