The St. Louis Blues began training camp in September with 60 players on the roster, but now that the regular season is set to begin this week, several rounds of cuts have been made and the 23-man roster is now set for Opening Night.
The team will start the season with 13 forwards, eight defensemen and two goaltenders.
Brayden Schenn will begin his first year as captain and will lead a Blues squad that looks significantly different than it did to begin last season. Players such as Ryan O’Reilly, Vladimir Tarasenko, Ivan Barbashev and Noel Acciari are no longer with the club after being traded at last season’s Trade Deadline.
The biggest offseason addition is Kevin Hayes, a 6-foot-5 forward who was acquired by the Blues in a trade with the Philadelphia Flyers this summer. Other relative newcomers include Jakub Vrana and Kasperi Kapanen, who were key contributors after joining the team late last season, Nikita Alexandrov and Tyler Tucker, who spent the majority of last season with the AHL’s Springfield Thunderbirds, and Joel Hofer, who will begin his first season in the NHL as the backup to Jordan Binnington.
The Blues will open the season on Thursday at 7 p.m. against the Dallas Stars at American Airlines Center before returning home to host the Seattle Kraken on Saturday in the Home Opener at Enterprise Center.
