Schwartz sidelined with elbow injury

ST. LOUIS - The Blues will be without forward Jaden Schwartz to start the season after he sustained a left elbow injury in practice.
Schwartz is expected to miss four weeks, but Blues Head Coach Ken Hitchcock said the news isn't all that bad.
"It could be a lot worse," Hitchcock said Friday. "We've got two weeks of training camp left, so he won't miss many games. With an injury like that, it could be nothing or it could be surgery, you don't know… The nice part is, he's going to be in shape because it's not going to affect his skating. He'll be in cardio shape and can hit the ground running.
"We're not going to play many games without him, maybe five, six, (or) seven - and we can certainly do that."

Schwartz was injured Thursday after getting tangled up with teammate Alexander Steen. Hitchcock said Schwartz was skating one way, but his upper body was going the other way.

With 48 players still left in training camp, Hitchcock said the injury creates an opportunity for others, including Magnus Paajarvi, Kenny Agostino, T.J. Galiardi and Sammy Blais.
"It opens up the door on a short term basis for quite a few guys, and it happens to be the position that guys have had great camps."
Schwartz appeared in 33 regular season games last season due to a serious leg injury. He posted 22 points (eight goals and 14 assists) in those games and also appeared in all 20 Blues postseason games, sharing third on the team with 14 points (four goals, 10 assists).