MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. -- Milan Lucic was back on the ice for the St. Louis Blues on Monday, nearly a week after leaving practice early with a groin strain.
The 37-year-old veteran forward, in training camp on a professional tryout, was skating on a line with Dalibor Dvorsky and Aleksanteri Kaskimaki with no restrictions.
“He looked really good, looked really sharp,” Blues coach Jim Montgomery said. “It was good to have him back out there, was making a lot of plays. Seems like his confidence has grown throughout camp, which is a good sign.”
Missing a week of camp did Lucic, who hasn’t played in the NHL since Oct. 21, 2023, has done no favors of Lucic, who is trying to earn an NHL contract, and there’s only a week remaining before NHL opening night rosters need to be set.
“Yes and no. He’s got to make an impression to make the team,” Montgomery said. “He understands that. Whether he plays the last three games or the last two, we want to put himself in the best advantage so we can evaluate him at his best.
“I don’t want to get into those specifics, but there’s ways to extend his time without having to sign a contract.”
Lucic has played in just one of the preseason games, Sept. 21 against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
“It looked like it had been a year and a half since he played a game,” Montgomery said. “But his third period was his best period, so he continued to get better throughout the game, which is good to see. The first period, it looked like he was struggling out there, but the third period, he looked like he was playing hockey.”
Also, defenseman Philip Broberg, who missed practice on Saturday, was on the ice in full on Monday.
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The Blues reduced their training camp roster by two more on Monday when forward Matt Luff and defenseman Corey Schueneman were assigned to Springfield of the American Hockey League after each cleared waivers.
“With Carbonneau, I want him to gain that next-play speed and what I mean by that is when the puck transitions from offense to defense that he gets above it,” Montgomery said. “Anyone that’s been a scorer all their life, they hang and hope for a turnover, so they’re in a better offensive position, but they’re also aren’t as good as a defensive position, and when you get above pucks, now you’re skating into the goalie instead of being at the same level of the goalie, especially in the offensive zone. So that’s kind of what we talked about. Watch McDavid, watch MacKinnon, watch Crosby, watch these guys … Aho, watch our players that just naturally, because when he was on the ice with our players, he naturally was the last guy coming back into our end every time, and that’s just next-play speed. It’s just getting used to playing at, ‘I’ve got to do this, I’ve got to do that,’ and it just happens.
“And then with Jiricek, both of them are elite players. Jiricek’s elite with the puck and he’s just got to learn how to move it so he doesn’t have to take as many hits as he does. And he’s got the mentality of, ‘I’m going to take a hit to make the play,’ but sometimes let the puck do the work and jump by the forechecker, and now to get the puck back, you have more time and space.
“Both of them are going to be elite, NHL power play players. We see all that, but to get into the NHL as soon as we would like them to be, they’ve got to improve in those areas.”