St. Louis Blues Jaden Schwartz Is OK, But These Are The Blues

By Todd Panula | May 19, 2018

HERNING, DENMARK - MAY 15: Jaden Schwartz #17 of Canada and Sebastian Uvira of Germany battle for the puck during the 2018 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship Group B game between Canada and Germany at Jyske Bank Boxen on May 15, 2018 in Herning, Denmark. (Photo by Martin Rose/Getty Images) /

The St. Louis Blues got some welcome good news regarding Jaden Schwartz after his injury. However, given the team’s luck, we might not be out of the woods yet.

The St. Louis Blues are breathing a sigh of relief after getting the initial news of Jaden Schwartz being injured. However, fans might want to simply get a few breaths in, since we all know how the Blues luck usually goes.

According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Schwartz suffered a shoulder injury. The injury occurred just minutes after Schwartz assisted on a go-ahead goal for Canada at the 2018 IIHF World Championships.

Canada was taking on Team Russia. Schwartz was checked into the wall and the defenseman ended up falling on top of him. It was not said whether the injury came from the initial hit or the extra weight while down, but at this point it really does not matter.

Schwartz will not require surgery. Joe Thomas mentioned in his article that Doug Armstrong texted him saying that Schwartz will undoubtedly be ready for day one of training camp.

That is great to hear that Schwartz will not have to undergo surgery. The same has not been true for his teammates. Vladimir Tarasenko already had shoulder surgery, Robby Fabbri underwent knee surgery again, Jay Bouwmeester had a procedure done on his hip and Carl Gunnarsson had an issue with his knee.

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So, it is great that Schwartz is supposed to be healthy and will not require surgery. This is where the but comes in. We have been here before.

Patrik Berglund had a shoulder injury a few years ago and did not undergo surgery. The injury never healed properly and he ended up requiring surgery two summers later. While he has regressed a little, he was a much better player with a fully healed shoulder as opposed to the one that he simply rehabbed after avoiding the knife.

Now we are left to wonder if he really will be fine or whether a quick surgery would be better. Obviously, you trust the doctors if they have already looked at it and deemed him alright. You just have that pit in your stomach knowing the Blues’ luck with these sorts of things.

We were told Fabbri was all healed up and the team was even easing him in. Then, he injured the leg anyway. We’ve already gone over the Berglund issue.

Paul Stastny always seemed to get hurt right as he was turning a corner with the Blues. The team’s history is littered with names that were either injury prone or just had bad luck.

The online space is already filling up with the noisemakers saying to get rid of Schwartz if he can’t stay healthy. That would be one of the dumbest things ever, but his ability to stay on the ice is a concern.

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As someone who has had a shoulder problem, I can tell you that it’s a terrible injury to have. The problem is often not whether it requires surgery, but how you handle the healing process. If you push things too far, you can actually make yourself worse for the long run, which is what Berglund may have done.

The problem becomes you compensate for normal movements with other muscles and joints. This can throw things out of whack if you are not careful, but you may not know things are wrong until it is too late.

Schwartz and the Blues will need to be smart about it all. They need him healthy to reach their full potential in 2018-19.

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