The trade deadline has come and gone and somehow Mike Green is still here, but at least the Red Wings picked up first (2018), second (2019) and third (2021) round picks from the Vegas Golden Knights for Tomas Tatar.

Green will miss his seventh consecutive game with a neck injury tonight and that is likely what scared potential suitors away from the offensive-minded defenseman.

In other news, the Red Wings have won two in a row and once again find themselves in no man’s land. They are seven points behind the Columbus Blue Jackets for the final Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference (with three other teams in between them). However, at the same time they have the ninth worst record in the NHL and sit six points clear of the Montreal Canadiens from the bottom-5. This has become all too familiar territory for the Red Wings in recent years. Not good enough to take a run at the Stanley Cup but not bad enough to land a top-3 pick. As it stands now, the Red Wings have a 17.1 percent chance at a top-3 pick and just a 5.4 percent chance at landing No.1 overall and Rasmus Dahlin. (according to tankathon.com)

The Red Wings lineup won’t change much in St. Louis. With Tatar now in Vegas, Tyler Bertuzzi will move up the lineup and skate with Dylan Larkin and Andreas Athanasiou again. This hasn’t really worked so far, albeit in only 87:52 5v5 TOI. During that time together, the trio has a 44.97 CF%, a 25.26 scoring chances for/60 (SCF/60) and 30.04 SCA/60.

With Bertuzzi moving up, Martin Frk will draw back in on the fourth line and on the second power-play. In a basically lost season, Frk has inexplicably say as a healthy scratch in three straight games and for four of the last five. However, even when he gets into the lineup he hasn’t play over seven minutes in four of his last five.

The Blues have been absolutely terrible as of late. They’ve lost seven in a row (0-6-1) and are coming off of a brutal showing last night in Minnesota, where the Wild pounded them 8-3. This brutal stretch has seen the Blues fall out of the playoffs. They currently sit at 34-26-4 (72 points) which is two points back of the Anaheim Ducks for the final Wild Card spot in the Western Conference.

The scoring has dried up in St. Louis and Paul Stastny was traded for assets on Monday. Their big-3 of Vladimir Tarasenko, Jaden Schwartz and Brayden Schenn have still played well lately but it hasn’t been enough.

Jimmy Howard will make his fifth straight start for the Red Wings. He has won back-to-back, stopping 64 of 67 shots (.955 SV%) and has gone 2-1-1 with a 2.19 GAA and .929 SV% in his previous four. Howard was yanked after allowing four goals on 10 shots in his first start vs. St. Louis this season, but that was a different Blues team.

Carter Hutton will start for the Blues after replacing Jake Allen last night. He didn’t play much better than Allen, allowing five goals on 25 shots. Despite a mostly strong season, where he is 9-5-0 with a 1.89 GAA and .937 SV% on home-ice, Hutton has surrendered 12 goals on the last 81 shots (.852 SV%) that he has faced.

Puck-drop between the Red Wings and Blues is at 8:00 p.m. ET at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, MO. It can be seen on NBCSN.

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