St. Louis Blues head coach Jim Montgomery is making a bold move to send his team a wake-up call.
With the Blues entering Thursday's matchup against the Buffalo Sabres with a 4-8-2 record and coming off a rough 6-1 loss to the Washington Capitals on Wednesday, Montgomery will make one of his top players a healthy scratch.
Right-winger Jordan Kyrou will sit out against the Sabres, along with centre Oskar Sundqvist and defenceman Logan Mailloux. The Blues will insert Alexandre Texier, Mathieu Joseph and Matthew Kessel into the lineup in their places.
“Many players could have been scratched after last night's game, and ultimately I decided on this group tonight,” Montgomery told Jim Rutherford of The Athletic.
Kyrou has four goals and four assists and is a minus-8 in 14 games this season.
“If you have competitive fire in your belly, struggles like this provide opportunities to grow stronger together when you face these again,” Montgomery said after the practice.
In the Blues' last four games, he has no points and is minus-2 with 10 shots on goal. Over the past three, his ice time has declined, reaching a low of 14:04 against the Oilers on Monday.
The 27-year-old from Toronto is in the third year of an eight-year, $65 million contract signed in 2022. He has a full no-trade clause, which kicked in on July 1.
— With files from the Associated Press
