TEMPE, Ariz. — Besides getting a prime spot on left wing of the Brayden Schenn line, Jakub Vrana is scheduled to play on the team’s second power play unit in his Blues debut Tuesday night against the Arizona Coyotes.

Puck drop is shortly after 8 p.m. (Central).

Vrana was lined up on the right flank during power play work Tuesday morning at Mullett Arena. Eleven of Vrana’s 98 career NHL regular-season goals have come on the power play. Despite missing most of last season because of shoulder surgery, Vrana had five power play goals in 26 games.

“That’s pretty good stats actually for that many games – having that many goals,” coach Craig Berube said. “Yeah, he looks like he can handle the half-wall with his vision and puck skill.

“And he’s not afraid to shoot it, it looks like. He shot some today in (power play) practice, which is good. It’s always good when you’re running the half wall to make sure that you have a little bit of a shot mentality, too.”

Overall, Berube isn’t going to reach any instant judgments on Vrana’s play, in part because he hasn’t played all that much over this season and last.

“Look forward to seeing him play, and his skillset and what he brings,” Berube said. “It’s only the first game, so I’m not expecting things. I’m just gonna watch and see how he does.

“He was down in the minors playing for a bit there, but it’s obviously a different league. He just needs to go play and work. Put the work in, make sure he’s skating and working, and good things will happen because he’s got the skill to make good things happen.”

Vrana came to the Blues on Friday from Detroit, in exchange for a seventh-round draft pick in 2025 and minor-league forward Dylan McLaughlin. The Red Wings also agreed to retain half of Vrana’s $5.25 million annual salary cap hit.

The last time the Blues were at intimate Mullett Arena on the campus of Arizona State University, the Blues were thumped 5-0. Robert Thomas left after taking a shot to the groin area, Nick Schmaltz had a natural hat trick for the Coyotes, and it was loss No. 3 of a five-game losing streak heading into the All-Star game/bye week break.

So here we are again, with Tuesday’s contest ending the season series between the clubs.

“I only got a period and a little bit in,” Thomas said, referring to that Jan. 26 contest. “But I think the energy’s good (in the building). It is kind of fun; a different kind of environment to play in.

“I think we definitely owe them one after last time here.”

In their first game after the break, on Feb. 11, the Blues rallied from a 2-0 deficit to take a 5-2 lead, then frittered that away to force overtime at 5-5. But Ryan O’Reilly, in one of his last shining moments before getting traded to Toronto, scored the game-winner in overtime for a 6-5 Blues victory over Arizona.

Schmaltz had eight points in those two Arizona games against the Blues (four goals, four assists), tied with Colorado’s Mikko Rantanen for the most against St. Louis by an opposing player this season. Rantanen has five goals and three assists against the Blues this season, but it took him four games to get there.

Since Schmaltz entered the league in 2016-17, he has 27 points against St. Louis. Only Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon (37), and Winnipeg’s Blake Wheeler and Mark Scheifele (30 apiece) have more.

And then there’s St. Louisan Clayton Keller. The three-time NHL all-star has nine goals and 21 points against the Blues over his career – his personal bests against any opponent.

“Those are the guys that carry a lot of the offense there on their team,” Thomas said. “I think Keller being from St. Louis he always loves playing against us. He seems to score every game. So I think it’s definitely a big key for us to stop him.”

For the season, Keller leads the Coyotes in goals (25), assists (35) and points (60). Schmaltz is third in goals (19), third in assists (24) and second in points (43).

“They’re the two most skilled players on their team for sure and they’ve had pretty good years offensively,” Berube said. “And they’ve had good games against us.

“They’re slick players. They’ve got good 1-on-1 moves and they’re hard to handle. So we gotta do a better job of taking away their passing lanes, keeping them more on the outside than we have.”

Like St. Louis, the Coyotes were among the league’s most active sellers leading up to last Friday’s trade deadline.

When the dust settled for Arizona, it had picked up a first-round draft pick, two second-rounders, three third-rounders, a fifth-rounder, and a sixth rounder. And traded defensemen Jakob Chychrun and Shayne Gotisbehere, plus forward Nick Bjugstad.

Chychrun (23:16) and Gotisbehere (22:30) were Nos. 1-2 in ice time for Arizona prior to being traded. Bjugstad had 13 goals

Forwards

Buchnevich-Thomas-Kyrou

Vrana-Schenn-Kapanen

Saad-Brown-Blais

Toropchenko-Alexandrov-Pitlick

Defensemen

Leddy-Parayko

Scandella-Faulk

Krug-Tucker

Goalie

Binnington

Blues’ power play

PP1: Krug-Thomas-Kyrou-Buchnevich-Schenn

PP2: Faulk-Kapanen-Vrana-Saad-Blais/Brown

After hiking almost to the top of Camelback Mountain on Sunday, Berube reports that he did no hiking Monday.

“No. Day off,” he deadpanned.

When told that some readers were surprised to learn that he was a hiker, Berube replied: “I’m not. I just went up that one. It’s not something I look forward to doing.”