Blues defenseman Scott Perunovich to undergo shoulder surgery, out for 6 months
St. Louis Blues defenseman Scott Perunovich requires surgery to repair a fractured shoulder and will be out for at least six months, the team announced Tuesday. The 24-year-old will be reevaluated by the team in six months.
Blues announce Perunovich will require surgery for a fractured shoulder and be reevaluated in 6 months. #stlblues
— Jeremy Rutherford (@jprutherford) October 4, 2022
The start of Perunovich’s NHL career has been marred by three separate injuries. In Feb. 2021, the Blues announced Perunovich would need surgery on his torn left labrum that would force him to miss the remainder of the 2020-21 season. In March 2022, Blues announced that Perunovich needed surgery on his left wrist and would be re-evaluated in eight weeks. He returned for the 2022 playoffs.
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The upcoming procedure on his shoulder will mark Perunovich’s third surgery since entering the league.
The Blues drafted Perunovich with the 45th pick in the 2018 draft. Perunovich, who won the Hobey Baker in 2020, played in 19 NHL games last season including seven in the playoffs. He split the rest of his playing time last year in the AHL with the Springfield Thunderbirds, where he earned 22 points in 17 games.
Perunovich came into this season with a chance to make the roster out of training camp. With fellow defenseman Marco Scandella out of action for six months after hip surgery to repair an offseason injury, Perunovich had a chance to be a regular in the lineup.
A few weeks ago, prior to this injury, he spoke about his past injuries interfering with his development.
“Yeah, very, very frustrating,” Perunovich said. “I didn’t really have any real injuries my entire career, and then these two injuries just kind of happened. It’s not like I was doing anything crazy for either of my injuries. My shoulder went out. Never had a shoulder injury before. And then this wrist thing: completely random, too. Two bad bounces, but hopefully we’re on the up here and can stay healthy for a while.”
(Photo of Scott Perunovich: Jon Durr / USA Today)
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