from Jeremy Rutherford of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch,

In October, the Blues acquired Yakupov for forward prospect Zach Pochiro and a conditional third-round pick, hoping that a change of scenery would help the 23-year-old, who floundered during four seasons in Edmonton.

Yakupov had a decent start with the Blues, with four points in his first six games, but soon his ice time diminished and he was dropped to the fourth line before becoming a healthy scratch for the first time Nov. 5. He’s sat out seven of the Blues’ past 12 games and isn’t expected to be in the lineup when they host Tampa Bay on Thursday at Scottrade Center. But apparently that doesn’t have the club second-guessing the deal.

“We felt it was a worthwhile gamble,” Armstrong said. “We gave up a third-round draft pick and he’s come in, and quite honestly, someone like Dmitrij Jaskin is really playing great hockey right now and he’s taken away his ice time. That’s just the nature of competition. You’ve got to push and prod and find your way in, and other guys are trying to do it.

“I have a lot of confidence in Yak that he’s going to keep his nose to the grindstone and when he gets his opportunity, he’s just got to make the most of it. We look at it from how our team is doing, not how each individual player is doing, and our team is doing well. He’s part of our team.”

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