Blues’ de la Rose is healthy but won’t play Wednesday as Joshua remains in lineup

Jacob de la Rose is fully recovered from a lower-body injury and ready to return to the St. Louis Blues‘ lineup if needed.

Unfortunately for the 25-year-old center, his replacement — rookie Dakota Joshua — has been so impactful that de la Rose will be watching from the press box when the Blues face the Kings on Wednesday night in Los Angeles.

Head coach Craig Berube said Wednesday that he likes what he’s seen from Joshua, who has a goal and a 56.8% faceoff percentage — second only to Ryan O’Reilly (59.6%) among Blues centers — in seven games this season. He also provided the Blues with a burst of energy on Saturday night when he fought Vegas’ Keegan Kolesar.

Joshua, 24, took over as the Blues’ fourth-line center after de la Rose was injured in the Blues’ Feb. 27 win over the Sharks. de la Rose, who is in his second season with the Blues after being acquired from the Red Wings in exchange for Robby Fabbri in Nov. 2019, has one assist in nine games this season.

Center Tyler Bozak, who has missed all but seven of the Blues’ 28 games with a concussion, will rejoin the lineup on Wednesday night. He’ll fill the void left by Mackenzie MacEachern, who was placed on injured reserve on Sunday with an upper-body injury.