The St. Louis Blues have made some announcements regarding injuries. The announcement came Wednesday evening, the day before training camp opens for the Blue Note.
Forecast Calls For No Sunny During Preseason
General manager Doug Armstrong announced centre Oskar Sundqvist will not play in any preseason games for the Blues. Sundqvist tore his right ACL on March 25th and missed the rest of the regular season. The 2019 Stanley Cup champion has been skating with teammates regularly and will be able to take part in some non-contact activities during training camp. Furthermore, Armstrong does expect Sundqvist to be ready and in the lineup when the Blues open their season on October 8th.
“The contact part will come a little later,” Armstrong said. “There’s basically just months after surgery where you’ve got to get checked and you hold them back until that point. That will come at the end of camp. I don’t expect once he gets cleared, he’s going to take long before he’ll be ready to play but we’re just going to follow the doctor and trainers’ advice on when he can get back into full participation.”
In early August, Sundqvist had expressed determination to be ready for the start of the regular season. The typical timeline for an ACL recovery is six-nine months. The start of the regular season falls in that range. Hopefully, Sundqvist experiences no setbacks during training camp and will be able to take the ice on October 8th.
Injured Defenceman Updates
Torey Krug, who was diagnosed with arthritis and will miss the entire 2024-25 season, underwent surgery on Tuesday. Krug’s future in St. Louis was already unknown due to his salary, but the injury complicates things further. However, the Blues did place Krug on long-term injured reserve, which means Krug’s salary will not count against the Blues salary cap.
In addition to Krug, fellow defenceman and the 16th overall pick in the 2024 NHL Entry Draft, Adam Jiricek is still rehabbing from a knee injury he received during the World Junior Championship. Armstrong expects him to not participate in any exhibition games during training camp.
“He’ll be a non-participant in training camp as far as exhibition games,” Armstrong said. “Still getting stronger. We’re going to keep him here through camp and when he gets back to juniors, he’ll be ready to play.”
Main Photo: Jeff Curry-Imagn Images
