St. Louis Blues rookie forward Jimmy Snuggerud will miss up to six weeks to have surgery on his left wrist, the team announced Monday morning.
The 21-year-old Snuggerud, who was a first-round pick by the Blues in 2022, used the opening quarter of the season to establish himself as a top-nine forward. His five goals were two away from being tied for the team lead while his 11 points are tied for sixth. He is also seventh in ice time among Blues forwards at 15:26 per game.
His performances also allowed him to maintain a presence within a rookie class that has seen several players make an impact. Snuggered entered Monday tied for eighth in goals among first-year players.
It appears the earliest Snuggerud could return to the lineup should the six-week timeline hold would be around mid-January. That would allow him to play around 10 games before the NHL enters the Olympic break. The Blues play their last game before the break on Feb. 4.
Snuggerud isn’t the only injury the Blues are managing with the team also announcing that forward Alexey Toropchenko is week-to-week after sustaining what they described as scalding burns to his legs in a home accident. He’s the second NHL player this season to sustain an injury at home with Florida Panthers forward Eetu Luostarinen out of the lineup indefinitely after a “barbecuing mishap” that Panthers coach Paul Maurice shared with reporters on Nov. 19.
Toropchenko has a goal and two points while averaging 11:29 in ice time over 17 games this season.
Those absences are the latest developments in what has seen the Blues, which made the playoffs last season, endure through one of the most challenging starts of any team in the NHL through the first quarter of this season.
St. Louis (9-10-7) entered Monday as part of a cluster of five teams that are within two points of the Chicago Blackhawks for the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference.
