Blues notebook: Rosen gets another look

No, it was that Calle Rosen was in the lineup for both contests against the Canucks.

If you don’t know much about Rosen, join the club.

Wednesday’s contest at Rogers Arena marked only his eighth of this season for the Blues and just his second since his latest call-up from the Blues’ Springfield (Massachusetts) affiliate in the American Hockey League.

“He’s an intelligent player,” coach Craig Berube said following Wednesday’s morning skate. “He’s got good feet, and he can move the puck. I haven’t seen him a lot. He was up here before earlier on in the season; he played well. So let’s give him another look tonight.”

The height of the playoff race seems like a strange time to get a look at players. But that’s where the Blues are. The hand/wrist injury to Torey Krug, plus the trade of Jake Walman to Detroit as part of the Nick Leddy trade, has limited the Blues’ blueline options.

Berube obviously liked what he saw from Rosen in Monday’s game, so he went with him again in Wednesday’s rematch with the Canucks.

Suffice it to say, Rosen was excited to get the call from Springfield on March 25.

“That’s what I’m aiming for when I’m down in Springfield playing, so it was a good call to get,” Rosen said. “And now getting in some more games is even better. So I’m happy to be here, and I want to keep playing good here and hopefully stay.”

Rosen, 28, and a native of Vaxjo, Sweden, was first called up in early November after both Krug and Mikkola landed on the COVID list. He played in five games, then was sent back down when Krug and Mikkola returned to the roster.

Back in Springfield, Rosen waited more than a month and a half for another call-up — playing in one game (Jan. 13 against Seattle) before being sent down once more. Monday’s game marked his first Blues action since then.

“I know they’re watching me,” Rosen said. “As long as I play good down there, then the opportunities will come. And here it is. So you can’t control everything but you can control how you play, and that’s what I’ve been focusing on.”

Rosen had played previously with Colorado and Toronto before signing a free-agent contract with the Blues last July. But he had only 20 games of NHL experience entering this season. So it’s not like he’s a battled-tested veteran of playoff races.

“You look at Rosy when he gets out there,” Ryan O’Reilly said. “He’s so calm and skates so well and positions himself, too, in such great spots that he’s hard to play against. ... You can tell he’s a real smart player and he trusts himself.”

With the departure of Oskar Sundqvist in the Leddy trade, Rosen currently is the last Swede standing on the Blues’ roster.

“It’s a little bit sad, I guess,” Rosen said. “It’d be nice to talk some Swedish. But it’s a lot of great guys around here, so I can’t say it matters too much.”

When asked how much he packed for his latest stay with the Blues, Rosen replied: “I packed enough. Hopefully I can stay. I’m ready for it.”

Bortuzzo in, Mikkola out

There apparently was no deep reason why Berube chose to go with Bortuzzo on Wednesday after sitting him Monday.

“Just trying to keep everybody active and playing,” Berube said, noting the condensed schedule for the Blues down the stretch. “I gave Bortz a rest (Monday) at home; back in there tonight.”

Which made Mikkola a healthy scratch for the first time since Nov. 20.

Young guns

Jordan Kyrou and Robert Thomas both reached 40 assists for the season in Monday’s game. They thus joined Bernie Federko, Doug Gilmour and Wayne Babych as the only players in Blues history to record at least 40 assists in a season before their 24th birthday.

Kyrou is 23; Thomas, 22. They are the first pair of teammates to reach the milestone in the same season in Blues history.