MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. — The St. Louis Blues trotted out two groups at practice on Friday at Centene Community Ice Center and one notable omission was Brandon Saad.
The veteran forward was not present for the NHL group on Friday, rather skating with the AHL/junior skaters in the second group, raising all sorts of speculation (injury, trade, etc.).
Well, Saad put those things to rest when he announced there’s the likelihood he will miss a season-opening three-game road trip beginning Oct. 8 against the Seattle Kraken due to the birth of his third child.
“My wife’s actually due with our third baby in a couple weeks here,” Saad said. “She’s due right around the time we’re going to be on that trip, so it doesn’t seem like I’m going to be making the trip, but you never know when (the baby’s) going to come and where I’m going to be. That’s kind of the game plan, so (coach Drew Bannister) has me in that other group just trying to figure out things.
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“She could (deliver) any day, so it’s not really ruled out. It’s kind of just up in the air and taking it day by day. It’s something where you don’t want to miss the birth.”
The Blues, who will also play the San Jose Sharks (Oct. 10) and Vegas Golden Knights (Oct. 11) on the trip, are compassionate about a player’s personal side of things, particularly in this instance, they have to make contingency plans and move forward with a lineup that will be on the ice in Seattle.
“First and foremost for [Saad], he wants to be there for the birth of his baby, his third child, which is important to us too,” Bannister said. “Now we’re at a point in training camp where we want to start putting some lines together and without the availability for him, pending how things go obviously, he might not be available for us for the first three games of the road trip. We’ll go in a different direction with our lines as if he wasn’t able to play for us.”
So for the conspiracy theorists that think Saad is getting traded or that there is some sort of underlying injury, put those thoughts to rest. In fact, Bannister couldn’t be more pleased with the forward’s camp.
“I’ve been really happy with ‘Saader,'” Bannister said. “He’s looked great in practice to me, so I’m excited about it. We’ll look forward to having him back in the lineup. We’ll definitely get him in some exhibition games here, but just for the practice groups today, we thought it best to have him on the other group and even up the lines too.
“It’s important for these players to be a part of that and certainly for their wives and the kids, they want them there, the players want them there and the teammates want them there too. We support him and his decision and we’ll move on with the players that we have and we’ll be happy when he joins us back.”
This isn’t Saad’s first rodeo with kids, so the preparation to play hockey again has gone seamlessly while preparing for another addition.
“It’s been good,” Saad said. “I’ve been though it before, so I think kids kind of take the pressure off hockey a little bit with the joy that that comes with and kind of have your mind on other things. For me, it lets you go out there and play free and and have fun. It’s important. It’s been good.
“I feel good out there. I’m excited about the year, excited about the additions and the group we have. I think excitement’s at an all-time high to have a good year and get back in the playoffs.”
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