Blues sign Brouwer, McGinn to professional tryouts

With Vladimir Tarasenko out for five months, and Alexander Steen out for at least one, it was expected that the Blues would work from within to make up for those losses. Jacob de la Rose got his debut on Saturday night in a 3-2 overtime win against the Flames, but the Blues are working with zero options as far as a backup forward goes. The only healthy scratch Saturday night was Robert Bortuzzo.

Calling up Jordan Kyrou, Klim Kostin, or Nathan Walker could be one possibility for the team, but it appears that Doug Armstrong would rather see the three guys get playing time in San Antonio than be in the press box here, which is fair. Instead, Armstrong would like to bring in some veteran help to a team that seems to be chugging along just fine with two forwards out.

The Blues released a press release stating that they’ve signed two veteran players, Jamie McGinn and former Blue Troy Brouwer, to professional tryouts. McGinn will be skating with the Blues today; Brouwer will be skating with the team on Tuesday.

You may remember Brouwer from this:

Brouwer presumably ended his career with the Florida Panthers last season, where in 75 GP he scored 12 goals and 21 points as a veteran presence in the locker room.

Jamie McGinn also concluded his NHL career - for now - with the Panthers, scoring four goals and tacking on three assists in just 19 games played. He was sidelined for a large portion of the season due to back surgery.

Both are low risk signings if the Blues do decide to add help from the outside, though McGinn’s back surgery adds a question mark to the practicality of the signing. Brouwer has a history with the team and could easily slot into the line-up. He was part of a very successful 2015-2016 Blues squad who saw their season ended by the Sharks in the Western Conference finals.

Update: Here’s Doug Armstrong’s press conference from earlier today, in which he discusses the reasons why the two vets have been signed to PTOs: