St. Louis Blues Get Jaden Schwartz Back for Practice

After being off the ice for 15 days and six games due to a broken foot that he suffered in a December 16 victory over the Los Angeles Kings, St. Louis Blues forward Jaden Schwartz returned to practice for the Blues’ workout on New Year’s Day morning. The 22-year-old forward wore a red no-contact jersey and got in some pre-practice shooting and skating, then participated in roughly the first 20 minutes of practice, according to coach Ken Hitchcock’s post-practice press briefing.

Hitchcock said that Schwartz has been upgraded from “week-to-week” to “day-to-day”, and he will accompany the team on their upcoming West Coast road trip. If Schwartz ends up returning to the lineup on that trip, that would put his return on a date between January 2-6. With that said, if Schwartz’s broken foot heals similarly to those of the last two Blues to have a publicly documented broken foot, Roman Polak and Jamie Langenbrunner, it might be more realistic to expect him to return around January 10, when the Blues face the Carolina Hurricanes.

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If the Blues were unsure of Schwartz’s importance to the team before, they’ve certainly realized how valuable he is now, as the team has lost five of the six games that Schwartz has missed. Their top scorer, Vladimir Tarasenko, has a rather pedestrian three points in the absence of Schwartz, his linemate. And in a development that could partially be attributed to the absence of Schwartz, one of the team’s best two-way forwards, the Blues have allowed 21 goals in the six games that Schwartz has missed.

Next: Blues Recall John McCarthy and Colin Fraser from Minors