St. Louis Blues: Patrik Berglund Will Miss Four Months Following Shoulder Surgery
The St. Louis Blues announced a long-term loss in their lineup on Thursday afternoon, disclosing that forward Patrik Berglund will need surgery to repair a recurrence of the dislocated shoulder that sidelined him two seasons ago. Berglund, a seven-year NHL veteran, suffered the injury in a collision that took place during an unofficial skate at the team’s training facility, according to NHL.com’s Lou Korac.
More from St. Louis Blues
- An early projection of the St. Louis Blues’ opening-night roster
- St. Louis Blues sign Klim Kostin to three-year, entry-level contract
- St. Louis Blues: Nail Yakupov signs with Colorado Avalanche
- St. Louis Blues: An homage to Chris Butler
- St. Louis Blues agree to one-year contract with Oskar Sundqvist
Berglund is a frequent whipping boy of the Blues’ fanbase, but he did have some solid moments last season and will be missed. After a rather disappointing eight goals and 12 assists over his first 69 games of 2014-15, Burglund had four goals and three assists over the season’s last eight games, which came between March 28 and April 11. He also had two goals and an assist in the Blues’ six-game series loss to the Minnesota Wild in the first round of this past postseason, so there was some hope that he could carry that hot streak into the 2015-16 season.
More from Arch Authority
- St. Louis Cardinals: Randal Grichuk to begin Double-A rehab stint
- John Brebbia deserves a shot as the St. Louis Cardinals’ closer
- St. Louis Cardinals place Randal Grichuk on DL, recall José Martínez
- St. Louis Cardinals release RHP Corey Baker from organization
- St. Louis Cardinals activate Kolten Wong and Kevin Siegrist from DL, option Luke Weaver and Alex Mejia to Triple-A
With Berglund out, the Blues will need to introduce a new player into their top-nine forward group, and that development makes it very likely that last year’s first rounder, Robby Fabbri, will make the club out of training camp. Fabbri has wowed tremendously at every official Blues event in which he’s participated, and there was already support for him to make the team this year, though he faced a roster crunch with nine established veterans in place among the top nine.
Burglund being sidelined means that Fabbri, Ty Rattie, and Magnus Paajarvi will all probably make the Blues’ 23-man NHL roster to start the season, as opposed to the previous plan that called for the trio to battle for two spots. If anything further happens on the injury front, or if a player like Rattie or Fabbri tremendously disappoints during training camp, guys like Jordan Caron, Justin Hodgman, and Jeremy Welsh might have an opportunity to push for a spot.