Forward missed first three games for birth of third child, a daughter named Lyra; forward missed past two games after collecting assist in season opener against Seattle Kraken, listed as day to day
MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. -- Brandon Saad was all smiles after practice Monday.
And why wouldn't he be, after skating with the St. Louis Blues for the first time since the birth of his third child, a daughter he and wife Alyssa named Lyra?
The 31-year-old was activated Monday and could make his season debut for the Blues against the Minnesota Wild at Enterprise Center on Tuesday (6:30 p.m.; ESPN).
Saad missed the opening three-game road trip while on paternity leave, with his daughter being born last Thursday.
"I feel good; I'm excited. Obviously missed the trip and need to get up to game speed," Saad said. "I felt good in camp, was skating here, working out while they were gone. You miss a couple days of that with the delivery, but otherwise I feel ready to go."
Saad, who has averaged 23 goals in his three seasons with the Blues, skated on a top line Monday with Robert Thomas and Jake Neighbours.
"It's exciting, two great players," Saad said. "Obviously you guys know the history of them, but they're great and I think we're going to have a really good line. Obviously I'm excited to get going here with them."
"'Saader's a proven goal scorer in this league," Neighbours said. "He's done it for so many years. Obviously a big part of our team and one of the veteran pieces of our team. It's going to be good to get him back. I think it makes us a lot deeper and adds another goal scorer to our lineup."
Blues coach Drew Bannister has liked Saad's preparation for the season and feels he's deserving of the opportunity for a top six role.
"Conditioning, compete level, the speed he did things at in practice, in games kind of really stood out to me," Bannister said. "It looked like a player that is motivated and ready to get off to a good start.
"... He's excited. We're excited to have him back in the lineup. It'll be nice to have him."
Saad said he was able to take in a couple of the games while the team was on the road trying to juggle baby watch.
"I saw one or two," he said. "But overall, it's exciting. They looked good. I thought they did a really good job with the tough road trip, three (games) in four (days) with the time change and playing some pretty good hockey teams. It looked good. I'm excited to join the group again though.
"It's exciting to join the group again. You always have that excitement for being my first game of the year and being at home in front of the fans. I'm really looking forward to it."
To make room for Saad, forward Alexandre Texier was placed on injured reserve with an upper-body injury. The forward had an assist in 13:03 of ice time in a 3-2 season-opening win at the Seattle Kraken on Oct. 8 but practiced on Monday.
"He'll be out for tomorrow night and we can reevaluate him from there," Bannister said. "I don't think he's going to be that far off. He's probably day to day, but he will be out tomorrow."
