The St. Louis Blues will be without Alexey Toropchenko for a while after the depth winger went down with an upper-body injury in Friday’s season opener.
On October 4, the team said Toropchenko will be re-evaluated in six weeks, which puts his return off until at least mid-November. The Blues did not offer any additional detail on the injury.
Toropchenko was hurt partway through the second period against Dallas after taking a hit along the boards from Lian Bichsel and Tyler Seguin. He was helped off the ice and appeared to be favoring his right shoulder or forearm on the way out.
Head coach Jim Montgomery said after the game that the injury would keep Toropchenko out longer than day-to-day.
It’s a tough break for a player who had been a regular in St. Louis’ lineup over the past two seasons. Across the 2023-24 and 2024-25 campaigns, Toropchenko missed only two games and produced 18 goals and 39 points in 162 games.
Last season, though, the injury luck turned. Toropchenko missed several weeks in December 2025 after a home accident caused severe burns on his legs, and he also sat out stretches with day-to-day injuries. In all, he missed 17 games and finished with four goals, 11 points and a career-low minus-11.
Even with that quieter year, St. Louis signed him to a two-year, $5M extension in January 2026.
The deal runs through the 2027-28 season and keeps the 27-year-old in a fourth-line role. Toropchenko hasn’t reached 20 points since 2023-24, but his value has never been about offense alone.
Over his six-year NHL career, he has averaged 58 shot blocks and 180 hits per 82 games, while piling up just 110 penalty minutes overall, or 28 PIMs per 82 games.
With Toropchenko out, the Blues lose a physical piece they won’t easily replace. The opening should create a path for Dillon Dube, who could make his first NHL appearance since the 2023-24 season.
Dube spent the 2024-25 season in Russia’s KHL before returning to North American pro hockey on an AHL contract with the Springfield Thunderbirds in December 2025. He worked his way to the top of Springfield’s lineup and posted 20 goals and 37 points in 46 games.
Now he gets another chance to push into the NHL picture. Dube, 28, scored a career-best 18 goals and 45 points in 2022-23, and Toropchenko’s absence may give him an opening to stick in the St. Louis lineup.
Dube was also one of five Team Canada players acquitted in a sexual assault case involving the 2018 World Junior Championship. By stepping into the Blues’ lineup, he will become the third player named in the trial to return to the NHL.
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