Joel Edmundson didn’t want to look.

He had blocked a shot from Colorado’s Nail Yakupov on Feb. 8 and his right arm had gone numb. What he didn’t know was that he had a compound fracture of his forearm, with the broken bone coming through his skin.

“The puck was just sitting there, so I just tried to pick it up with my hand and sweep it away, but I couldn’t feel the puck at all underneath my hand so I knew something was wrong then,” the Blues defenseman said Tuesday.

He finished the shift, skated to the bench and, after a while, his arm was still numb. Something was definitely wrong.

“It was on the other side of my arm so I really couldn’t even see it,” he said. “My arm felt numb and it was pretty painful, but I wasn’t sure what it looked like at the time. I didn’t really want to look. I felt like I might have passed out.

“I felt a lot. I didn’t hear anything. I’ve blocked lots of shots off my arm. This one just made my arm numb. I wasn’t sure if it was broken, I had no idea what happened. I went back to the bench, sat out a couple shifts and the pain didn’t go away so I figured I should get it X rayed. I wanted to get back out there.”

Edmundson didn’t get back out there, but less than a month later, he’s very close to being back. He had his second day of practice with the team Tuesday and he was a full participant, meaning that the team’s medical staff feels the bone, which is held together with a plate, is healed. Now it’s a matter of getting strength back in the arm to do everything he needs to do on the ice.

“I’m hoping it’s sooner rather than later,” he said.

How soon? The Blues play again Thursday in San Jose, then Saturday in Los Angeles and Monday in Anaheim in a three game trip that looms large for their playoff hopes. A return for one of those games, which would be two weeks ahead of schedule, seems possible.

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“Obviously every day he goes out there and plays the way he did at practice moves him closer to coming back https://www.slbluesfans.com/joel-edmundson-jersey-c-9.html,” Blues coach Mike Yeo said.


“Just wake up in the morning and see how I feel,” Edmundson said. “We’ll just take it day by day. Over the next week, we’ll see how I feel. There’s no rush, but I definitely want to get back out there and I want to help the team out.

“I could have a good day and you never know. If one of our ‘D’ go down, I may have to get in. I’m feeling pretty good on the ice right now Jake Allen Jersey, but it’s just practice. There’s a couple of things I still want to work on before I get back in the game. Just make sure my conditioning’s back up there, too. Just make sure I’m 100 percent before I step back on the ice.”

If Edmundson’s return is possible, it also may be essential. The Blues won the first game after he got hurt, then lost seven in a row and eight of nine to move out of the top eight in the Western Conference. There’s not much room to maneuver right now. If Edmundson is cleared to play and feels ready to go, he’ll play.

“We’re at a point in our season where it’s desperation mode https://www.slbluesfans.com/vince-dunn-jersey-c-10.html,” Yeo said. “We can’t sit around and try to save somebody for the playoffs because that’s not going to be there for us unless we start winning games here.”

The Blues need him because their defense fell apart without him, in one stretch allowing 16 goals in three games. Teams have been able to set up shop in front of the Blues’ net, an area Edmundson usually helps keep clear.

“He’s obviously a very physical player,” Yeo said. “He’s going to make guys pay a price when they go there. He’s a guy that I find has sort of a sneaky composure in terms of how he executes https://www.slbluesfans.com/carl-gunnarsson-jersey-c-8.html, how he moves the puck out of our zone, we spend less time because of that. We also spend less time defending in our own zone because he breaks plays up quickly, whether it’s his physical nature and the way he separates people from the puck or whether it’s gap control and his stick and his range.”

Edmundson thinks he needs some more contact on the ice and some strength in his wrist for shooting. While he was taking shots in practice Tuesday, he never really let one rip.

“The strength isn’t there yet, there’s still a bit of pain,” he said. “I can fight through pain, but just the strength is lacking . The more shots I take, I feel like the better I’ll get. I think over the next week it’ll come.

“The doctor said it’s as sturdy as ever so we don’t have to worry about that. It’s just getting the strength back and making sure the muscle’s there and we’re all good.”

As soon as he can, he’ll be out there. Fellow defenseman Colton Parayko was marveling about Edmundson finishing a shift with a broken arm. “Impressive, that’s for sure,” Parayko said.

“You want to be smart about it,” Edmundson said. “Obviously I want to get out there as fast as I can, but at the same time, it’s a serious injury so I want to make sure before I step on the ice into a game and make sure I can compete in the battles like I used to. For right now, I’m just working on my shots and we’ll ramp it up and get into battle practices and I think I’ll be good to go.”