Andy McDonald’s status for St. Louis Blues’ road trip still questionable
Andy McDonald says he will practice with the Blues Tuesday, which will give him and the team a better idea of whether he’ll make the trip to Western Canada this week. The Blues begin a three-game road trip Friday in Vancouver.
“We’re going to have to see how it progresses,” McDonald said Monday after an off-ice workout. “I’ve been skating on my own for a little bit over a week. Tomorrow I’m going to try to go on the ice with the team and practice and see how it responds from there. There’s still a fair amount of pain there, but it’s gotten a lot stronger and I’m able to do a lot of things I wasn’t able to do before. We’re just going to see how it goes day by day. I want to be out there as soon as possible. I don’t know when that’s going to be. I want to be able to contribute. The question is, ‘Can I help this team win?’ That’s going to be the question that needs to be answered before I step in the lineup.”
There was speculation that McDonald will make the trip to Canada and practice with the team, but just an hour ago, Blues President John Davidson told me he’s not so sure McDonald will be on the trip.
“I wouldn’t get ahead of yourself,” Davidson said. “For me, he’s not going to play until he’s ready. And I mean READY, READY. We don’t need a setback with him. The bone is healed, but he had a soft tissue injury in there as well. That’s got to heal. I’d be very surprised if he played on the trip.”
Davidson added that if McDonald isn’t going to play on the trip, why would he go?
“Do we want him tracing all over Western Canada on a trip when it’s not healed?” Davidson asked. “He could practice with the team the 15th, 16th and 17th and then make the trip to Boston and Chicago (Jan. 17 and 19), if he’s ready. There’s no rush with this thing. We all want him back in the lineup, he’s an important ingredient, but we don’t want him back at 80 percent. You can get knocked back 20 percent real quick.”
Regarding defenseman Jay McKee (finger), Davidson said he will be on the road trip and it’s probable that he will play.
JR
What is the point of rushing Macdonald back now? It might be necessary for the Blues to deal Andy, as unfortunate as that may sound, if he gets re-injured the Blues will have lost a lot more than an on ice asset.