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Blues get Alexander Steen back against Blackhawks

St Louis Blues v Dallas Stars

DALLAS, TX - SEPTEMBER 29: Alexander Steen #20 of the St. Louis Blues at American Airlines Center on September 29, 2015 in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

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Give the St. Louis Blues a lot of credit. Lesser teams might have buckled after a disturbing run of training camp/summer injuries. Instead, St. Louis won four straight to start the season, with three of those games coming on the road.

Maybe the Blues were starting to buckle under the pressure a bit lately, though, as they dropped two straight games to fall to 4-2-0.

The bad news is that there might not be many reinforcements coming anytime soon. The good news is that one key guy is returning against the Chicago Blackhawks tonight, as Alexander Steen has been activated from IR.

Steen, 33, broke his hand during training camp. It’s been a tough haul lately for the two-way forward in general, really, as he had suffered through a broken foot during the 2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Even if he’s not quite 100 percent yet, the Blues welcome back a 50+ point player who isn’t that far removed from two 60+ point seasons in 2013-14 and 2014-15.

MORE: A preview of tonight’s two NBCSN games, including Blues vs. Blackhawks

At the moment, it sounds like Steen might be part of quite the loaded top line with Paul Stastny and Vladimir Tarasenko:

That’s pretty fun, although it makes for a bottom-six that is ... a bit lacking (via Left Wing Lock):

Magnus Paajarvi - Ivan Barbashev - Dmitrij Jaskin

Scottie Upshall - Oskar Sundqvist - Kyle Brodziak

Woof. Lines like those serve as a reminder that Robby Fabbri’s presence is sorely missed, and the same could be said for Patrik Berglund and even Zach Sanford.

Perhaps head coach Mike Yeo could spread the wealth at least enough to convert that top-heavy top-six to a fairly well-rounded top-nine?

The Blues are also missing a big minutes muncher on the blueline, as Jay Bouwmeester’s status remains a little murky after fracturing his ankle during that nightmare training camp for St. Louis:

The other bit of tough news is that the Blues will have to hang tough for another week and change:

Wed, Oct 18 vs Chicago
Thu, Oct 19 @ Colorado
Sat, Oct 21 @ Vegas
Wed, Oct 25 vs Calgary
Fri, Oct 27 @ Carolina

They’ll get a reward starting on Oct. 28: four games in a row and six of seven at home.

Even by the end of October, it’s unclear how many players the Blues will get back from injury. They’ll just need to savor the breaks that do go their way, and in this case of Steen, this is a pretty nice one.
James O’Brien is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @cyclelikesedins.

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