Schwartz back on ice with Blues after ankle injury

HAZELWOOD, Mo. --St. Louis Blues left wing Jaden Schwartz skated Monday for the first time since injuring his right ankle Dec. 9.
Schwartz, whose 35 points (14 goals, 21 assists) are third on the Blues, has missed 16 games and initially was scheduled to be re-evaluated in six weeks.

"It's another positive, happy about that," Blues coach Mike Yeo said. "We'll see how he's doing here, but certainly happy to have him back."
Yeo said he did not want to speculate on a potential return date for Schwartz, who did not travel with the Blues (26-17-3) for a two-game road trip beginning at the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; TSN4, FS-MW, NHL.TV). The Blues have been off the past six days.
"Let's just see how he does here today and we'll kind of evaluate it as we go on here day by day," Yeo said. "The first thing we have to do here today is get him on the ice and see how he reacts to that, and then depending obviously on how today goes and the next couple days, we'll have a better idea."

Schwartz was injured blocking a shot by Detroit Red Wings defenseman Mike Green with 2:51 remaining in the first period of a 6-1 victory.
The Blues are 20-8-2 with Schwartz in the lineup, scoring 3.30 goals per game and allowing 2.53 goals per game. They are 6-9-1 without him, scoring 2.00 goals per game and allowing 2.88 goals per game.
"I don't know the time frame obviously, but just getting [Schwartz] on the ice is a good step in the right direction," St. Louis captain Alex Pietrangelo said.