Considering he had missed nearly two weeks of training camp, the St. Louis Blues were impressed with Keith Tkachuk’s first day on the ice Thursday.
“He looked good,” captain Dallas Drake said. “We had a pretty short practice but I thought he looked really good.”
So good that it’s likely Tkachuk, suspended at the start of training camp Sept. 16 after failing a physical, will play in the opener at Detroit on Wednesday.
Tkachuk, who led the Blues with 33 goals and 71 points in 2003-04, did little skating during the NHL lockout that wiped out last season, and was rumored to have reported about 25 pounds overweight.
“I wasn’t as prepared as I should have been,” Tkachuk said. “But I’m telling you right now, if you watched me skate today I’m definitely prepared now.”
Coach Mike Kitchen said the team was “kind of leaning” toward dressing Tkachuk in the opener.
“A lot of it will be how comfortable he is on the ice,” Kitchen said. “It’s getting in traffic and making plays, his timing, that type of thing. He’ll have plenty of practice.”
Tkachuk, the second-highest paid player in the NHL at $7.6 million, passed a physical Thursday morning.
Meanwhile, the owners of the Blues signed a letter of intent to negotiate a sale with a group headed by the former chief executive officer of Madison Square Garden.
The letter gives Sports Capital Partners LLC, a group led by Dave Checketts, 30 days to negotiate the sale of the team and arena lease with Bill and Nancy Laurie, who bought the team in 1999 and put it up for sale in June.
Red Wings: Steve Yzerman might be out with a groin injury for Detroit’s season opener.
“The injury has kept him off the ice this week and we’ll know a lot more on Monday when he plans to skate again,” general manager Ken Holland said. “If he’s not 100 percent healthy, he’s not going to play because it’s a long season and we’re going to need him.”
Detroit is expected to be without goaltender Chris Osgood (groin), while defenseman Niklas Kronwall (knee) is out for at least six weeks.
Penguins: Forward Andre Roy has been suspended by the NHL for the first two games of the regular season for directing repeated inappropriate gestures toward Robin Gomez of the Washington Capitals in an exhibition game.
