MARYLANDHEIGHTS, Mo. — Opportunitiespresented themselves for Oskar Sundqvist to depart St. Louis one moretime to prolong his NHL career in a guaranteed fashion.
Butthat’s not what the 32-year-old wanted, because St. Louis is wherehis heart is, and the St. Louis Blues organization means so much tothe Boden, Sweden native.
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Sundqvist,who has spent eight of his 11 NHL seasons in St. Louis and met hiswife here, has been through it all at this level, including reach thepinnacle of winning the Stanley Cup with the Blues in 2019. But thisis somewhat uncharted territory, and when he signed a one-year,two-way contract worth $850,000 NHL/$300,000 AHL, there was reasoningbehind it: his love for this city and franchise.
“Obviouslyeverything. This is where I want to be, this is where I wanted tosign the whole time,” Sundqvistsaid Friday.”There’s never really any thought anywhere else. It is different,but like I said for me, I love being here, I love being in thisorganization, I love ‘Monty’ and those guys and obviously ‘Otter’too. It was an easy decision and obviously how much I like thisorganization and this city.
“It’sdifferent, but it doesn’t change anything for me. This competitionis very healthy forespecially the bottom six. This is the tightest it’s been in myyears since I’ve been here to grab a spot. All that’s healthy andyou’re just pushing each other to be the best version of yourselfevery day and every play you make out there. For my own sake, I’mjust looking at this positively and just trying to do the best I canevery day.”
Sundqvisthas been part of Group B at the start of training camp, meaning he’swith all the prospects that are likely Springfield-bound or with guyslike Nathan Walker, Jack Finley, Dillon Dube, Otto Stenberg, Aleksanteri Kaskimakiand perhaps Dylan Peterson vying to win the remaining two spots (Nos.13 and 14) on the opening night roster.
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IfSundqvist, who had 17 points (five goals, 12 assists) in 52 gameslast season and has fought his own injury demons that have included apair of torn ACL’s, doesn’twin out a roster spot, he is prone to waivers and if unclaimed, headto Springfield and play for the time being under Steve Ott.
That’swhy he understands he’s in a fight for his livelihood to stay inthe NHL and with the Blues.
“Playmy game and be consistent and show that I want one of those spots,show that I can do what they’re asking me to do and be consistentand be reliable and play my game,” Sundqvistsaid.”I lost it a little bit last year I feel like the second halfespecially. It’s more just getting back to where I was and how Iwas playing and obviously getting the speed up. It’s differentskating. It doesn’t really matter how hard you’re trying beforetraining camp starts. It’s a different breed. Just these two days,now we’re back up to speed I feel like and just keep working onit.”
Whatdoes Sundqvist, who has played in 545 regular-season NHL games in hiscareer with the Blues, Pittsburgh Penguins, Detroit Red Wings andMinnesota Wild, have going for him more than anything? Health.
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Bluesbrass and the coaching staff know more than anyone who Sundqvist is,but coming into a training camp completely healthy for the first timesince 2024 has its benefits.
“Justthat he has the capability of handling more ice time, he has thecapability of not breaking down, his body’s not breaking down,”Bluescoach Jim Montgomery said.”There’s a lot of games last year where he was playing and he wasplaying on a leg and a half, and that’s not the case right now.It’s just to see how much energy he has.
“Itsays how much he loves being a Blue (signinga two-way contract).I think that’s the simplest thing it says and I think he’swilling to fight for his way into the roster. I do know that this isthe best that he’s felt physically in four or five years becauseit’s the second summer in a row where he hasn’t had to have asurgery. Chronologically, he’snot old, like even for a hockey player.”
Sundqvistsaid he’s grateful to finally feel healthy again, something thathasn’t been the case for prolonged stretches of his career.
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“Italkedto Ray (Barile)andhe knows about it too and (Ryan)Podell,especially when you have ACL surgeries and knees and stuff likethat,” Sundqvistsaid.”It usually takes two years before it’s fully healed. Last year,you go into a third period and your knees are hurting pretty bad.This summer and these skates that we’ve had a couple week beforethis and now these two (training camp practices), it’s probablybeen pain free in the knee. It feels much better and it feels likeyou can take your stride out a little bit more and push off of itmore. It feels really good actually. I’m happy to feel this way.”
Andwhen was the last time he felt this way?
“Rightbefore my second ACL surgery, so that was 2.5 years ago probably,”Sundqvist said. “It’s been a while. It’s good to be totallypain free and feel like I can keep up with guys out there and notlimping around.
“It’snice now, these two days have been a great test for it. It’s been alot of skating and a lot of moving out there and I haven’t had anyproblems. It’s been a good test and I’m really happy I don’thave any pain.”
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