St. Louis Blues forward Alexey Toropchenko is headed for a long absence after suffering an upper-body injury in Friday’s season opener against the Dallas Stars.
According to The Athletic’s Jeremy Rutherford, Toropchenko will be re-evaluated in six weeks and is expected to miss at least that long. He left the game in the second period after taking two hits behind the net, with the injury initially described as a shoulder issue.
The sequence unfolded after Toropchenko absorbed a hard check from defenceman Lian Bischel and then, while moving toward the boards, took another shot from the side from Tyler Seguin. Toropchenko immediately reached for his upper right arm as he fell to the ice.
After being tended to on the ice, he was visibly hurting as he made his way down the tunnel and into the dressing room, hunched over and bracing his arm with about 16 and a half minutes left in the second period.
Following the Blues’ 4-0 win, head coach Jim Montgomery said Toropchenko was sore with an upper body injury and was “more than day-to-day.” Montgomery added that he still didn’t have an MRI at that point, but expected more clarity on Saturday, when the Blues were scheduled to play in Colorado.
Toropchenko, 27, is in his sixth NHL season, all with St. Louis. He’s coming off a 2025-26 season in which he scored four goals and finished with 11 points, both his lowest totals in a full season since his rookie year, when he appeared in just 28 games.
Through 325 career NHL games, the Moscow native has 34 goals and 71 points.
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