MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. — The St. Louis Blues will be coming in relatively healthy when the on-ice portion of training camp opens Thursday at Centene Community Ice Center.
General manager Doug Armstrong made his pre-camp remarks on Wednesday and outside of Torey Krug (left ankle) and Oskar Sundqvist (torn right ACL), the team is relatively healthy as the team can be.
“Other than that, little bumps and bruises I think,” Armstrong said Wednesday.
Krug, who will miss the 2024-25 season due to a pre-arthritic condition in his left ankle, had surgery on Tuesday and was to return to St. Louis on Wednesday.
“Obviously the Krug situation,” Armstrong said. “He had surgery yesterday and is headed back to St. Louis today; that went well.”
The Blues have made moves to offset the loss of the 33-year-old veteran, first signing veteran Ryan Suter — a long long Central Division skater with the Nashville Predators, Minnesota Wild and Dallas Stars — to a one-year, incentive-laden contract, then acquiring Philip Broberg from the Edmonton Oilers via offer sheet.
The moves were necessary when the Blues were made abundantly clear that surgery was a very realistic option for Krug this summer.
“Mid-summer. It wasn’t anything at the end of last year,” Armstrong said. “I think it was something he played with, he hoped he could get over, rest would heal things. Then he started to train and skate and it wasn’t getting better. Our medical staff got together.
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“It would have been mid-summer where it really became apparent that potentially surgery was on the horizon and to do that, would miss the year.”
Since the injury occurred in the 2018 Stanley Cup Playoffs, one has to wonder how much it played a role in his career moving forward trying to play through something as serious as this.
“I’m not sure. You’d have to ask him that,” Armstrong said. “When you get to that part of your career, in really any professional sport, you’re playing with lots of bumps and bruises, lots of things that have accumulated over the years. He’s a truly highly-competitive player. To play that position at his stature in the league for a number of years, you’re getting exposed to big hits and you’re playing against bigger men. He has a lot of fight inside of him and that’s what got him to this level and has made him a good player.”
As for Sundqvist, who tore his right ACL March 25 against the Vegas Golden Knights, has been skating in informal skates leading up to camp.
Armstrong said the forward will not play in the preseason but will be able to participate in camp drills in a limited capacity until he’s cleared for full contact by doctors and trainers.
“Sundqvist is still recovering from end of last season surgery,” Armstrong said. “I don’t expect him to participate in training camp in any games, but should be ready to start the season.
“The contact part will come a little later. 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.”
Adam Jiricek, the No. 16 pick in the 2024 NHL Draft, will remain in St. Louis throughout camp with the knee injury sustained in the 2024 World Junior Championship; the defenseman will eventually return to Brantford of the Ontario Hockey League, where he will play this season.
“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.
“My understanding and my experience with junior teams is when they get these guys back, he’s not going to get back and ease him into games. He’ll play three in three nights and he’ll probably play 28 minutes a night, so we want to make sure he’s ready for that. He’s added some muscle mass, he’s worked hard this summer. We’re going to continue to get him as strong as possible and then we’ll get him off to junior hockey and hope he’ll have a great year d own there, world juniors on the horizon here for him and looking forward to watching him progress.”
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