Sundqvist cleared for contact, return for St. Louis Blues not far off

The St. Louis Blues got the good news they wanted on Monday with the return of Brandon Saad, who will make his season debut on Tuesday against the Minnesota Wild.

Oskar Sundqvist may not be far off himself.

The center was cleared for contact and was on the ice Monday; however, it will miss at the very least another week or so while he gets up to game speed and physicality.

"'Sunny' is cleared for contact," Blues coach Drew Bannister said. "I just think he's going through the protocol right now. It's definitely probably not week to week, more day to day but I think it's still a little way's away. With playing every second day, it's hard to get him in a lot of contact with our group. Might be a little longer than five, six, seven days, which probably puts him into later on next week at home. We'll see how it goes over the next few days at least."

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Sundqvist has been a regular participant since training camp opened Sept. 19, but he just hasn't been involved in the physical type of drills. The skating has been better than advertised.

"He's worked hard; he's put the work in," Bannister said. "He's really pushed himself. He stayed here in the summer, did a lot of work to get himself rehabbed. The work he's put in through training camp and conditioning to make sure that when he was ready to play, he would be ready. He looks good out there."

When Sundqvist is activated off injured-reserve, the Blues will have to make a roster decision. 

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