The news isn’t good on center Andy McDonald, who is not on the ice with the Blues at today’s practice.

A week ago, McDonald looked close to returning from his fractured ankle. He tweaked the ankle Wednesday in Chicago, but said it felt OK and then had four days off for the All-Star break. But when the team returned from the break Monday, McDonald still had soreness in his ankle.

The Blues had a split practice Monday and McDonald participated in only the first half. After the first half, Blues coach Andy Murray told the media that McDonald “was doing all of the drills . . . we’ll see how he holds up.” But after Murray said that, McDonald did not come out for the second half of practice, and as I mentioned, he’s not on the ice today.

McDonald definitely won’t play Thursday against Ottawa or Saturday against Philadelphia and the Blues will monitor the situation after that.

I spoke to Blues President John Davidson this morning and he reitterated his take that McDonald won’t play until he’s absolutely healthy.

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After playing in Sunday’s NHL all-star game, Keith Tkachuk sat out of Monday’s practice. Here’s what the lines looked like Monday without him . . .

Forwards:

Andy McDonald-David Backes-Brad Boyes

T.J. Oshie-Patrik Berglund-David Perron

Brad Winchester-Jay McClement-Dan Hinote

B.J. Crombeen-Alex Steen-Cam Janssen

Defensive pairings stayed the same:

Barret Jackman-Mike Weaver

Jeff Woywitka-Jay McKee

Carlo Colaiacovo-Tyson Strachan

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Murray has a theme for each day of practice this week: 

Monday: Grind day

Tuesday: Work on skill element

Wednesday: Emphasize speed element in shorter, quicker practice

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In Sunday’s Post-Dispatch, I wrote a feature story on Tkachuk. Here are two paragraphs from that story.

“Before reclining into his seat and getting comfortable on the Blues’ charter flights, veteran center Keith Tkachuk looks around the plane at his baby-faced teammates and shakes his head. Young Blues players are already locked into their favorite video game, a war game called ‘S.O.C.O.M. 2,’ on their handheld PSP devices.”

“It’s one of those things I’m not very fond of, seeing guys playing PSP,” Tkachuk said. “I know the (NHL) has changed so much, but I see these guys playing PSP, it’s the same games that my kids have.”

When I wrote that YOUNGER Blues were playing S.O.C.O.M. 2, I was referring to David Perron and T.J. Oshie. But when I went to practice Monday, I was reminded that Jay McKee, Chris Mason and Dan Hinote are three of the biggest video-game junkies on the team.

“The older guys are the better players,” McKee griped.

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The Hockey News is currently preparing its annual ”Hockey Future” issue. I have the list of the Blues’ top 10 prospects, as compiled by the magazine. I will list the names, but won’t put them in order of 1-10. See if you can rank them. (I will let you know the issue is published.)

Lars Eller, Jonas Junland, Simon Hjalmarsson, Alex Pietrangelo, Ben Bishop, Jake Allen, Philip McRae, Brett Sonne, Ian Cole and Aaron Palushaj.

JR