Sunday, September 18, 2005

Keith Tkachuk failed a physical and was suspended Friday by the team.

ST. LOUIS (AP) - St. Louis Blues forward Keith Tkachuk failed a
physical and was suspended Friday by the team.

General manager Larry Pleau did not elaborate on the status of
Tkachuk, but said he was expected to return to the team.

TSN has learned that Tkachuk showed up overweight and the team felt it
had no choice but to suspend him.

"Players have to come to camp in shape," Blue coach Mike Kitchen told
the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Friday. "He's been terrific following
the program previously. The work stoppage has been hard on a lot of
people. We had a lot of frustrated players. ... They had so many dates
they had to peak, and they weren't able to hold their level of
fitness."

The 33-year-old left wing had 33 goals and 38 assists in 2003-04, the
last season before the lockout. He has scored 431 goals and added 401
assists in his career.

No comments: