Robert Bortuzzo was traded to the New York Islanders by the St. Louis Blues on Friday for a seventh-round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft.

The defenseman has been a healthy scratch in 21 of the Blues’ 25 games this season and has no points, with St. Louis giving an increased role to the younger defensemen on the team, Tyler Tucker, 23, and Scott Perunovich, 25.

Bortuzzo, 34, has not played since Nov. 18.

“Robert and I had talked over the last month or so,” Blues general manager Doug Armstrong said in a statement, “and he really wanted to get back on the ice and he wants to play again next year. And he knew he had to get on to a (new) team to get on the ice.  … Where we’re at right now, we talked about over the summer with him that we have Tucker, we have Perunovich, we have some younger players that we have to see play.

“… He’s a true gentleman off the ice and a great character person, so this [trade] was actually not too [difficult to make] because I think it’s something obviously that I know he wanted and gives him a great opportunity.”

One of the few remaining players on the Blues from the 2019 Stanley Cup winning team, he scored two goals in 17 games during their historic Stanley Cup run. A fan favorite, Bortuzzo is just the latest in many moves the Blues have made lately in an effort to build up the youth movement.

Veteran players such as Vladimir Tarasenko and Ryan O’Reilly are two of the other notable players traded in the past year.