Blues 2025-26 Roster Projections After Free Agency

The Blues will likely use their standard first line of Pavel Buchnevich, Robert Thomas, and Jordan Kyrou. Expect Buchnevich to continue on the left wing on the first line, as he finished last season with 57 points in 76 games, six points fewer than in 2023-24. Hopefully, with Thomas paired on his line, Buchnevich can put the puck in the net more, as he would have the Blues’ assist leader (60) from last season paired with him. As for Kyrou, he made a lot of progress last season, returning to his old form and finishing with 70 points in 82 games. He also played 64 of his 82 games with Thomas and Buchnevich, so he can still have a significant role on this line for 2025-26.

The Blues’ second line looks excellent, especially with Pius Suter’s signing, which adds some more scoring depth to the second line. Suter finished last season with a career-high of 25 goals and 46 points in 81 games. Combined with Dylan Holloway, who flourished the previous season with a career-high of his own, 63 points in 77 games, the Blues have a solid stat-padding top-six line that will also give them more point production for their power play. Jimmy Snuggerud on this line will help him grow in his NHL development process, and he did very well in the playoffs playing a more physical role on the top line, so there is a chance he could get some penalty killing minutes as well.

Playing Jake Neighbours and Brayden Schenn on the third line seems fair, as they would be players to swap with the top-six in injury situations. Then, Alexei Toropchenko will bring the much-needed physical presence on that line and penalty killing for the special teams. But what stands out is the addition of Bjugstad in free agency, who adds more bottom-line scoring depth as he was a 20-plus goal scorer just two seasons ago. This leaves Nathan Walker and Alexandre Texier, who can fill in as reserve forwards or come in occasionally to give bottom-line forwards like Oskar Sundqvist and Mathieu Joseph some rest if needed.

Blues Projected Defensive Lines

On defense, the Blues have a great top pairing in Cam Fowler and Colton Parayko. Both contribute to shot blocking and point production. Fowler led the Blues in points (10) in the first round of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs and put most of his effort into playmaking from the blue line, with eight of those 10 points coming from assists. Parayko also had a big offensive performance in 2024-25, finishing with a career-high 16 goals and 36 points. It seems that under head coach Jim Montgomery, Parayko has found an untapped offensive side to his game, which will benefit the Blues going into the 2025-26 season.

Justin Faulk and Philip Broberg are some more standouts from the Blues’ defensive core, and they’d make a great second defensive pair. While not the 40-plus point defenseman he once was, Faulk has taken the shutdown defensive approach, blocking 108 shots, the third-highest number blocked on the Blues. Likewise, Broberg did the same, stopping 103 shots while recording a career-high of 29 points. Having Faulk paired with Broberg is also great for development, and hopefully gives Broberg the veteran presence he needs around him while getting more defensive minutes he struggled to receive when he was on the Edmonton Oilers.

On the last defensive pair, Mailloux will bring size and massive potential. Although he has yet to play more than 10 NHL games, he will gain a handful of minutes with the Blues and maybe thrive because of it. The Blues have had a lot of luck with the defensemen they’ve recently acquired in the past two seasons, so I am confident this could be a big season for Mailloux. As for Matthew Kessel, he brings a lot of physicality at 6-foot-2 and 205 pounds; however, I don’t see him getting a lot of ice time and will most likely be swapped throughout the season with Tyler Tucker.

Blues Projected Goaltending

Goaltending won’t change anytime soon for the Blues, as they already have a solid roster of Jordan Binnington and Joel Hofer, who both play well. However, Binnington is entering his early 30s, and Hofer received a two-year contract extension. It would be good if the Blues played these two goaltenders as a tandem, as both Binnington and Hofer have two seasons left on their contracts, to see how well they can both perform with even starts rather than one goaltender outworking the other.

The 2026 Winter Olympic Games are coming soon, and if Binnington is selected as the starter for Team Canada, it will be an exhausting season once again after a tough 4 Nations Face-Off victory in which he started the entire tournament.

Binnington finished last season with a record of 28-22-5, a .900 save percentage (SV%), a 2.65 goals-against average (GAA), and three shutouts. As for Hofer, he finished with a record of 16-8-3 with a .904 SV%, a 2.64 GAA, and one shutout. There is a good chance Hofer could get a career high in shutouts, as he has yet to get more than one in a season. Hofer will have to improve as a backup and possibly have a career-high season if he wants to make a difference in 2025-26.

Going Into Doug Armstrong’s Last Dance

This season is going to be the last time we see Doug Armstrong as the Blues’ general manager (GM), but it is not the end of his tenure in the organization. As of the 2026-27 season, he will switch to president of hockey operations, and Alexander Steen will take over as GM. Overall, for this short time he has left as GM, Armstrong did a decent job with the cap space he had to manage and took a chance in the offseason to make some big moves now that the Blues are contenders. Those past two seasons before the 2024-25 season were well worth holding back from big moves or signings at the trade deadline and free agency, and putting more faith in the Blues’ prospects like Dvorsky, Snuggerud, and even Bolduc. Now, with Steen, it is time to see whether he will be able to face the pressure of managing a new era for the Blues.