ST. LOUIS -- There was a scare during the morning skate for the Blues on Wednesday, enough so that it was one of those freak injuries that could have been a lot worse than it seemed.
Jakub Vrana is projected to be in the lineup today at 8:30 p.m. against the Minnesota Wild (TNT; ESPN 101.1-FM) but the new Blues forward left the ice early during the morning skate after a collision and taking a skate blade under his nose during a power play drill.
Vrana, who has played four games with the Blues, was holding a towel over his nose and bleeding. He had both nostrils plugged, gauze and tape wrapped following stitches as he was leaving Enterprise Center following one of those injuries that could have been much worse had it been in a different spot.
"He needed to get some work done," Blues coach Craig Berube said. "It's a pretty bad cut. He'll come ready to play and see what happens. It was kind of unfortunate. I don't know if I've ever seen that a morning skate before. Kind of a freak thing.
"They were battling on the walls. I didn't really see what happened. I was kind of watching but not real close. Next thing you know there's blood everywhere. A skate came up and got him."
If for some reason Vrana, who has two goals with the Blues, is not available to play, the likely insertion would be Josh Leivo, or perhaps the Blues could go 11 forwards and seven defensemen but they have a couple extra forwards, including Nikita Alexandrov, who was believed to be the PK skater that cut Vrana as the two collided.
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Alexey Toropchenko is also projected to play after the forward missed Tuesday's practice with an upper-body injury suffered in a 5-3 loss against the Vegas Golden Knights on Sunday.
"We'll have guys ready," Berube said. "He wants to play, but with what he's got going on, it could change. We'll see."
Toropchenko said following the morning skate that he will play, so take that for what it's worth.
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Another day, another tribute video in store for an ex-Blue.
There's been a couple of them recenty, from Jaden Schwartz to Ivan Barbashev and tonight, it will be Oskar Sundqvist, who finally makes his first appearance in St. Louis after being traded to the Detroit Red Wings at the trade deadline last season that brought Nick Leddy to St. Louis.
Sundqvist, another member of the 2019 Blues Stanley Cup champs, was traded to the Wild on March 3 this season.
"It's good, good to be back. I'm excited for tonight," Sundqvist. "It will obviously be very special. I was here for five years and it's the first time back. I'm very excited for tonight and hopefully we can come out with a big win."
The Red Wings will be in St. Louis next week with former Blues David Perron, Ville Husso, Jake Walman and Robby Fabbri, and Sundqvist would have been honored then but gets a head start this week. It seems like forever, though, since the trade last season on March 21.
"It does a little bit," Sundqvist said. "I got to see the house again yesterday, so it was nice. It feels like it's been a long time, but at the same time, it kind of feels like it was yesterday driving down the highway. It's nice to be back. Very excited.
"That was a surprise, the St. Louis (trade). This year maybe not as big a surprise. I knew a couple playoff teams wanted me. Definitely last year was a big surprise when I got the call."
Berube and some former Blues teammates were able to stop by this morning and see Sundqvist, but there were no dinner plans last night after the Wild got in late and practiced here late in the afternoon.
Being on the other side of the Blues-Wild rivalry, now Sundqvist gets to be on the other side of it, and he was pleased to get this trade call.
"It's been super easy coming in here to Minnesota," Sundqvist said. "All the guys have been very welcoming. It was an easier transition I would say to come here to Detroit. Kind of a different feel to the team. Coming here to a team that hasn't lost in 13 games. It's a feel-good situation and it was very easy to come into this locker room."
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When the puck drops tonight, Berube be coaching his 500th NHL game and join a select group of people, becoming only the sixth player/coach in history to play in 1,000 or more games and coach in 500 or more.
Berube, who has played in 1,054 games, will join Larry Robinson (1,384 games played/501 coached), Red Kelly (1,316/742), Blues assistant coach Craig MacTavish (1,093/661), Bob Pulford (1,079/822) and Randy Carlyle (1,055/924).
"I had to do everything in my power because I wasn't very talented as a player," Berube said. "I had to watch and learn and do little things right and be on the right side of things all the time, good defensively or I wouldn't have played in the NHL. I saw a lot of hockey too. I've been around, seen a lot of games obviously and been involved in a lot of games. A lot of that does relate to coaching.
"The game's changed a ton. We all know that and it keeps changing. As a coach, you've got to keep getting better and try to learn different things and learn from different people in the coaching world. As a player too, which I did, I adjusted all the time throughout my career so I can keep playing. If I didn't, I wouldn't have played that long. As a coach, I think you've got to do the same thing. I'm just constantly trung to get better every year as a coach, learning new things, talking to new people, getting new ideas about things. That's really important I think moving forward as a coach and then changing how you do things with players. Players have changed over the years, they're handled differently, they think differently and you've got to adjust with that."
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The Blues' projected lines:
Alexey Toropchenko-Robert Thomas-Jordan Kyrou
Jakub Vrana-Pavel Buchnevich-Kasperi Kapanen
Brandon Saad-Brayden Schenn-Sammy Blais
Nathan Walker-Logan Brown-Tyler Pitlick
Nick Leddy-Colton Parayko
Marco Scandella-Justin Faulk
Torey Krug-Tyler Tucker
Jordan Binnington will start in goal; Thomas Greiss will be the backup.
Healthy scratches include Nikita Alexandrov, Josh Leivo, Robert Bortuzzo and Calle Rosen. Jake Neighbours (upper body) is out.
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The Wild's projected lineup:
Sammy Walker-Ryan Hartman-Mats Zuccarello
Marcus Johansson-Joel Eriksson Ek-Matt Boldy
Sam Steel-Frederick Gaudreau-Oskar Sundqvist
Mason Shaw-Connor Dewar-Ryan Reaves
Jake Middleton-Jared Spurgeon
Alex Goligoski-Matt Dumba
Jon Merrill-John Klingberg
Marc-Andre Fleury will start in goal; Filip Gustavsson will be the backup.
The healthy scratch includes Calen Addison. Kirill Kaprizov (lower body), Jonas Brodin (lower body), Gustav Nyquist (shoulder), Brandon Duhaime (upper body) and Marcus Foligno (lower body) are all out.