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Zachary Bolduc, Quebec Remparts (Candice Ward/CHL)

3 Best Blues Players to Play in the Memorial Cup in the Last 10 Years

Originally posted on The Hockey Writers
By Anthony Testaguzza | Last updated May 27, 2025 9:45 AM ET

The St. Louis Blues have one prospect, Juraj Pekarcik, competing for a Memorial Cup, the trophy awarded to the best team in the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) of three league winners and one host city between the Quebec Maritime Junior Hockey League (QMJHL), Western Hockey League (WHL), and Ontario Hockey League (OHL). Pekarcik is competing in the tournament with the QMJHL’s Moncton Wildcats, and is yet another Blues prospect to do so since 2023, when Blues forward Zachary Bolduc competed in it and won the Memorial Cup with the Quebec Remparts.

Here’s a look at the three best Blues players to compete in the Memorial Cup tournament over the last 10 years.

Robert Thomas

Blues’ top forward Robert Thomas won the Memorial Cup with the London Knights in 2016, his first OHL season. He also put up 66 points in his second season, but his 2017-18 performance led him to a great run. That season, Thomas was traded by the Knights to the Hamilton Bulldogs (now Brantford Bulldogs) for forward Connor McMichael, a second-round draft pick in 2021, conditional second-round draft picks in 2020, 2025, and 2026, and a conditional third-round draft pick in 2022. Thomas flourished with the Bulldogs, racking up 29 points in 22 games and finishing the season with 75 points in 49 games.

His performance was enough to help the Bulldogs reach the OHL Playoffs, where he continued to show significant offensive progress. He scored 32 points in 21 games in the 2018 Postseason and helped the Bulldogs win their first-ever OHL Championship for a spot in the Memorial Cup tournament. They made it to the semi-final before losing 4-2 to the Regina Pats of the WHL. Thomas finished the tournament with three points in four games.

Despite missing out on the Memorial Cup Final, 2018 was Thomas’s year. He ended the OHL Playoffs as MVP and won a gold medal with Team Canada at the World Junior Championship (WJC). He then went on to win the Stanley Cup the following season with the Blues.

Zachary Bolduc

Bolduc played with the Rimouski Oceanic for his first two QMJHL seasons, scoring 30 goals and 52 points in his first campaign in 2019-20. That season, he won the QMJHL Offensive Rookie of the Year, QMJHL Rookie of the Year, Most Goals by a Rookie, and made the QMJHL All-Rookie Team.

It did not stop there. He put up 29 points through 27 games in his second season with the Oceanic, which was shortened due to the pandemic. After that season, Bolduc was given the Mike Bossy Trophy, awarded to the QMJHL’s best professional prospect.

Bolduc was traded to the Remparts in August ahead of the 2021-22 QMJHL season. He recorded 99 points through 65 games in his first campaign with the Remparts and earned a spot on the QMJHL Second All-Star Team. Bolduc’s Memorial Cup run began in 2022-23 when he finished with 110 points through 61 games and led the Remparts to a QMJHL Championship, racking up 19 points in 18 games.

Bolduc helped the Remparts win it all, scoring six points in four tournament games. This was a significant achievement, as the Remparts hadn’t won the Memorial Cup since 2006. Bolduc was named to the CHL and QMJHL Second All-Star Teams.

Alexei Toropchenko

Compared to Thomas and Bolduc, Alexey Toropchenko had a less notable path to the Memorial Cup. Toropchenko’s OHL run only lasted two seasons. However, he scored nine points in 66 games in 2017-18 and 43 points in 62 games in 2018-19 when the OHL’s Guelph Storm made it to the tournament.

His best numbers came during the 2019 OHL Playoffs and Memorial Cup. Toropchenko finished the 2019 OHL Playoffs with 19 points through 24 games and was fourth in the playoffs in goals (13), helping them win their fourth OHL Championship and qualify for their sixth Memorial Cup appearance.

In the Memorial Cup, Toropchenko ranked in the top five in tournament scoring (six points) and was a key contributor to the Storm’s offense alongside defenseman Sean Durzi and forward Nick Suzuki. They reached the semi-final against the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies of the QMJHL, where the Storm lost 6-4. Though Toropchenko did not win the Memorial Cup, he showed his potential.

Memorial Cup Experience a Boost to Their NHL Performance

The Blues drafted some strong talent with these three former Memorial Cup players. Thomas was named an NHL All-Star during the 2023-24 season and recorded a career-high 86 points that season. In Bolduc, we are starting to see his true potential after his 2024-25 performance, where he scored 19 goals.

Toropchenko, on the other hand, has learned from the Storm’s failure to reach the Memorial Cup Final and traded his offensive skill to improve his physicality, making him a key asset to the Blues’ bottom forward lines. Hopefully, with more time on his extended contract with the Blues, which he signed in October 2024, Toropchenko can take some time to tap into what worked for him in his Memorial Cup performance and incorporate it into his NHL play.