ST. LOUIS — There were three practice groups on the ice Thursday for the first day of St. Louis Blues training camp, with new faces in each group.
Philip Broberg and Alexandre Texier were in Group A, Dylan Holloway and Mathieu Joseph in Group B and Ryan Suter in Group C.
“We’re certainly faster,” Blues coach Drew Bannister said. “We’re bigger. We’re heavier. So it’s going to allow us to play a more aggressive game, which we wanted to do. We thought that was one of our deficiencies in our game. This lets us play a more aggressive, faster hockey game.”
The Athletic has been speculating for weeks what the team’s lineup could look like on opening night in Seattle on Oct. 8, and we finally got our first glimpse of what the coaching staff might be thinking.
Again, the Blues split their 63-man training camp roster into three squads, so you have to do a little reading between the lines to decipher the team’s depth chart or determine the line combinations and defensive pairings. But piecing together the groups, here’s the way it appeared they’ll come together.
As Pavel Buchnevich told us to expect Wednesday, the Blues opened camp with him at center.
“At the end of the day last year, we used him a lot at center, and we had some success toward the end of the year and we thought he played very well,” Bannister said. “It certainly strengthened our group having him there. Yeah, we have the ability to move him to the wing, but right now, we’re going to do what’s best for the team and the player.”
Meanwhile, Brayden Schenn was playing left wing on a line with Jake Neighbours on the right, so that could indicate the club’s intentions for those two players at the start of the season.
“I don’t care. I used to care. I used to like to play a certain position, but after being through so many training camps, you don’t get too worked up about much because things change real fast,” Schenn said. “If I look at my linemates last year, I played with pretty much everyone and played all positions — center, left and right. I actually do enjoy the right wing, but honestly I don’t care. You get opportunity with good players and you make the most of it.”
Nor did Neighbours care.
“Not really,” he said. “I played left in junior (hockey) and played a lot of right last year. Just wherever they need me, happy to play there. I know Schenner is very comfortable on the right as well. It’s just written on the board that way, and then we can sort it out from there.”
Bannister claimed a lot could change with the lineup combinations.
“The lines are the lines, and I don’t think the first day of practice really dictates where guys are going to play,” he said. “I think guys are playing in certain situations, whether it’s on the wing or center, as camp goes on and as we weed guys out. We’ll see if guys step up and play above their level or what we expect, and then we’ll make those decisions. But I don’t think we’re hamstrung on making any decisions. What you see out there might not be what you see in Seattle when we start.”
The Blues got a look at Broberg and Holloway for the first time after acquiring the pair from the Edmonton Oilers.
“My impression of Broberg, I thought he was excellent,” Bannister said. “He moved the puck really well. I’m really impressed with his size and skating ability and the way he moves pucks. Speaking to the other staff, they thought the line of Faksa and Holloway were really good. They were impressed with (Holloway), his compete level, his ability to skate. So right now, initially, we’re really happy with him.”
It’s only Day 1, but seeing all of Doug Armstrong’s additions and how they look together was something even the players were eagerly anticipating.
“Super excited,” Schenn said. “It’s tough not making the playoffs two years in a row, so we’re going to push hard and keep building something in our locker room. We feel like we’ve got a good team with a lot of depth that can push and give teams trouble each night. It’s early on, but we feel like we have good pieces.”
Let’s break down the depth chart by position.
Left wing
It’s not surprising to see Schenn’s name on the wing, and again, he could end up on the left side or the right side. Bannister could swap Schenn and Neighbours, play Neighbours with Robert Thomas and Jordan Kyrou and drop Schenn with Buchnevich and Brandon Saad.
But for now, it appears Saad is second on the depth chart at left wing, and that makes sense because the Blues will want to put a couple of experienced wingers with Buchnevich as he continues to learn the center position. Ideally, Saad would play on the third line, but that would probably require Zack Bolduc cracking the top six, which is possible. (Bolduc skated with Thomas and Kyrou in Thursday’s practice).
Holloway is expected to be on the third line, and the Blues had him on the left side. Armstrong indicated earlier this offseason that the team would benefit from putting two speedy wingers on a line with Faksa, and it seems they’re doing that by flanking him with Holloway and Joseph.
Texier is a bottom-six forward who could play on the third line, but when the Blues picked up Holloway, the move likely pushed Texier down to the fourth line. He can also play the right side and even center, so he’s going to be an interchangeable piece for the club.
Center
Thomas will be the No. 1 center for years to come. It was interesting — not surprising, but interesting — that the Blues had him with Kyrou at the start of camp. Those are two players who must produce, and at times the club has had to split them up to get the most out of them, but for the start of camp at least, they are back together.
The plan is for Buchnevich to hold down the No. 2 center job, and we’ll see how long that lasts. The organization is committed to it, and Buchnevich is willing, so perhaps it’s a move the Blues stick with longer than they have in the past.
Faksa, 30, is a player many Blues fans may have forgotten about after all the other offseason moves. He’s played 638 NHL games — all with the Dallas Stars — and the team picked him up for “future considerations” this summer. He’s not fleet of foot, but he’s a worker. At this point in his career, many see him as a fourth-line center, but with the Blues’ current personnel, he appears to be third on the depth chart.
On the fourth line, Zach Dean is on the depth chart for now, but that’s because Oskar Sundqvist is recovering from knee surgery. Sundqvist is practicing in camp, but Armstrong said he won’t play in any preseason games, which will give Dean some time to prove himself.
Right wing
This will be Kyrou’s fifth full season in the NHL, and at 26 years old, could it be his best so far? Helped by a strong finish, he had 31 goals last season, which was seen as a disappointment, but that just shows the high expectations many have for him.
Neighbours, meanwhile, is coming off a breakout season with 27 goals, and he might have hit the 30-goal plateau if not for a late-season upper-body injury. He added a little muscle this offseason and checked into camp at 204 pounds.
Joseph is next on the right side, but he can also play on the left. He doesn’t score a lot — he had 11 goals last year with the Ottawa Senators — but he’s versatile and brings some much-needed speed.
Blues fans know Toropchenko and what he’s capable of. He could be a third-line staple, no doubt, and the fact he’s opening camp fourth on the depth chart illustrates the upgrades the club has made to its bottom six.
Left defense
The top spot on the left side will be Broberg’s one day, but he’s only played 81 NHL games and he’s on a new team with new surroundings. Also, let’s not forget Nick Leddy and Colton Parayko had a pretty good year together last season.
Leddy has two more seasons on his contract — this year and next — so it’s possible he sticks with Parayko for the foreseeable future. But depending on how the top two pairs perform early in the season, Leddy-Parayko and Broberg-Faulk could be flipped.
When it became known earlier this offseason Torey Krug could miss the season with an ankle injury, which ended up being the case, the Blues signed free agent Ryan Suter. They weren’t going to sign him to sit in the press box, so it was no surprise he was paired with Matthew Kessel in the first practice. That’s the likely third defensive pairing for club unless Scott Perunovich can steal some playing time from Suter.
Right defense
Social media certainly is a quieter place when Parayko is playing well. He was phenomenal last season, looking like the No. 1 defenseman the Blues desperately need, and there’s no reason to think that he’ll have a regression to days when a back injury hampered him.
Faulk was limited to 60 games last season because of a high ankle sprain, but the offseason allowed that to fully heal. There’s a fraction of the fanbase that was ready to move on from Faulk, but now healthy, he could return to being the player who was really starting to settle into his role prior to the injury.
Kessel, 24, a fifth-round pick in 2020, was one of the Blues’ best surprises last season. His numbers aren’t going to wow anyone, but he’s steady and he earned everything he got. Some may suggest he could play in the second pair ahead of Faulk, but let’s see how Faulk bounces back before making that determination.
Goalies
The tandem of Binnington and Hofer was as good as the Blues could have hoped last season, and Armstrong doesn’t expect anything to be different this year. In fact, he might be looking for even more, saying recently he believes they rank in the top third of tandems around the league.
The interesting part this year will be if Hofer can push Binnington for more starts. Binnington had 55 starts and Hofer had 27 in 2023-24, and while that seemed to be a comfortable number for each, it’ll keep Binnington on his toes if Hofer continues his trajectory.
The rest
The hardest name to leave off the depth chart — for now — was Bolduc because of the way he finished last season and because of his performance at the 2024 Tom Kurvers Prospect Showcase. But Armstrong said this summer that Bolduc’s best chance at cracking the roster might be playing his way into the top six.
Dalibor Dvorský is getting quite an opportunity, centering Schenn and Neighbours in camp. Bannister and teammates seemed a little gun shy talking about Dvorský on the first day of practice just because no one wants to get ahead of themselves.
Perunovich is another player who’s going to get a good chance, being partnered with Parayko in camp. The Blues could use him in the lineup as a power-play specialist, but that will be hard if he doesn’t earn a spot in the top six.
All of this leaves forwards Nathan Walker and Kasperi Kapanen, along with defensemen Pierre-Olivier Joseph and Tyler Tucker, battling for a roster spot. It’s good depth, like the team wanted, but it will make for a few difficult decisions.
(Top photo of Robert Thomas and Jordan Kyrou: Jeff Le / Imagn Images)
