Rumor: Blues defenseman may miss the start of the Stanley Cup Final.

The St. Louis Blues may be headed into the Stanley Cup Final with a fairly significant disadvantage.

A recent article from St. Louis Blues beat writer Tom Timmerman of the St. Louis Post Dispatch has just hinted at the fact that the Blues may be down a man to start the 2019 Stanley Cup Final, a final where they will face off against a very tough Boston Bruins sqaud. Now to be clear, before we share the details of Timmerman's report with you, there has been no official announcement from the Blues on this front and head coach Craig Berube has not appeared concerned when facing the cameras, but nonetheless Timmerman knows his stuff.

According to Timmerman Blues head coach Craig Berube had said it would be a big step forward for the team if injured defenseman Vince Dunn returned to practice on Friday with his teammates, but according to Timmerman's report the young blue liner failed to do so. I suppose you can take some positives away in suggesting that Dunn did hit the ice without his teammates, skating a little but not practicing in any meaningful way, but that is not want you want to hear just days away from the Stanley Cup Final. Timmerman has suggested that this no casts even more doubt on how soon Dunn might actually be able to return to the line up. 

“He just stayed off and did off-ice (work) today,” said head coach Berube as per the Post Dispatch. “We’ll see how he is tomorrow and go from there. That’s all.”

Dunn of course was injured in the Western Conference Final where the Blues took on the San Jose Sharks, eventually defeating them in 6 games to move on to the Stanley Cup Final. It was during Game 3 of that series that Dunn took a hard shot to the face and he has not been seen back on the ice since then. The team has described his condition as merely an "upper body injury" however given the length of his absence and the time of year I have to believe this is concussion related. Given that Berube appeared to be optimistic about Dunn coming back to practice on Friday and given the fact that this did not take place, again I suspect concussion symptoms may be the root cause of Dunn's absence at the moment. 

Injuries are a fact of life for any hockey team this late into the season, but this is a tough one for the Blues who are headed into some of the most important games in their franchise's history.