Blues Activate Carl Gunnarsson From IR

After missing 10 games with an "upper body injury" (read: concussion) sustained during the Blues' December 6th game against the Islanders, defenseman Carl Gunnarsson has been activated off of injured reserve. From the team's press release:

St. Louis Blues President of Hockey Operations and General Manager Doug Armstrong announced today the club has activated defenseman Carl Gunnarsson from Injured Reserve (IR). In addition, the club assigned forward John McCarthy to their American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, Chicago Wolves.

Gunnarsson, 28, has dressed in 20 games for the Blues this season, logging five points (one goal, four assists) and a +6 rating. The 6'2, 196-pound defenseman has missed the past 10 games due to an upper-body injury.

Presumably this will alter yesterday's defensive line practice pairings:

Defense pairs: Bouwmeester-Pietrangelo, Jackman-Shattenkirk, Butler-Cole. Gunnarsson is the extra for now. #stlblues

— Lou Korac (@lkorac10) January 1, 2015

Instead of Gunnarsson being the odd man out tonight when he returns, Ian Cole will probably be the guy that gets sent to the press box. Chris Butler has two goals in his last two games and has been playing well.\

Never mind that:

Cole in, Butler out. #stlblues

— Jeremy Rutherford (@jprutherford) January 2, 2015