NHL
ST. LOUIS — This year’s preseason schedule is a bit unusual for the St. Louis Blues.
After playing exhibition games on back-to-back nights last weekend, the Blues are in a stretch of five days without putting on their game uniforms. For comparison, the club never went more than two days without a game last September and October.
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It wasn’t done by design.
“No, we would’ve preferred to have been playing today,” Blues coach Jim Montgomery said Wednesday. “It’s just the way it goes.”
The Blues, who are 0-1-1 after losses to the Dallas Stars and Columbus Blue Jackets, have been on the ice at their practice facility a lot lately. They’ve spent time working on their offense, defense, special teams, and, well, it’s camp, so there’s a lot of conditioning.
“Pace is a big thing for me in camp; you have to do things fast,” Montgomery said. “So that’s why you see us going from one drill (to the next) and you see there’s a lot of pace in the drills. I was really happy, having talked to the coaches — there was not one dog in either group, and usually there is a dog in a group. That’s great! There were quite a few players that were exceptional.”
The Blues, who will play the next of their four remaining preseason games Saturday against the Chicago Blackhawks, gave us our first glimpse of what the lineup could look like for the regular-season opener Oct. 9.
“We wanted to put guys back together that had played together before (and) see some guys that are new with other players that had been here,” Montgomery said. “We’re starting to get people together that we think might be part of our lineup.”
What does that look like? With less than two weeks left before everything must be set, here’s our Blues’ roster projection 1.0.
There are no surprises at the top.
Jimmy Snuggerud went straight from the University of Minnesota to the Blues’ No. 1 line last season, and the Blues so far see no reason he shouldn’t be back with left winger Pavel Buchnevich and center Robert Thomas.
“He’s bigger, he’s faster, he’s stronger, and then he’s got the skill to go with it,” Montgomery said. “His motor, he just seems like he’s on top of pucks, he’s getting pucks back. Things just seem to be happening.”
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The Blues survived a scare in Wednesday’s practice when Snuggerud went into the boards hard. He left the ice early, but Montgomery said afterward that any injury serious in nature had been eliminated.
“I went over him and he was really out of breath,” Montgomery said. “I’m like, ‘Are you out of breath, or are you hurt?’ He couldn’t answer because he was so out of breath. Fortunately, it seems like that’s what it was.”
Snuggerud is listed as day to day, and when he returns, he’ll be back in his usual spot.
The No. 2 line is where we saw a variation this week of what we expected for the forward combinations. Captain Brayden Schenn centered Dylan Holloway and Jordan Kyrou last season, and the three had a lot of success.
However, in the offseason, Montgomery told The Athletic that newcomer Pius Suter could also be an option in the middle on that line, and, in fact, he was in that spot between Holloway and Kyrou during this week’s practice.
When asked if the Blues liked that look better than Schenn at center, Montgomery replied, “I like (Suter) a lot. Whether that translates to him playing between Kyrou and Holloway, I’m not sure. We know what it looks like with Schenn. We know that that was a line that produced extremely well for us. So we’re seeing it with Suter. The good thing is when you have two veteran centers like Suter and Schenn, wherever they’re going to play, they’re going to play for the team.”
Suter, who scored a career-high 25 goals with the Vancouver Canucks last season, didn’t hide his excitement about the possibility of playing with that group.
“Those are two very skilled players,” he said. “I’ve just got to try to open ways and find that hot pocket to score those goals. It’s just building chemistry. It just takes a little bit to see how they think and where everybody is going to be positioning-wise. It’ll take a couple of games in the exhibition and then I think it will be OK.”
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In the end, though, it would be a little surprising if Schenn didn’t start the season on the second line. Suter could always climb his way up, but he’d be a big benefit to the projected wingers on the third line, too.
“(Suter) is a player who makes those around him better, whether he’s in an offensive role or defensive role, because he just plays to his strengths,” Montgomery said. “It seems like because of his hockey brain, he just adapts.”
Who would those projected wingers be?
Jake Neighbours played his way onto the Blues’ top line the past couple of seasons, but with Snuggerud’s arrival and Holloway healthy again, he will likely open the season at left wing on the third line. Neighbours missed the first few days of camp tending to a personal matter, but he’s back in the rhythm.
“It’s great to see his smiling face (Tuesday), and I thought he looked good,” Montgomery said. “He didn’t seem to be behind.”
As for right wing, Mathieu Joseph has been playing there in the preseason and has been fairly consistent.
“His habits and details have been better,” Montgomery said. “He’s really made an effort to be good with his stick on the forecheck, his stick in the D-zone, on the tracking situations, and he’s playing fast. He’s hitting holes with his speed, which is always very noticeable, but now he has time and space with the puck because of those things.”
It wouldn’t be a shocking development if Joseph held onto the spot, but a possible scenario is the Blues putting Nick Bjugstad there.
This week, Bjugstad has been centering Alexandre Texier and Justin Carbonneau, but Montgomery acknowledged part of the reason was that he wants the newcomer to get as much experience as possible in the middle in the team’s system. The veteran has played a lot of wing in his career, and after netting 22 goals with the Arizona Coyotes two seasons ago, he’s definitely an option next to Neighbours and perhaps Suter.
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If Bjugstad does find his way onto the third line, the fourth line would likely look the way we saw it in practice this week: Oskar Sundqvist centering Alexey Toropchenko and Nathan Walker. If Joseph wins the job on the third line, it could be Bjugstad centering the fourth line, with Sundqvist, Toropchenko and Walker battling for the two spots on the wing.
“It makes us deeper whoever ends up claiming that (spot) because we have a lot of guys,” Montgomery said. “Everyone’s going to be moved around here — right wing and center, seeing different people and different combinations.”
The 2024-25 season was a down year offensively for Toropchenko, finishing with just four goals after netting 14 in 2023-24, but Montgomery believes he can be a factor on that line.
“It’s going to be getting more scoring opportunities in areas where he can score,” Montgomery said. “In practice, his shot, his ability to deflect pucks, is really good. Everything seems to go in for him in tight, so he’s just got to get more opportunities in tight — screening goalies, using his reach to get to rebounds.”
If the Blues keep 14 forwards, there would be just two spots left for Joseph, Texier, Carbonneau and Milan Lucic. The way I see it now, Joseph and Texier make the most sense.
Carbonneau seems destined to return to his junior team, but not because he hasn’t been impressive. He’s been every bit as advertised.
“You know what I love about the kid is he loves to play hockey,” Montgomery said. “He loves to be on the ice, and you know he loves to score goals. He’s trying always to figure out where he can go to get the puck to score.
“Then you know there’s areas of his game, naturally, that he’s got to get better. He loves to go to the open ice, which is outside the dots. He’s got to get inside the dots. He’s got to become a more classic goal scorer like we’ve seen here in the Brett Hulls, the Brendan Shanahans, Keith Tkachuks. Those people score goals inside the dots.”
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Lucic, meanwhile, has missed the past couple of practices with what Montgomery indicated was a tweaked groin.
“He’s walking around fine. It’s just a matter of being able to push out there,” Montgomery said. “It’s unfortunate timing for him and us for the evaluation process to see if he can make the club. If he’s really day to day and he’s back to play next week, he’ll get into games and we’ll see if he can make the team.”
The Blues’ top four hasn’t changed.
Cam Fowler is back and skating on the top pair with Colton Parayko. Philip Broberg is also back and reunited with Justin Faulk on the second pair.
The third pair is where the Blues will have a fairly new look.
Logan Mailloux, who was acquired in the trade with the Montreal Canadiens for Zack Bolduc, has been given a spot on the right side. Early in camp, he’s shown enough to warrant keeping him there for the start of the regular season.
“His instincts have been really good,” Montgomery said. “His skill set is very evident. His skating is above what I thought it was going to be, which is exciting. Like, he gets around the ice really well. And the way he handles the puck — he handles the puck like a forward. So he’s that new-age defenseman that can play all 200 feet.
“We’ve been pleasantly surprised with how good he is. Dwefensively and offensively, we think there’s other levels to go. We’ve got to see what he can handle, but his instincts are really good as a player.”
Tucker has been playing the left side with Mailloux. Tucker did play 38 games with the Blues last season, but he wasn’t called up until mid-December. His reputation is being a rugged defensive defenseman, but with three goals and seven points, he showed that his offense is underrated.
“I think it’s very underrated,” Montgomery said. “He had opportunities, and he gets pucks through. He’s looking for sticks and gets those tips. Very underrated.”
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Meanwhile, Matthew Kessel is competing for a spot on the opening-night roster. After playing 39 games in 2023-24 and opening some eyes, he seemed to regress last season and played only 29 games.
“He’s looked really good,” Montgomery said. “Confident. I really like the way he’s killing plays. He’s always done a really good job in the offensive zone being aggressive, but he’s doing a better job now in the neutral zone so people don’t get our zone, and then he’s doing a better job in the D-zone of killing plays so we can get out of our end. So yeah, a lot of healthy stuff with him.”
Kessel is aware that Mailloux’s arrival has made the challenge more difficult, but he’s just focused on himself.
“I’m feeling very strong and solid in my areas of the game that I focused on this summer, just getting back some of that strength in my stride and being comfortable in my stride,” he said. “A big thing for me is practice how I play, so that’s a big thing. If I do my job in the D-zone, work hard in the corners and the net front, a lot of the rest will take care of itself. I’ve grown a lot mentally, and hoping to take the next step and play 82 games this year.”
The Blues’ goalie tandem, as expected, will be Jordan Binnington and Joel Hofer. Both have been their usual selves in practice and preseason action and will be sharing the duties for the third straight season.
(Top photo of Jordan Kyrou, Dylan Holloway and Brayden Schenn: Stephen R. Sylvanie / Imagn Images)
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Jeremy Rutherford is a senior writer for The Athletic covering the St. Louis Blues. He has covered the team since the 2005-06 season, including a dozen years at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. He is the author of “Bernie Federko: My Blues Note” and “100 Things Blues Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die.” In addition, he is the Blues Insider for 101 ESPN in St. Louis. Follow Jeremy on Twitter @jprutherford
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