ST. LOUIS — There’s been a lot written about NHL prospects lately, and understandably so.
The league’s annual rookie showcases will be underway soon, and some of the players featured have a chance to make opening-night rosters later this month.
The Athletic’s Corey Pronman recently released his 2025 NHL pipeline rankings (under-23 players), ranking the St. Louis Blues No. 16 in the league. There were seven Blues among Pronman’s top 173 players.
Blues fans will get a chance to see several of those players at the Tom Kurvers Prospect Showcase next week in St. Paul, Minn. The club will have five first-round draft picks from the past three years (Justin Carbonneau, Adam Jiricek, Dalibor Dvorsky, Otto Stenberg and Theo Lindstein) on the ice.
Blues prospects are back in action 🎶
The fifth annual Tom Kurvers Prospect Showcase will be held Sept. 12-14 at TRIA Rink in Minnesota, and both Blues games will be streamed live! #stlblues
ROSTER & SCHEDULE ➡️ https://t.co/j1h5yz1WzK https://t.co/j1h5yz1WzK
— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) September 2, 2025
The question that always comes next, of course, is: When will those high draft picks be ready to play in St. Louis?
That’s hard to say, but looking several years out, we can start to project what it will look like when they are.
We’ve done this exercise in the past, and the goal isn’t to hit a bull’s-eye. It’s to take stock of the long-term assets the team already has in place, as well as who’s on the way, and identify areas where there may still be holes.
How could the Blues’ lineup shape up for the 2028-29 season? Let’s take a look.
First, a look back
Again, this can be a futile assignment.
In 2021, I projected the Blues’ roster and salary-cap outlook for 2024-25, and while I got some of the names right, it certainly wasn’t all of them.
Here’s what I had back then:
(Note: Players shaded blue are still with the team. Players shaded red are not.)
Left wingCenterRight wing
Jordan Kyrou
Robert Thomas
Pavel Buchnevich
Brandon Saad
Ryan O’Reilly
David Perron
Jake Neighbours
Brayden Schenn
Ivan Barbashev
Oskar Sundqvist
Klim Kostin
Left defenseRight defenseGoalie
Niko Mikkola
Colton Parayko
Jordan Binnington
Torey Krug
Justin Faulk
Joel Hofer
Marco Scandella
Scott Perunovich
I had six of the 12 forward spots correct, including Jake Neighbours, who was a rookie at the time. That was still somewhat of a honeymoon period after winning the Stanley Cup in 2019, so there was a soft spot for players such as Ryan O’Reilly and David Perron.
Torey Krug is still with the Blues but isn’t expected to play again, so I really had only two of the six defensemen right. Can I get some credit for the Niko Mikkola top-pair projection since he’s gone on to win two Cups with the Florida Panthers, though?
And in the net? Bingo! (Though admittedly, that wasn’t too difficult.)
In one sense, it may be easier this time around because the Blues have a few forwards on long-term contracts. In another sense, the club has more prospects than Neighbours ready to break into the lineup and some could be traded or not pan out.
That’s what makes all of this interesting.
Forwards
(Note: Players shaded blue are already under contract for 2028-29. Players shaded orange will need to be re-signed before then. Positions shaded red are unfilled.)
Left wingCenterRight wing
Pavel Buchnevich
Robert Thomas
Jimmy Snuggerud
Dylan Holloway
Dalibor Dvorsky
Jordan Kyrou
Jake Neighbours
Trade/UFA
Justin Carbonneau
Alexey Toropchenko
Trade/UFA
Dylan Peterson
In addition to Robert Thomas, Jordan Kyrou and Pavel Buchnevich remaining in place, you’d expect the Blues to re-sign Dylan Holloway (a restricted free agent in 2026), Neighbours (2027 RFA) and Jimmy Snuggerud (2027 RFA) when they’re up.
If that’s the case, you’d already have at least five of your top six spots spoken for.
So who’s going to center the second line in three years?
I’m going to remain bullish on Dvorsky. I understand that there’s concern about his skating and his pace, but he wouldn’t be the first player to come into the league with those question marks and have a good, long career. He sees the ice well, protects the puck well and has a high-end shot.
The bottom six is where the projections get trickier.
Entering the 2025-26 season, Neighbours is projected to play on the third line. He’s going to spend some time on the top two lines throughout his career, but in today’s NHL, there are a lot of solid, skilled wingers on third lines, so it’s not a bad place to be.
Who will center that third line in three years? Will newcomer Pius Suter show enough during his two-year contract to earn a contract extension in 2027 at age 31? Will current captain Brayden Schenn have anything left in the tank by 2028-29, when he’ll be 37? The Blues have a stable of prospects in the system who are listed as centers, such as Stenberg, but project as top-nine wingers. For now, this position is a potential area for the team to acquire a player via trade or free agency.
On the right side on that third line, I’m going with Carbonneau, the team’s 2025 first-round draft pick. There’s a lot of growth that needs to happen with his game, but he’s high-energy and has a knack for the net.
On the fourth line, Toropchenko being on the Blues’ roster in four years is a roll of the dice. His deal expires after 2025-26, and bottom-six players can become interchangeable at a certain point. But he seems like the type of player who, if he’s fulfilling the role, could be re-signed.
Nathan Walker, Oskar Sundqvist and even newcomer Nick Bjugstad will likely be gone by 2028-29, so the Blues will have to find some new pieces to fill out that line. Don’t forget about Dylan Peterson, 23, a third-round pick in 2020 who has proved to be a physical presence in AHL Springfield on the right side. I’m slotting him in there for now.
Defensemen
(Note: Players shaded blue are already under contract for 2028-29. Players shaded orange will need to be re-signed before then.)
Left defenseRight defense
Philip Broberg
Colton Parayko
Lukas Fischer
Adam Jiricek
Tyler Tucker
Logan Mailloux
Colton Parayko will be in his 14th year in the NHL in 2028-29 and will enter the season at 35 years old. But who reading this is worried about Parayko, who still seems to be getting better and better? His eight-year, $52 million contract runs through the 2029-30 season, and, if still healthy, he’ll still be an absolute bargain with a $6.5 million average annual value.
Who will Parayko’s partner be? He’s got a good one currently in Cam Fowler, but will the Blues re-sign Fowler, 33, to an extension beyond a couple of seasons?
The top option for me would be Broberg, who, in one season with the Blues, has shown top-pair potential. He’s in the final year of his contract, so he’d have to be re-signed, but the club certainly wants to keep him.
The defensemen I’ve projected for the second pair might be surprising because they’re extremely young. But Jiricek, 19, and Lukas Fischer, 18, have a lot of upside, and when in doubt, I listen to my colleagues at The Athletic.
Pronman has been praising Jiricek, telling me recently that the blueliner “has been excellent this week with the Czech U-20 team and looks close to being NHL-ready.” Meanwhile, Scott Wheeler, our other prospect guru, has been high on Fischer.
Both Jiricek and Fischer have top-four ability in the NHL, and while that potential may not be recognized by the 2028-29 season, it’s enough runway for them that it’s possible.
For the third pairing, I’m going with the same two players who are projected to make up this season’s third pair: Tyler Tucker, 25, and Mailloux, 22. With each having an element of physicality in his game, among other attributes, that twosome could be a long-term fixture. Of course, Mailloux might turn into something more during his career, but Jiricek appears to have the higher ceiling at this point.
Lindstein, 20, a first-round pick in 2023, and Michael Buchinger, 21, a third-round pick in 2022, were hard to leave off this list. Both have some legitimate promise, but I couldn’t put them above the players I listed.
Goaltenders
(Note: Players shaded orange will need to be re-signed before 2028-29. Positions shaded red are unfilled.)
This is the first depth chart I’ve done in recent memory where Jordan Binnington isn’t the projected starter. At 32, he has two seasons left on his six-year, $36 million contract.
If Binnington hasn’t been traded by the end of his contract, I can’t see him being re-signed. Hofer, who signed a two-year extension ($3.4 million AAV), is 25 and perhaps ready for the starting job soon. Unless he falls off and shows that he’s not No. 1 material in this league, it’s hard to fathom him not having that role in 2028-29.
The backup in three seasons is anybody’s guess.
The Blues have Colten Ellis, 24, and Vadim Zherenko, 24, in AHL Springfield, and it’s not certain if either will play in the NHL. The only other goalies the club has drafted in the past nine years are Will Cranley (sixth round, 2020) and Love Harenstam (sixth round, 2025).
So it would make sense if the Blues’ tandem at that point included a netminder not currently in the organization.
Takeaways
The biggest one is who will be centering the second and third lines? I’m not sure if I’ll be right about Dvorsky, but if I’m not, it sure looks like the Blues will have to find a No. 2 center elsewhere. There are more options for the third-line center.
Also, as mentioned, that’s a lot of youth on defense, and, frankly, I’d be shocked if the club didn’t have another veteran or two to go with Parayko and Broberg at that point.
And what if the Blues don’t want to re-sign Binnington and Hofer isn’t the guy? Then they’d be looking for a starter in goal, as well.
There are some great pieces in place, and the team has a good idea of who it hopes will be occupying those spots in 2028-29. I’m just guessing and hoping that I don’t look too foolish in three years.
(Photo of Dalibor Dvorsky: Jeff Curry / Imagn Images)