Blues’ Oskar Sundqvist, Milan Lucic dealing with lower-body injuries

The St. Louis Blues will be without veteran center Oskar Sundqvist to start the 2025-26 NHL season, and could reconnect on an in-season PTO for left winger Milan Lucic, after both suffered lower-body injuries ahead of opening night. 

Sundqvist will be out week-to-week, according to general manager Doug Armstrong, but the club has only ruled him out for their first three games, with a potential return set for Oct. 15 against the Chicago Blackhawks. 

The 32-year-old Swede featured on the Blues’ opening night roster, unveiled on Monday, but reportedly suffered the injury during a practice on Sunday, following a fall in a battle drill along the boards, forcing him to be helped off the ice. 

Previously, Sundqvist suffered an ACL injury late in the 2023-24 campaign, which impacted the early stages of the 2024-25 season. Since debuting in the NHL in 2015-16, he has only surpassed the 70-game threshold once.

Meanwhile, Lucic suffered a lower-body injury of his own and will rehab with the Blues organization. However, Armstrong indicated to The Athletic’s Jeremy Rutheford that the plan is to reconnect on an in-season PTO. 

“He got banged up last couple of games,” Armstrong said. “His PTO is obviously over. What we’re going to do is we’re going rehab him here and get him back health-wise to 100 per cent and likely reconnect on an in-season PTO to get him up and running and see where he’s at then.”

Lucic, 37, has not played in the NHL since the 2023-24 season, when he appeared in four games with the Boston Bruins during his second stint with the organization. He had helped lead them to the 2011 Stanley Cup win over the Vancouver Canucks. 

Through two preseason games with the Blues, the Vancouver native posted a pair of assists. 

The Blues open their NHL regular season at home against the Minnesota Wild on Thursday.