On Thursday, the Blues will have a chance to preview on the ice what they believe they did on paper during the offseason.
St. Louis will open training camp Thursday morning at Centene Community Ice Center in Maryland Heights, officially beginning a new campaign and starting a quest to end a two-year playoff drought. It marks the first time the Blues will welcome their new young, flashy, speedy, highly drafted additions into the fold and will kick off a 20-day preseason that general manager Doug Armstrong believes will be one of the most competitive he鈥檚 seen during his time leading the Blues.
鈥淚鈥檓 looking forward to training camp,鈥 Armstrong said when he met with reporters on Wednesday afternoon. 鈥淚 think that we鈥檝e changed the outlook of our team. We have a lot of NHL-caliber players that have experience at a young age in our group right now. They鈥檙e going to push to take ice time and play higher up in the lineup. I think we鈥檙e in a good spot right now where we expect to compete.鈥
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The Blues have only missed the playoffs in three consecutive seasons once in franchise history (2005-08), and they鈥檙e hopeful they can avoid repeating that bit of history this season. St. Louis missed the playoffs by six points a season ago as a 92-point team that wasn鈥檛 eliminated from contention until game No. 80.
The idea remains the same for the franchise as a whole: remain competitive while rebuilding on the fly by adding young players in their pipeline to supplement a veteran-laden roster in the NHL. To remain competitive, Armstrong decided the Blues needed more speed.
So enter Dylan Holloway, picked from Edmonton via offer sheet. There鈥檚 Mathieu Joseph and Alexandre Texier, acquired in trades. Kasperi Kapanen was brought back on a cheap deal. Alexey Toropchenko will reprise his role as a bottom-six terror. Philip Broberg will bring his smooth skating to the back end.
鈥淚 think we鈥檝e increased our speed quotient throughout our lineup,鈥 Armstrong said. 鈥淲e have a different look up front. The only place that looks similar is our goaltenders. Other than that, there鈥檚 a different look in a lot of different areas. I think that鈥檚 good. A team that鈥檚 trying to regain some stature in the league, I think we鈥檙e in a good spot to do that.鈥
Most years, contracts make rosters, and the opening night roster is known before camp even begins. That does not seem to be the case this season.
There are almost 20 forwards who are vying for a spot on the NHL roster. That includes prospects such as Zack Bolduc, Dalibor Dvorsky and Zach Dean. Career tweeners Nathan Walker and Mackenzie MacEachern will try to prove they belong in the NHL. Nikita Alexandrov and Kapanen want another chance after down years. New guys Holloway, Joseph and Texier will have to adjust to a new organization.
On defense, there are nine players for eight (maybe even seven if the Blues choose that route) spots in the NHL. Matthew Kessel, Scott Perunovich, Pierre-Olivier Joseph and Tyler Tucker are young defensemen with a variety of skill sets that haven鈥檛 established themselves as bona fide full-time NHLers yet. Ryan Suter will have to wave off challenges from the young players as he turns 40 this season.
鈥淭here seems to be a lot like that of the 10, 11, 12 team where we had young guys coming in and pushing,鈥 Armstrong said. 鈥淥nce they can grab the rope and support the veteran players that have been here a while, I think we have a chance to be a highly competitive team. It is as deep as we鈥檝e been in a while.鈥
In 2010-11, the Blues had a young core that included Alex Pietrangelo (21 years old), David Perron (22), Kevin Shattenkirk (22), Erik Johnson (22), Ben Bishop (24) and T.J. Oshie (24).
Training camp is free and open to the public. Two sessions begin at 10 a.m. with a third at noon, both Thursday and Friday. The Blues play their first preseason game Saturday night in Dallas.
Odds and ends
- Armstrong said center Oskar Sundqvist will not play in preseason games following knee surgery to repair a torn ACL in the spring, but he added that Sundqvist should still be ready to start the season.
鈥淭he contact part will come a little bit later,鈥 Armstrong said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 basically a months after surgery (visit) where you鈥檝e got to get checked, and you hold them back until that point. That鈥檒l come right at the end of camp. I don鈥檛 expect that once he gets cleared, he鈥檚 going to take long to be ready to play, but we鈥檙e just going to follow the doctor and trainer鈥檚 advice on when he can get into full participation.鈥
- Defenseman Torey Krug had surgery on his ankle on Tuesday and is traveling back to St. Louis. Krug will miss the entire season as he recovers from a subtalar fusion to address pre-arthritic changes in his ankle.
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