Editor’s note: This is the third of 10 installments analyzing questions facing the Blues entering the 2024-25 season.
8. How does the bottom 6 shake out?
In reconstructing his bottom six, the directive from Blues general manager Doug Armstrong was simple: add size and speed.
The Blues did both of those over the summer, revamping a unit by bringing in above-average skaters like Alexandre Texier and Mathieu Joseph while bringing back speedster Kasperi Kapanen. St. Louis also acquired big center Radek Faksa from Dallas to help with defensive assignments and penalty killing and executed a successful offer sheet to pry the highly competitive Dylan Holloway away from Edmonton.
Those additions augment the depth pieces already in place in St. Louis like Alexey Toropchenko, Oskar Sundqvist and potentially even Nathan Walker. Mackenzie MacEachern will return from shoulder surgery that ended his season in 2023-24 and will try to once again crack an NHL roster.
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Of course, there’s also the possibility that one or more of the Blues prospects — Dalibor Dvorksy or Zack Bolduc — does enough during training camp to earn a top-six role for opening night. In the process, that would push down a player like Brandon Saad or Brayden Schenn, into bottom-six duties.
Armstrong constructed a versatile enough mix of forwards that it’s unknown how coach Drew Bannister will deploy his options.
Does he want to play Texier or Holloway at center? Neither has played center as their primary position in the NHL, but both have the ability to move inside. That would push either Faksa or Sundqvist to the wing and potentially add more youth higher up the lineup.
Who gets the more offensive role and minutes? While there’s not expected to be much of a difference between the third and fourth lines, there still is a difference, and it primarily shows up in the amount of ice time. Texier, Holloway, Joseph, Kapanen and Faksa have all played middle-six minutes in their careers before, but which ones land the job to begin the regular season on Oct. 8 in Seattle?
Can those players take some penalty-killing responsibility from top-end players like Robert Thomas or Pavel Buchnevich? This was something Bannister spoke about in July, when he mentioned that the bottom-six additions could make life easier on the team’s goal scorers. Last season, Thomas and Buchnevich were often the first forwards on the ice for the penalty kill, and having more defensive players could allow Thomas and Buchnevich to slip into an even more offensive role.
That could also extend to event strength, should Bannister want Faksa’s line to help Thomas’ line in a defensive assignment throughout the night.
Who is the odd man out? Kapanen’s return to St. Louis was a mild surprise given his career-worst production last year (six goals and 16 assists in 73 games), but his $1 million salary suggests that his role could be as a fourth-liner or a healthy scratch. Walker will be once again trying to become more than an NHL-AHL tweener, while Texier, Joseph and Faksa will have motivation after they were dumped by their previous teams in the summer.
Is this an upgrade over last year? The answer on paper is a clear yes, having seen what players like Kevin Hayes, Sammy Blais and Jakub Vrana produced last season. But Faksa, Joseph, Texier and Holloway bring their own set of questions to the ice.