Tucker's Knee Is the Latest Thing Going Wrong Back There

Tyler Tucker tweaked his knee in practice Monday and coach Jim Montgomery confirmed it won't be a day-to-day situation — he'll be re-evaluated in a few days. For most teams at this point in camp, that's a minor inconvenience. For St. Louis, it lands on a blue line that was already short-handed before the first puck dropped.

Brandon Carlo, brought in this summer to bring some size and experience to the defensive group, still has no clear return timeline. Matthew Mayich, the prospect who collapsed with exertional heat stroke in August, remains a situation the organization is monitoring well beyond hockey. Now Tucker. The Blues opened the season with a loss to Dallas on September 19, and the defensive depth that was already thin going into that game just got a little thinner.

Cam Fowler said recently he felt he let people down last season, and he's motivated to show more. Philip Broberg is the steadiest presence the depth chart currently offers. That's the group being asked to hold things together while the organization waits to see how long Tucker is actually out. A few days could mean a week. It could mean more.

The offseason was built around the forwards — McTavish, McMichael, the Kyrou trade, all of it. I wrote last week that the defense was still waiting for its answer. Tucker's knee doesn't change that framing. It just makes the wait a little more uncomfortable.