The 2023-24 season begins next week for the St. Louis Blues and the roster is starting to take shape. The Blues roster won’t look much different from last season, but the expectations are higher after how poorly last season went.
This edition of Blues Weekly will cover the current state of the Blues roster, how great Jakub Vrana has looked in preseason, and much more. Let’s get into it.
Blues Roster Cuts & Predictions for the Rest
Over the past few days, the Blues have sent nine players down to the American Hockey League (AHL) to play for the Springfield Thunderbirds. Here are the nine players recently sent down:
- F Adam Gaudette
- F Sam Bitten
- F Keean Washkurak
- F Will Bitten
- F Hugh McGing
- F Matthew Peca
- D Leo Loof
- D Wyatt Kalynuk
- G Colten Ellis
The Blues training camp roster is now down to 33 players. They’ll need to move 11 players down before the season begins with the roster limit of 23 players. They also made news last week by releasing Nick Ritchie and Andy Welinski from their professional tryouts (PTO). Although Ritchie made an impression on the team, it was going to be difficult to make room for him with the depth forward signings of Oskar Sundqvist and MacKenzie MacEachern over the summer.
Related: St. Louis Blues’ 2023-24 Lineup Projection
The Blues have a little more than a week to make sure that their roster is down to the proper number of players. Here are the 10 players who, in my opinion, won’t make the final roster:
- F Zachary Bolduc
- F Zach Dean
- F Mathias Laferriere
- F MacKenzie MacEachern
- F Nathan Walker
- D Josh Jacobs
- D Anton Malmstrom
- D Matthew Kessel
- D Calle Rosen
- G Malcolm Subban
There are a few tough calls here, including Walker, MacEachern, and Rosen, but they’ll each get a chance to play at some point this season for the Blues. It’ll be fun to watch the likes of Bolduc, Dean, and Kessel in the AHL this season. If those are the players that are cut, the Blues lineup on opening night becomes far clearer.
Vrana Has Looked Fantastic in Preseason Action
Going into this season, one of the most underrated players on the Blues is Vrana. He’s set up to have a great first full season with the Blues. This could be one of Blues general manager (GM) Doug Armstrong’s best trades after he gave up little to nothing to bring Vrana in with 50 percent of his salary retained.
In the Blues 5-3 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Monday, Oct. 2, Vrana tallied two goals and three points in fewer than 14 minutes of ice time. He has already shown the ability to score more than 20 goals, doing so in back-to-back seasons with the Washington Capitals in 2018-19 and 2019-20. He’s going to play top-six minutes for the Blues this season, so it would be a surprise if he doesn’t reach that mark again. Either way, the performance of Vrana has been encouraging in the preseason.
Blues Have Heavy Hitting Forward Group
The Blues have a big forward group, especially in the middle and bottom six. They have 11 forwards listed at 6-foot-0 or above, including Alexey Toropchenko at 6-foot-6 and Kevin Hayes at 6-foot-5. With players like Sammy Blais, Toropchenko, Brayden Schenn, Jake Neighbours, Sundqvist, and others in the lineup, the Blues are sure to throw a ton of hits. They had eight players last season with over 100 hits, and I expect that number to increase with more playing time for Blais, Neighbours, and others.
Blues’ Week Ahead
- Thursday, Oct. 5: at Dallas Stars, 7 PM (Preseason)
- Saturday, Oct. 7: vs. Chicago Blackhawks, 7 PM (Preseason) (NHL Network)
There are two preseason games left, including one against the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday, Oct. 7, which will be televised on NHL Network. The next week will be key in determining how the Blues’ roster will look, including their opening night lineup.
