ST. LOUIS — The Blues are getting a big reinforcement as the playoffs inch closer. Klim Kostin is back.
The 22-year-old forward will return to the Blues' lineup on Wednesday night after spending the season with Avangard Omsk of the KHL in Russia. Kostin helped his KHL team to their league's championship, the Gagarin Cup, scoring five goals and notching four assists in 24 postseason games. In the KHL regular season, Kostin scored seven goals and had 11 assists in 43 games.
The 6-foot-3, 212-pound forward will get two games in the Blues' lineup before the team sets its roster for the playoffs. Head coach Craig Berube wants Kostin to use that big frame as a force for the Blues.
"Obviously he's a big body guy. Power forward type hockey. Up and down the wing and bang bodies and go to the net. Simple hockey," Berube said. "He doesn't need to complicate the game. He just needs to go north-south and manage the puck properly and use his big body."
The Blues and Berube are hoping Kostin's success in the KHL this season will translate back with his NHL team.
"I'm not familiar with the KHL hockey. I don't really watch it a whole lot. But watching his shifts and his tape over there, the way he played... he played good hockey for those guys," Berube said. "But like I said, it's a different league. It's tough for me to tell. He may have real good jump tonight and be right on top of things. We'll just have to wait and see on that."
Kostin is expected to slot in on a line with sniper Mike Hoffman and playmaker Robert Thomas for the team's Wednesday night game against the Minnesota Wild.
"Just (to add) some size on that line. You've got two skilled guys that can make plays. The other guy's a shooter and you've got a big body that can get pucks for them, get in there on the forecheck and go to the net. That's how I try to view the line when I put it together," Berube said.
The Blues originally drafted Kostin with the 31st overall pick in the 2017 NHL Draft. In 2019-2020, Kostin appeared in four games with the Blues, scoring one goal.
With Kostin's return. the Blues assigned forward Dakota Joshua to the Taxi Squad and forward Nathan Walker to the AHL's Utica Comets.
The Blues have clinched the No. 4 seed in the West Division for the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs and will face either Vegas or Colorado in the first round.