The 2024-25 National Hockey League (NHL) regular season is already underway, with the New Jersey Devils and Buffalo Sabres playing two games in Prague, Czechia, to begin the league’s Global Series. The St. Louis Blues, on the other hand, started their regular season against the Seattle Kraken with a 3-2 victory on Oct. 8.
Many things can significantly impact the Blues’ roster this season. The team opened up the season nicely with back-to-back wins over the Chicago Blackhawks and Kraken and will hope to continue their winning ways. Let’s take a look at what those impacts could be.
Special Teams Issue Could Be Solved This Season
Last season, the Blues struggled on special teams for the first half of the season and then slightly progressed after firing head coach Craig Berube and hiring Drew Bannister as their interim head coach. Their power-play percentage (8.8 percent) ranked 31st in the league, and their penalty kills (78.4 percent) ranked 20th when Berube was a coach in the first half of the season.
Things significantly changed once Bannister came into power; by the end of the season, their power-play percentage (22.4 percent) ranked 13th in the league, and their penalty kill (79.4 percent) ranked 11th. That shows how much of an impact Bannister made on the roster last season.
Related: Ex-Oilers Broberg and Holloway Shine in Blues Debut
Now that a new season is underway, the team must perform at its best and continue where it left off. The Blues also have much more depth in their defensive and offensive lines, so mixing around the lineup shouldn’t be an issue. Players like Dylan Holloway and Radek Faksa made great contributions in preseason, so the same will be expected going into the regular season.
The New Faces Could Be the Solution They Needed
The Blues struggled offensively and defensively last season and quickly added numerous pieces to their roster over the offseason to fit both needs. Besides Faksa and Holloway, other new names on the Blues this season are brothers Mathieu and Pierre-Olivier Joseph, Ryan Suter, Philip Broberg, and Alexandre Texier. While these names may not be significant, they play a role in depth and experience.
Mathieu Joseph was in the top 15 in the league last season in takeaways (69), which could be helpful in the Blues’ bottom two lines. Joseph also played on the third line in the opening game against the Kraken, so it’s clear he was added for bottom-line depth. His brother, defenseman Pierre-Olivier Joseph, had no significant statistical contributions and was scratched for the opening game. Still, he could positively impact the Blues’ defensive depth as they suffered a substantial hit with the loss of Torey Krug to an ankle injury that required surgery and will rule him out for most of the season.
Broberg was brought in to add some youth to the Blues’ defensive core and even got power-play minutes on the second unit. In the first game of the regular season, he scored a goal to tie the game 2-2, which would eventually help them win. Broberg also brings playoff experience along with Holloway from their time with the Edmonton Oilers, especially since they reached the Stanley Cup Final in 2024.
As for Suter and Texier, Suter is a great veteran to impact the lineup. He was a three-time NHL All-Star (2012, 2015, 2017) and has been to the playoffs 15 times, including on a deep playoff run with the Dallas Stars last season, which was halted by the Oilers in the Western Conference Final. Texier had only 79 career points in his five seasons with the Columbus Blue Jackets. However, he is off to a great start, getting second-pairing minutes and already earning a point.
First-Round Picks Getting Their Full Shot
The Blues have three first-round prospects who will either make their first NHL appearance or get full minutes after debuting last season: Jimmy Snuggerud, Zack Bolduc, and Dalibor Dvorsky. Snuggerud is probably one of the most highly-anticipated players to make the Blues’ roster. Still, it will come later into the season, around late March or early April, as he is finishing his last season with the University of Minnesota. Bolduc hasn’t been in the lineup for the first week of the regular season and is a healthy scratch, but a place in the lineup sometime in October is still in the cards.
Dvorsky will make his American Hockey League (AHL) debut with Blues’ affiliate Springfield Thunderbirds. If he makes a great impression with them, I won’t shy away from the possibility that he would get a call-up sometime in the latter part of the season. It is excellent that the Blues are at a significant point in development for those three prospects; adapting them to the current lineup and preparing them for their future with the club will make an impact.
Bolduc and Sunggerud, however, will be the focal points. They’ve been the Blues’ top two offensive prospects, and now they can show what they can bring to the team in the bright lights of the regular season together. Last season, Bolduc recorded nine points in 25 games, and based on the Blues’ decision to keep him on the main roster after training camp, they must see something important that could make a big difference in his game and the Blues’ performance.
While Snuggerud’s experience was mainly in college hockey and World Junior Championship (WJC) appearances, he dominated in both. In his 79 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) games with the University of Minnesota, he’s totaled 84 points. He was a Top 3 Player award winner in the 2023 WJC and a gold medalist in the 2024 WJC, and he is on pace to become a 2025 Hobey Baker award winner, awarded to the best hockey player in the NCAA. If the Blues are in the position near the end of the season to give them all a chance, they will significantly impact the offense in terms of playmaking and goalscoring.
What Is Necessary for the Blues Right Now
The Blues are 2-0-0 so far, and it seems like the team is on the right track. I have no doubt they are way more than prepared for the worst and want to make a serious push to sneak into the playoffs this season. However, it will take more than two games to make a significant impact and for things to kick in. In general, the new faces and rookies are probably the most exciting about this team because of the lifelessness within their roster last season, with Jordan Kyrou struggling to get on track with his offense and several issues on the defensive end holding the team back from holding leads and winning games. Hopefully, with these changes, the Blues can win games more consistently, and they will need to be better defensively to do that.
