The St.Louis Blues have released their opening night roster for the 2025-26 season.
On Oct. 5, the Blues made their final five roster cuts and have since unveiled their 23-man roster for the opening night game against the Minnesota Wild to kick off the season. Surprisingly, there is no sign of forward Milan Lucic on it. Lucic was signed to a professional tryout (PTO) and suffered a day-to-day lower-body injury during the preseason. Blues’ general manager Doug Armstrong announced on Tuesday that they will end his PTO, wait for him to rehab his injury, and reconnect on a potential in-season PTO once he’s healthy.
Here are the players listed for opening night.
Forwards (14)
Alexandre Texier, Brayden Schenn, Alexei Toropchenko, Robert Thomas, Jimmy Snuggerud, Pius Suter, Jordan Kyrou, Nathan Walker, Jake Neighbours, Oskar Sundqvist, Mathieu Joseph, Nick Bjugstad, Dylan Holloway, Pavel Buchnevich
The forward lines significantly improved last season with the addition of Dylan Holloway, Mathieu Joseph, and, later, Jimmy Snuggerud. As this will be his first full season of play, Snuggerud will have a lot of the spotlight on him this season. If he excels this season, he could be in the Calder Trophy conversation.
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This season’s roster has improved with some new faces in Pius Suter and Nick Bjugstad, who will most likely float around the second and third lines. Suter will hopefully be a big piece of the Blues’ special teams, specifically on the penalty kill, as he was the Vancouver Canucks’ leading penalty killer in minutes last season (185:24). As for Bjugstad, he will be a big faceoff player, winning 47.4 percent of draws last season.
Defensemen (7)
Philip Broberg, Cam Fowler, Logan Mailloux, Matthew Kessel, Colton Parayko, Justin Faulk, Tyler Tucker
Logan Mailloux, who was traded from the Montreal Canadiens for forward Zachary Bolduc, will make his Blues debut. A big forward loss for the Blues, this move could be big defensively if Mailloux finds the right partner to click with.
Not too long ago, Cam Fowler signed an extension of three years and $18.3 million after having an incredible season with the Blues and leading the team in playoff points (10) before their unfortunate loss to the Winnipeg Jets in Game 7 of the first round of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The player most likely to be an extra defenseman on this roster will be Matthew Kessel, considering Tyler Tucker showed some peaks in his game during the playoffs despite suffering a crushing knee injury.
The lineup will also not include Torey Krug, who is still on injured reserve after undergoing left ankle surgery for pre-arthritic changes before the 2024-25 season.
Goaltenders (2)
Jordan Binnington and Joel Hofer
This season, Joel Hofer is once again on the radar as a dark horse in this goaltending pair, and if he lives up to expectations, he and starter Jordan Binnington could be a scary tandem. However, the Blues could face an injury to one of their goaltenders. In that case, Vadim Zherenko will be awaiting an NHL opportunity after Colton Ellis was placed on waivers and claimed by the Buffalo Sabres.
Joel Hofer, St. Louis Blues (Photo by Keith Gillett/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
That said, 2025-26 will be a mystery of chaos in the Blues’ goaltending, and it will be a big battle of who is best to carry the franchise between the pipes in the future. One thing is sure: Hofer’s clock is ticking, as he was given a two-year, $6.8 million extension and will have to do a lot this season and the following season if he wants to stay with the Blues.
The Blues will begin their season with a home opener against the Wild on Oct. 9 at 7 p.m. CST in what will be an action-packed Central Division rivalry matchup.
