St. Louis Blues forward Jaden Schwartz took another step in his recovery from a training camp elbow injury on Friday when returned to practice and took part in team drills.
Schwartz still isn’t expected to be back in the lineup until at least early November, but Blues coach Ken Hitchcock said he will accompany the team on its upcoming road trip out west.
More from Hitchcock, via Tom Timmerman of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
“He’s not ready to play yet, but it’s a good sign, a good feeling to have him out there. Can’t really give you a date. I think we were looking at four weeks. To be out there practicing in two weeks is a good sign, a real good sign.”
When healthy, Schwartz is one of the Blues’ best and most productive forwards and has been a 25-goal, 50-point player in two of the past three seasons.
The only year during that stretch he did not reach those numbers was this past season when he was limited to only 33 games due to an ankle injury.
Even then he still scored eight goals and added 14 assists, a pace that would have once again put him close to the 25/50 level.
With Schwartz sidelined the Blues have still won each of their first two games of the season, beating Chicago on opening night on Wednesday and then coming back on Thursday with a 3-2 win over the Minnesota Wild.
They return to action on Saturday when they host the New York Rangers.