ST. LOUIS — The St. Louis Blues are having a fairly strong finish to the 2025-26 regular season, but they still have a glaring need heading into the offseason.
It was magnified in their 3-1 loss to the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday and has been recognizable for a while.
Since the Olympic break, the Blues have gone 13-4-3 and outscored their opponents 59-37. However, a majority of that offensive production and defensive suppression has come with the top line of Robert Thomas, Dylan Holloway and Jimmy Snuggerud on the ice.
The trio has combined for 29 goals, 40 assists and 69 points, while the rest of the team (defensemen included) have combined for 30 goals, 66 assists and 96 points. To take it one step further, Thomas, Holloway and Snuggerud have been on the ice at all strengths for a total of 181:07, compared to 593:52 for the rest of the team without them, and produced 41.8 percent of the points.
“(The other lines) just haven’t found that rhythm that the first line has,” coach Jim Montgomery said. “Everyone sees the skill and the plays they make off the rush, but they’re doing a lot of good stuff, winning battles, being connected, and having someone at the net front. It’s something I think the other lines need to make sure that they have a net anchor a little bit more.”
Jake Neighbours, who led the Blues in scoring earlier in the season, is one of the guilty parties. His last goal came against the Nashville Predators on Jan. 2, so he’s gone 21 games without one and has just seven assists in that stretch.
“I haven’t played up to my standard at all, or what this team needs from me and I wear that on my shoulders,” Neighbours said. “Credit to those three (Thomas, Holloway, Snuggerud), they’ve been unbelievable since the break, probably the best line in the league, and the rest of us have to do a better job of contributing.”
Following Part 1 of the mailbag, The Athletic will answer your questions about the NHL Draft, trade possibilities and offseason priorities, of which one of them has to be secondary scoring.
(Note: Some questions are edited for length and clarity.)
If the Blues get the No. 1 pick, who do they take? — Brian S.
Give me Ivar Stenberg. Not because he’s the younger brother of Blues forward Otto Stenberg — OK, yeah, that’s why. That would give me a great storyline to cover for years to come. But no, seriously, watching him at World Juniors and reading what colleague Scott Wheeler has written about him, what’s not to love: hockey IQ, playmaking. But what sticks out to me the most is his wall play and stick work.
You can’t go wrong with Gavin McKenna, and perhaps you’ll regret not taking a player who had been the consensus No. 1 overall pick for the bulk of the past year. But I don’t believe you’re taking a risk going with Stenberg, and if you do ever regret it, at least I got to write about him playing with his brother!
Assuming their own first-round pick is top 7, should/would the Blues trade all three picks to pick in the top 1-3? — David W.
With any trade talk, we’ll have to wait until after the NHL Draft lottery on May 5. Not only will we know where the Blues’ first-round picks fall in line (their own and the one they got from the Detroit Red Wings in the Justin Faulk trade), but we’ll also know if they were fortunate enough to win the lottery.
Let’s assume, however, the Blues don’t jump to No. 1 with their own pick, and they don’t move to No. 2 with the Red Wings’ pick, which is a separate lottery drawing. As it stands today, they’d have the No. 8 pick (their own) and another in the top 16 (if the Red Wings miss the playoffs). They’d also have a third first-rounder from the New York Islanders in the Brayden Schenn trade, but remember, that pick is via the Colorado Avalanche, so it will fall where the Avs finish.
So would the Blues trade No. 8 and potentially Nos. 15 and 31 to move into the top 3? It would be tempting. If you could get Nos. 1-2, I’d consider it because the Blues have The Athletic’s 10th-ranked prospect pool, so there’s a lot coming down the pipeline. They need a dynamic player. McKenna and Stenberg may not be generational players, but they’re dynamic. Essentially, you’d be trading your first-rounder, Faulk and Schenn for the No. 1 pick. I certainly consider it!
Does ownership realize that they don’t have any prospects that currently profile as stars, and that picking higher in the draft is the most reliable method for acquiring those prospects? — S.
They know, and they’d love to have one. Unfortunately for them, when they were in that position, there wasn’t a Connor McDavid, Macklin Celebrini or Matthew Schaefer available. If your argument is that they should’ve stripped down the roster the past couple of seasons and given themselves better odds at the No. 1 pick this summer, I won’t argue. But there’s no guarantee they would’ve gotten it, and there’s no guarantee the players at the top of the board will be stars of that caliber.
Assuming the Blues pick in the Nos. 5-8 range, who could they target? — Randy M.
I reached out to colleague Max Bultman, who does a lot of prospect work for The Athletic, and here’s his reply:
Bultman: “There are a lot of defensemen in that range. The big righties, Keaton Verhoeff and Chase Reid, are probably gone by No. 5. Albert Smits (left-shot) is a fun one, a Latvian who played in the Olympics, and he’s having a nice playoffs in Germany. Carson Carels (LHD) and Daxon Rudolph (RHD) are both having strong years in the Western Hockey League. The top center is probably Caleb Malholtra (Manny’s son). Complete game, big body, etc. Tynan Lawrence was having a great year in the United States Hockey League and might have gone top 5 had he stayed in the USHL, but he decided to enroll in college midseason and was a little quieter there, so he probably ends up in the back half of the top 10. Ethan Belchetz is a big power winger with real offense and has great tools. Those are some options in that range.”
What odds do you put on Adam Jiricek and/or Justin Carbonneau making next season’s opening-night roster? — Michael C.
Whether or not any of the Blues’ prospects will be with the team on opening night depends on what moves are made this offseason. For example, if the club trades Colton Parayko, it might increase the chances of Jiricek being on the blue line. If the club trades Jordan Kyrou, perhaps it increases Carbonneau’s chances.
If there are roster spots available, and if Jiricek and Carbonneau play like they’re capable of, there’s probably better than a 50-percent chance we could see them in October. But all of those things will have to happen for that to be the case.
Will Kyrou be moved this offseason? — John F.
I’ll say yes. It just seems like it’s time to cut bait. In the last 19 games, he has three goals and two of them are empty-netters. The problem is GM Doug Armstrong has been reluctant to move any player on the roster for less than their value in his eyes. I understand he’s got skill and scoring ability, but if the Blues don’t think he’s part of the solution moving forward, they’ve got to get the best deal possible at some point.
Do you think the management and coaches view Kyrou as critically as fans do? — Kathleen D.
It may not be to the level of the fans’ discontent — not all fans — but there is definitely some frustration with him not playing to his strengths and doing it consistently. He’s got a world of talent, and they know that, but after several coaches, linemates, chances, etc., they wonder why it hasn’t materialized on a more regular basis, just like the fans do.
How many picks would the Blues have to attach to Kyrou in a trade for Brady Tkachuk? — Buster K.
When coming up with a package for Tkachuk, keep in mind that there would be other teams bidding, so it would be a competitive market. I would think a proven roster player, a prospect and a first-round pick would be a starting point. Could Kyrou be the roster player in that type of package? With his dropoff this season, probably not. The Blues might have to throw in another prospect or pick.
Odds that Kyrou or Jordan Binnington are on this team to start next season? — G.R.
I may be in the minority here, but I believe both will be gone. I touched on Kyrou above. With Binnington, you need to have capable goalies in today’s game and perhaps the Blues hang onto him for that reason. But knowing the competitor Binnington is, he’ll want to play more than he will with the Blues, and that could come down to him asking for an opportunity elsewhere.
Is it a forgone conclusion that the Blues try to trade Colton Parayko again this offseason? — Chris B.
I wouldn’t say foregone conclusion, but it was a strong signal when the Blues attempted to move him to Buffalo, which he nixed, about his future in St. Louis. In the end, he stuck around and was a great partner for rookie defenseman Theo Lindstein, but in the end, I believe the Blues will revisit talks with him this summer.
What other changes do you see coming in the management as Steen takes over? — Chris M.
You might have caught this on Wednesday, but yes, there will be more changes. It was announced that Blues assistant GMs Ryan Miller and Tim Taylor will be co-GMs of the AHL Springfield Thunderbirds, but will also continue their roles with the parent club.
Do you think any of the assistant coaches will be back next season? — Scott F.
My guess is that goalie coach David Alexander is the lone returner. Claude Julien has been an asset to the staff, but at 65, he may be looking to move on. With Mike Weber, I wonder if the improved play of the defense late in the season will be enough to save his job. I wouldn’t think so, but we’ll see.
Main Street, which operated FanDuel Sports, announced that it will close up shop this summer. Do the Blues know what impact this will have on the Blues? — James F.
I don’t have any specifics, but I did reach out to Blues business CEO Chris Zimmerman, who provided this statement: “As we continue to navigate the dynamic broadcast situation, our organization is focused on building new partnerships that will best serve the passionate Blues fanbase and our consistently strong viewing audience for future seasons. While the amazing local broadcast production team continues to deliver exciting Blues hockey through the end of the month, our management team has long prepared for the wind-down of our regional sports network partner as the most likely outcome of the industry’s evolution over the last few years. We look forward to making an announcement about our future broadcast plans this summer.”