With eight days before the Blues open the season in Seattle, the club might have finally gotten a look at their day one lineup during practice on Monday morning.
For the first time this preseason, the Blues had just one practice group instead of two or three, which they had when the training camp roster was more expansive. In the practice session, the Blues were able to unveil forward lines and defense pairings that looked more applicable to the NHL season.
They were as follows, with notes below:
- Jake Neighbours 鈥 Robert Thomas 鈥 Jordan Kyrou
- Brayden Schenn 鈥 Pavel Buchnevich 鈥 Zack Bolduc
- Dylan Holloway 鈥 Radek Faksa 鈥 Mathieu Joseph
- Alexandre Texier 鈥 Nathan Walker 鈥 Alexey Toropchenko
- Brandon Saad 鈥 Zach Dean 鈥 Kasperi Kapanen
- Nick Leddy 鈥 Colton Parayko
- Philip Broberg 鈥 Justin Faulk
- Ryan Suter 鈥 Matthew Kessel
- Scott Perunovich 鈥 Pierre-Olivier Joseph
- Tyler Tucker 鈥 Corey Schueneman
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The Blues had one practice last week when they broke their NHL group apart from the AHLers, but now that the training camp roster has been cut by about half since the start of the preseason, the expectation is that these lines and pairs will see more and more time together.
鈥淗aving one skate, getting lines together, getting D-pairs together, start to work on our game and really dial in the habits and the details that we鈥檙e looking for,鈥 Blues coach Drew Bannister said. 鈥淭hat was nice to get to work today.鈥
- Brandon Saad skated on the fifth line with Zach Dean and Kasperi Kapanen. For players like Dean and Kapanen, it could signal that they are on the wrong side of the roster bubble, but it鈥檚 different for Saad.
Saad could miss the opening three-game road trip due to the birth of his third child, and the Blues have decided to practice with him not on the four NHL lines in order to prepare for his absence. But the larger question is: What happens when Saad does return to the lineup?
Zack Bolduc is currently occupying a top-six spot in his quest to make the NHL roster out of training camp for the first time. The Blues could bump him down to make room for Saad.
Or the Blues could move Brayden Schenn down to become the third-line center, forcing Radek Faksa back to a fourth-line role he played in Dallas.
Perhaps Saad himself is destined to play on the third line. The Blues will have some time before that decision has to be made.
- For most of camp, Faksa has centered Dylan Holloway and Mathieu Joseph, an all-newcomer line that has speed on the wings and weight in the middle. As the regular season breathes in and out, it鈥檚 likely that the Blues experiment with their bottom-six wings (Holloway, Joseph, Alexandre Texier and Alexey Toropchenko) and different centers.
- Bannister said the Blues are not at the point where they have decided whether to carry 14 forwards and seven defensemen or 13 forwards and eight defensemen.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think we鈥檙e at that point yet,鈥 Bannister said. 鈥淚 think we鈥檙e still a couple games away. Obviously with Sunny being out and Saader probably not going on the trip, that鈥檒l factor into the decision.鈥
With Saad鈥檚 potential absence and Oskar Sundqvist鈥檚 recovery from knee surgery, the Blues could be left without a spare forward if they chose to only carry 13 forwards (with Saad as the scratch). If 最新杏吧原创 wanted an extra body up front for the opening trip of the season, it would come at the expense of a job on the back end.
- The top six defensemen should be of no surprise, and the Blues used a fourth pair on Monday of Scott Perunovich and Pierre-Olivier Joseph, indicating they have an edge over Tyler Tucker for a roster spot on defense.
鈥淚鈥檝e been really impressed by P.O鈥檚 played, his length, his ability to skate and close and (have) a great stick, can get up in the play,鈥 Bannister said. 鈥淧erun has been good with the puck. The things that we鈥檙e looking for away from the puck, I see a concerted effort from him. I thought Tucks, in both games, has been really good. He鈥檚 been physical, what we would expect from Tucks.
鈥淎ll three are fighting for their jobs. It鈥檚 going to be tough. They鈥檙e going to make decisions tough for the staff here. I see three guys that want to be on this hockey team, that want to help be a part of what we鈥檙e trying to do here and that are trying to impose their games the best they can.鈥
All three players would have to go through waivers in order to be sent to the minors.
