The Blues announced this morning that they have recalled center Zachary Bolduc from AHL Springfield. He was not on the team’s opening night roster submitted yesterday, but will be present for today’s season opener against the Kraken.

According to PuckPedia, they have one available roster spot for Bolduc’s recall, but only $468,000 in cap space. That’s not enough to add his $863,000 cap hit to the active roster. It’s probably that defender Torey Krugwho will miss the entire 2024-25 season after undergoing surgery for pre-arthritic conditions in his left ankle, was moved from injured reserve to long-term injured reserve to create the space necessary for the transaction.

St. Louis selected the 21-year-old Bolduc with the 17th overall pick in 2021. He’s coming off his first professional season, where he spent a lot of time with both the Blues and Springfield squads. He burned his Calder eligibility for this year by playing 25 NHL games in the 2023-24 season, scoring five goals and four assists for nine points while averaging 12:01 per game. The 1.80 meter tall, 85 kilogram forward is a natural center player and was used exclusively on the wing in the NHL last year.

He didn’t seem out of place, but after scoring 110 points with the Québec Remparts of the QMJHL in 2022-23, his offense didn’t take off as well as the Blues had hoped in Springfield. The Pivot was limited to eight goals in 50 games, to go with 17 assists and 25 points.

St. Louis hopes its NHL performance last year better reflects its long-term ceiling. Offensively, Bolduc was a legitimate contributor, recording a somewhat sustainable shooting percentage of 13.2% on 38 shots on goal. His possession numbers were disappointing at 43.1 CF% and 42.3 xGF% at even strength, but these should improve over time for a young forward.

While Bolduc signed his entry-level contract back in 2021, it slipped twice due to his lack of NHL playing time. After that, he still has one more year left on his rookie contract and will be a restricted free agent in 2026. He remains exempt from waivers for two additional seasons or until he plays 160 NHL games.