St. Louis Blues forward returned from high ankle sprain in January too soon, but deemed fit and ready to go once post-Olympic schedule begins Feb. 26 against Seattle Kraken
MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. -- Dylan Holloway wanted so badly to get back into the St. Louis Blues lineup – and as fast as possible – that now looking back, patience may have been the way to go.
Holloway, who was back on the ice for the Blues in their first practice post-Olympic break in full, surprised many – even himself to a degree – when he came back on Jan. 18 against the Edmonton Oilers, just over four weeks after a right high ankle sprain suffered in a practice. It was an injury the Blues initially said would need re-evaluation in six weeks.
It would be the first – and last – game Holloway would play. He missed 15 games, then returned, and has since missed another eight games.
“I feel much better,” Holloway said after practice at Centene Community Ice Center. “Obviously it’s been tough being out. It sucks. It’s hard mentally, but I’m definitely feeling a lot better than I did before I tried to play the last time.
“I think I probably jumped the gun too quick, just eager to get back. I feel much better now, minimal pain and grinding through it.”
It’s been a rough go with injuries for Holloway, and none have been of the day to day variety going back to the end of last year’s terrific season in which the 24-year-old had 63 points (24 goals, 39 assists) in 77 games before a torn oblique muscle off the hip bone ended his season last year on April 5, and then the ankle sprain that’s limited him to 17 points (eight goals, nine assists) in 34 games this season.
“Definitely a little bit of adversity,” Holloway admitted. “Being injured’s not fun, it’s not something that I want to happen ever again. It’s just kind of a tough bounce, especially that it happened in practice. It was hard to wrap my head around, but it’s just stuff that you get through and then it makes you mentally stronger. It doesn’t make sense in the moment. You definitely question it quite a bit, but I think when you work through those things, it definitely makes you mentally stronger. When adversity does happen in the future, you’re more prepared to handle it.”
It’s obvious adrenaline more than anything affected Holloway’s thought process this go around. He felt like he was good to go on that day against the Oilers but obviously wasn’t.
“A lot of factors. I skated on it pretty good, so I figured if I could skate good, I should be good to play, but it’s kind of naive for me to think,” Holloway said. “The game’s a lot different. You can tweak it in different ways. That’s essentially what happened and I probably should have waited a little longer, but I just wanted to get back and help the boys. But I’m thankful now that that time off definitely helped. I should be ready to go come Seattle on the 26th.”
Part of the rushed process was that this was Holloway’s first go at this type of injury and the fact that players tend to want to get back into the groove of being involved with their teammates rather than being off alone doing their own thing.
“My first time going through it so it was definitely kind of a different sort of rehab,” Holloway said. “I know a bunch of guys on the team have had that before so I was getting advice from them. It sucks. It feels good, it feels good in the gym and then you put on a skate and because you’ve got to balance on the one leg and turn and stuff, it’s like really painful skating. It takes a bit to get over that hump but I’m just thankful it felt pretty good today.
“I jumped the gun and it bit me in the butt a little bit.
“It’s hard, man. Being out’s the worst. You come in every day and see everybody, but you’re on a different schedule. So you’re not really hanging out with the boys. I wasn’t going on the road, just kind of rehabbing. You can only do that so long before it kind of wears on you mentally. It definitely wore on me and I wanted to get back as soon as possible to be with the boys on the road. To play against the former team, I guess that was a bit of a factor too, but I thought I was good enough to play. I just came back a bit too soon.”
Holloway, who is currently on injured reserve, will get activated barring any setbacks, in time to face the Seattle Kraken in the Blues’ first game back on Feb. 26.
“Holloway, it was great to see him out there,” Blues coach Jim Montgomery said. “He’s a full player now. That’s what we feel now unless he has some kind of setback. He should be a full player from now on.”
The Blues (20-28-9) have 25 games remaining, and there’s a slim-to-none chance at them making the playoffs this season, but that doesn’t mean Holloway wants to finish on such a down note personally.
“Get back playing, producing,” he said. “I’d like to produce at the rate I was doing last year, if not more than that. It’s definitely a goal. I put a high standard on myself and I have a lot of lofty goals. Just kind of building towards that and help the team win some games.”
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