The St. Louis Blues are officially getting back to work after having an extended period of time off. After the National Hockey League was forced to postpone games, it was only a matter of time before they delayed all. Which, quite frankly, benefited the Blues big time.
With Christmas break only a couple days away, the NHL and NHLPA made an agreement to give the players some extra time off. With teams like the Toronto Maple Leafs, Calgary Flames, and Carolina Hurricanes having to get games constantly postponed, it was hard to see the end of the road. They decided it was time to let everything rest and give the players some time off.
Now, everything is starting back up and teams are starting to get back to work. Including, but not limited to, your St. Louis Blues.
The St. Louis Blues are back tomorrow against the Edmonton Oilers and there is some great news to go along with hockey being back.
The Bad News
The St. Louis Blues, before getting a break, were playing without: James Neal, Klim Kostin, David Perron, Jordan Kyrou, Robert Thomas, Oskar Sundquvist, Brayden Schenn, Jake Walman, and Ville Husso. As you can probably infer, the Blues needed some time to rest, badly. When you are without that many key players, it’s hard to go out there and compete game in-game out. But they did.
Unfourtantley, there is more bad news to talk about before getting too much further into the article. It was reported by the St. Louis Blues that they had added James Neal, Dakota Joshua, Robert Bortuzzo, and Ivan Barbashev, to COVID protocol.
Ivan Barbashev was having one of his best seasons with Russian line-mates Pavel Buchenvich and Vladimir Tarasenko. Now he’s out for the next couple games along with three other Blues.
Furthermore, it was reported by Craig Berube today that center, Brayden Schenn is not quite ready to return. He did reiterate himself to say that he is progressing and could be back soon.
Additionally, he later went on to talk about goalie, Ville Husso. He told reported after the practice today that Husso is not ready to return either and Charlie Lindgren will serve as the backup goalie against the Oilers.
I know that seeing that many names out is discouraging for tomorrow, but I promise there is good news. So without further a due, let’s talk good news:
The Good News
The St. Louis Blues had their first practice earlier this morning and there were a lot of good reports. Lou Korac, who covers the St. Louis Blues for NHL.com, reported that Jordan Kyrou, David Perron, Klim Kostin, and Robert Thomas should be back for the game tomorrow against the Oilers.
Having those four Blues back gives them the depth and choices that they were once lacking. Not to mention as far as good news goes, Oskar Sundquvist could be back tomorrow against the Oilers as well. He cleared COVID protocol today and was confirmed as a possibility tomorrow night.
Head coach, Craig Breube stated that Sunny could play, but they said that they wanted to see how tomorrow’s morning skate goes.
In conclusion, the St. Louis Blues have things looking up for them. If everything goes as planned, and if nothing too unexpected happens, the Blues could be in for a great game tomorrow.