Schwartz has missed 20 games with a right ankle injury sustained Dec. 9 at the Detroit Red Wings after blocking a shot. He has been skating since Jan. 15.

ST. LOUIS -- Left wing Jaden Schwartz could return to the lineup for the St. Louis Blues against the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday (8 p.m. ET; FS-MW, ALT2, NHL.TV).

"I feel pretty good," Schwartz said. "It's been a long process, but I feel like in the last week I've made some strides. I started off slow on the ice and started pushing it more lately, so it's feeling a lot better.

"I feel close. I'm not sure yet about [Thursday] but I'm close. I feel like my speed's getting back and the game legs are close."

Blues coach Mike Yeo said the decision is up to Schwartz, who has been medically cleared to return.

"We have to make sure that he feels sure," Yeo said. "Another good day today. As per usual, we won't discuss our lineup for tomorrow, but we'll see how he feels tomorrow morning.

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"I would say we have a spot in our lineup when he says he's ready to go. Medically he's definitely been cleared. Physically, in our eyes, we feel confident that he's ready to go, and obviously the caliber of player he is, we're anxious to have him back. Now it's just a matter of him saying he feels right. We don't want to put him in a bad spot, we don't want to pressure him into it. It's got to be something he feels he's ready for, but again, we definitely wouldn't put him into a bad position."

Schwartz ranks third on the Blues with 35 points (14 goals, 21 assists) and was tied for ninth in the NHL in points at the time of his injury. He is tied for fifth in the NHL at plus-23.

St. Louis has gone 9-10-1 without Schwartz; they were 20-8-2 with him.

"You just realize how big of a piece he is to our team," defenseman Colton Parayko said. "We're excited to have him back out there for sure. We're looking forward to his return. Hopefully it's soon.

"Just skating with us is another big step. I think skating's kind of a different nature of the beast in anything, even in just riding a bike. When you can do things on the ice and conditioning on the ice, it's different for sure. It's good for him and us as a whole."