St. Louis Blues Patrik Berglund Has Another Shoulder Surgery

The St. Louis Blues have been riding high after some big moves in the 2017 NHL Draft. Much of that momentum came to a halt on Wednesday.

The St. Louis Blues got some bad news on June 28. Patrik Berglund is going to miss significant time for the second time in three seasons.

The Berglund news would have been a downer anwyay, but it comes at a rather inopportune time. The Blues were coming off a very uplifting week.

St. Louis made a big splash by acquiring Brayden Schenn from the Philadelphia Flyers during the 2017 NHL Draft. They made some solid picks and also bolstered their prospect pool with a trade with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The Blues were making some smart moves with their restricted free agents. Free agency begins on July 1, so there was that to look forward to as well.

Instead, we are left with the realization that the Blues just gave a new contract to a guy who will miss half the season. On top of that, it is the second time he’s been forced to have shoulder surgery.

The first time around, Berglund was to blame. He had been having shoulder issues for awhile, tried to play through it and waited too long to have the surgery.

That kept him out of 40 games of the 2015-16 season. He did score 10 goals when he returned, but you could tell he was still getting into the swing of things.

Berglund had a breakthrough 2016-17, which earned him that new contract. He scored a career high 23 goals, though he did disappear some in the playoffs.

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Now, the Blues will be without his services until at least December. The circumstances surrounding this injury are a little more unknown.

All that is being said, at the moment, is it occurred during an offseason workout. Was he injured lifting weights? Did he get overzealous in a pickup hockey game?

All we know is the team is saying it was during conditioning. I’ve injured my shoulder playing soccer and not to the point it needed surgery. It just makes you wonder what was going on.

The silver lining, if there is one, is his absence opens more opportunities. The Blues are involved in some free agent rumors, but with Berglund out of the picture for a bit, any players brought in will not take away spots for young guys.

On the flip side, it may force more guys to be centers that might not be suited for it at the NHL level. Berglund seemed to be trending more toward being a winger, but his loss will take away some depth from the team.

Ultimately, Berglund’s loss is a double-edged sword on multiple fronts.. It presents opportunities to guys on the fence and gives them a chance to grab the proverbial brass ring. On the other hand, he was expected to be a big piece of what the Blues had planned.

You can couple that with the enigma that is Berglund anyway. He’s capable of scoring 20-plus goals and even put up 50 points in one season. However, he disappears at random and refuses to use his size and strength as an asset at times.

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Hopefully someone steps up in his absence. Hopefully he uses the time away to keep in good condition and come back with a force when he does return. Berglund’s best playoff run was during the year he missed half the games the last time.

Perhaps he can do that again. I’d take half a year of mediocre Berglund to get good playoff Berglund. The Blues need the latter more than the former.

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