On Aug. 12, it was announced that the Toronto Maple Leafs changed captaincy from John Tavares to Auston Matthews. This was a bit of a shock, as Tavares had been captain of the Maple Leafs for five seasons, and now the captaincy was being handed to someone in the team’s younger core.
Last season, the St. Louis Blues decided to make a captain change to Brayden Schenn after the departure of former Blues captain Ryan O’Reilly. Schenn is 32 right now and will soon age even higher, and by that time, the team’s younger players will be incorporated into the main roster. With that said, the Blues will have to change leadership, and there are many options. Let’s take a look at who those candidates could be.
Which Players Should Be Captain Next?
Pavel Buchnevich
In his three seasons with the Blues franchise, Pavel Buchnevich has reached a star-studded level in his career and the league. He’s become a crucial piece to the Blues lineup when they need goal-scoring and still has more potential to shine despite being only 29 years old. However, the only thing holding him back from possibly reaching over 30 goals in his career is that he is injury-prone. Last season was the only point in his career where he reached the 80-game mark and only finished with 63 points, which is a big difference from his first season with the Blues in 2021-22, where he scored 76 points in 73 games.
For Buchnevich to be captain material, he must show more qualities than goal-scoring. There is a lot that he does not have enough of, like playoff experience, that goes into it. He has only played 20 playoff games in his entire career and scored 12 points. Compared to current captain Schenn, who has 40 career playoff points through 75 career playoff games, that is almost nothing if a captain does not hold the capable playoff experience.
Buchnevich does have one thing on Schenn, and that’s shorthanded points. In only 517 career NHL games, Buchnevich has scored 13 shorthanded points with seven shorthanded goals, while Schenn surprisingly has one goal as his only shorthanded point through his 940 NHL games. Overall, Buchnevich’s dominant offensive traits and ability to come in clutch on special teams could be an overall factor that could lead him to future captaincy.
The good thing is that Buchnevich will also be around for another six years after the recent extension he agreed to in July with the Blues, so there is plenty of time for him to consider the role in the future. While he was a trade option in a recent offer for the Oilers’ Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway, I don’t see where he would go anytime soon.
Colton Parayko
While Colton Parayko is only two years younger than Schenn, and this wouldn’t sound like a good choice based on age level, I still think Parayko has a lot of good traits, like his shutdown ability through shot blocking and a great shot from the blue line to help the Blues create offensive chances. As a leader, especially after winning the Stanley Cup in 2018-19, Parayko has shown he can lead a penalty kill well and is willing to put in the extra minutes if he has to. Last season, Parayko was first on the Blues in penalty-killing minutes (225:02) which was ranked in the top 20 in the NHL.
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Parayko has been linked to trade talks in the past, and I wouldn’t doubt it if he’s going to be again at his age. However, there is still a lot he can bring to the table as a leader, and he’s one of the main reasons the Blues were able to keep a steady level of goals against last season. They ranked 20th in that category after going under 20th after firing former head coach Craig Berube.
This upcoming 2024-25 season will be Parayko’s 10th with the Blues and in the NHL, which suggests he has at least 10 years of experience playing for a team and even plays as an alternate captain. The defensive roster is also projected to look entirely different this upcoming season. This means he has an excellent opportunity to show that he deserves to be captain of the Blues.
Robert Thomas
This would be the perfect selection for a captain, and I think Robert Thomas has the best possible qualities to take over the role in the future. He’s under 30 years old and still has much potential to show how good he could be for the Blues, as many offensive prospects are beginning to make their way onto the roster through players like Zachary Bolduc and Jimmy Snuggerud. That said, he is arguably the best center on the Blues roster and could help a lot of prospects around him.
Last season, Thomas had a career-high 86 points through 82 games. He was only 24 years old at that time, meaning he could be just starting the peak of his career right now, and it wouldn’t be a surprise if he hit the 100-point mark soon.
A second trait he carries is his playmaking ability, which puts the team first and creates a lot of offensive chances for the Blues. Last season, he scored 60 assists, and in 2021-22 he scored 57 assists. Even though it decreased to 47 assists in 2022-23, Thomas still took the time to improve his playmaking and broke his career high when he hit 60 assists.
In all aspects of his game, Thomas is able to stay consistent, never stop his hard work ahead of every season, and always find a way to improve his game.
The Future of the Blues Captaincy
It may take more than four years to select a suitable captain for this Blues team, as Schenn’s reasonably new captaincy last season still needs some time to settle in. He can still be a helpful leader and provide many little traits and aspects of the game, like special teams and hits. He also has a lot of stuff he does off the ice around the Blues fan base, making him an all-around leader.
As the Blues are also rebuilding, having an experienced and qualified captain would still help with the rebuilding system on the offensive side of the roster. After all, Schenn was there when they won the Stanley Cup and was the only highly experienced player left after the departures of Ryan O’Reilly, Alex Pietrangelo, and Vladimir Tarasenko.
Although signed to a pricey average annual value (AAV) of $6.5 million for eight years and a no-trade clause (NTC) in 2019, all the listed attributes above are worth the price for the time being. Even if his NTC is the issue, his list of 15 teams he would not like to be traded to would kick in around years six to eight of his contract. Around that time, it would be the 2025-26 season, and he would be about 35 years old, which is a reasonable time to consider changing the captaincy.
When the new general manager, Alexander Steen, enters his first year in the new role in 2026, it will be up to him and the coaching staff to determine who is the best possible fit.
