The St. Louis Blues placed forward Zach Dean on waivers on Thursday with the intention of assigning him to their American Hockey League affiliate, the Springfield Thunderbirds.
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman first reported the move, which comes just weeks after the 23-year-old earned a spot on the opening-night roster.
Dean, a left-shooting center standing 6-foot-0, had outperformed veterans Oskar Sundqvist and Nathan Walker during training camp to secure one of the final forward positions alongside Dillon Dube.
He dressed for three regular-season games, averaging just under 10 minutes of ice time, but recorded no points, no shots on goal, and won only 41.7 percent of his faceoffs.
In recent contests, he has been scratched, as younger options such as Aleksanteri Kaskimaki and Otto Stenberg received opportunities on the fourth line amid a handful of injuries elsewhere on the roster.
The Alberta native was originally selected 30th overall by the Vegas Golden Knights in the 2021 NHL Draft after a productive stretch in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League with the Gatineau Olympiques, where he posted 70 points in 50 games during his final junior season.
In February 2023, at a point when his stock was high as a skilled QMJHL scorer, Vegas dealt him to St. Louis in a straight one-for-one swap for Ivan Barbashev.
Since joining the Blues organization, Dean has spent the bulk of his professional time in Springfield, accumulating 14 goals and 32 points across 96 AHL games.
He earned a brief NHL call-up in March 2024 that produced nine scoreless games, and his overall NHL total now stands at 12 appearances without a point.
Injuries have interrupted his progress; he managed only 11 games in one recent campaign. He also entered the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program early last season before being cleared to return in January.
Despite those setbacks, the Blues signed him to a one-year, two-way contract extension worth $850,000 at the NHL level this past June, keeping him under team control as a restricted free agent next summer.
By exposing him to waivers now, the organization is signaling a preference for regular ice time in the AHL over a press-box role in St. Louis.
If he clears, Dean will return to Springfield with the chance to rebuild offensive momentum and position himself for another call-up later in the season.
The move reflects a familiar developmental calculation for a former first-round pick whose path has been uneven but whose physical tools and junior production still leave room for growth.
