Oskar Sundqvist is out the rest of the season for the St. Louis Blues with a torn ACL in his right knee.
The forward left at 9:50 of the second period of a 2-1 overtime loss to the Vegas Golden Knights on Monday after he was hit in the corner by Golden Knights defenseman Brayden McNabb. He was helped off the ice and later seen walking in a boot with crutches.
Sundqvist will have surgery and be reevaluated in six months. He has 21 points (six goals, 15 assists) in 71 games this season.
"Unfortunately, he got his foot caught there and went into the boards," interim coach Drew Bannister told the Blues website. "It's an unfortunate injury for him and certainly we're going to miss him while he's out, but we've got guys in here capable of filling that role, so guys are going to get more opportunity."
Sundqvist signed a two-year, $3 million contract ($1.5 million average annual value) with St. Louis on March 7. The 30-year-old could have become an unrestricted free agent after the season; he had signed a one-year, $775,000 contract to return for a second stint with the Blues on July 12.
Sundqvist played for the Blues for five seasons from 2017-22 and helped them win the Stanley Cup in 2019. He was traded to the Detroit Red Wings on March 21, 2022, and traded by Detroit to the Minnesota Wild on March 3, 2023.
A third-round pick (No.81) by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 2012 NHL Draft, Sundqvist has 144 points (56 goals, 88 assists) in 426 regular-season games with the Blues, Red Wings, Wild and Penguins, and 11 points (five goals, six assists) in 37 playoff games.
The Blues (38-30-4) will host the Calgary Flames at Enterprise Center on Thursday (8 p.m. ET; BSMW, SNW). They're four points behind the Golden Knights for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference with Vegas holding one game in hand.
Zach Dean will play his second NHL game for St. Louis; the forward skated 8:41 in his NHL debut, a 5-2 win against the Ottawa Senators on March 21.
"'Deaner' will get another opportunity here tomorrow," Bannister said. "It's good to get him back in the lineup. We're going to get fresh legs in and give him an opportunity to play here."
NHL.com independent correspondent Lou Korac contributed to this report
