The St. Louis Blues made their first in-season trade of 2023-24 in sending defenseman Robert Bortuzzo to the New York Islanders for a 2024 seventh-round pick.
Bortuzzo had a unique impact on the franchise throughout his time in St. Louis. He was a big part of the locker room and what the Blues have been stylistically under general manager Doug Armstrong. Let’s look at that and how he could help the Islanders moving forward.
Bortuzzo Spent Nearly a Decade in St. Louis
In the middle of the 2014-15 season, the Blues traded defenseman Ian Cole to the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for Bortuzzo and a 2016 seventh-round pick. For the majority of the time since that trade occurred, he’s been the go-to depth defenseman for the Blues. He’s never been more than a third-pairing defenseman, but he brought plenty of other things to the organization.
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He brought toughness, leadership, and work ethic, which says a lot for a player who knew he likely wasn’t in the lineup every night. He appeared in 424 regular season games and 47 playoff games, including 17 games during the Blues’ 2019 Stanley Cup title run. He scored two goals in that playoff run, including one in the Cup Final against the Boston Bruins. It became clear throughout his time in St. Louis that he was well-liked by teammates and coaches, which earned him multiple contracts, including the two-year extension he signed in Feb. 2022. With Bortuzzo’s $950,000 salary cap hit off the books, the Blues currently have just under $1 million in cap space according to CapFriendly.
Bortuzzo only played in four games this season after he entered the season as a clear odd man out as the team’s eighth defenseman on the depth chart. They favored younger blueliners such as Scott Perunovich and Tyler Tucker over him. They could easily afford to trade his cheap contract to a team that needs depth like the Islanders and the deal is done. At the end of the day, there should be nothing but good things said about Bortuzzo as he departs St. Louis.
Bortuzzo Adds Depth to Injured Islanders
For the Islanders, they are 11-7-7 on the season and sit in third place in the Metropolitan Division. Under the leadership of general manager Lou Lamoriello and former head coach Barry Trotz, they’ve been notoriously staunch in their defensive approach. They currently sit at 20th in the league in goals against after finishing in the top 10 in each of the last five seasons. However, a reason to bring Bortuzzo in is to add depth to a defensive unit that needs it. Before adding him, the Islanders placed defenseman Ryan Pulock on injured reserve. They already have defensemen Adam Pelech and Sebastian Aho on injured reserve, so this is a unit that needs help.
Bortuzzo isn’t a top-four defenseman by any stretch, but he can play a role for the Islanders, who need bodies out there. He could slot in for Pulock once he arrives on Long Island, but it remains to be seen how they will bring him into the fold. He’s got a lot of experience and his defensive metrics are still solid overall, so it’s clear that the Islanders see that after moving a draft pick for him. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him in their lineup within the next few days.
This is a fine trade for the Blues, but it’s hard to see a fairly important piece of the 2019 Cup puzzle moved again. This move will allow them to also give young defensemen like Perunovich, Tucker, Matthew Kessel, and others full opportunities as depth defensemen moving forward. While the Blues lose depth on the back end with this trade, they weren’t going to use Bortuzzo much this season.
