New faces bring plenty of intrigue to Blues training camp

There was no shortage of intrigue for the St. Louis Blues on their first day of training camp.
As the players took the ice for the first time on Thursday morning at Centene Community Ice Center, you couldn't help but notice the familiar faces that weren't in attendance this year - players like Jaden Schwartz, Sammy Blais, Vince Dunn and Carl Gunnarsson, to name a few.
In their places were a handful of newcomers, from veterans Brandon Saad and Pavel Buchnevich to pro tryouts James Neal and Michael Frolik to highly-touted youngsters like Klim Kostin, Jake Neighbours and Scott Perunovich.

Indeed, this year's Blues squad is quite different from the one that finished the season with a first-round playoff exit last May. If you dig deeper, you'll find that only 12 players on this year's training camp roster even played in the 2019 Stanley Cup Final when the club captured its first-ever championship.
So all that turnover leads us to one big question - exactly where do all these new guys fit?
Blues Head Coach Craig Berube and his coaching staff spent the summer trying to figure that out, and on Thursday, we got a look at some of their ideas for the first time.
In no particular order, here are some of the combinations we saw during the opening sessions of training camp:

FORWARDS

Klim Kostin - Ryan O'Reilly - Jordan Kyrou
Jake Neighbours - Brayden Schenn - Pavel Buchnevich
Brandon Saad - Robert Thomas - Vladimir Tarasenko
David Perron - Tyler Bozak - James Neal
Zach Sanford - Ivan Barbashev - Michael Frolik
Kyle Clifford - Dakota Joshua - Mackenzie MacEachern

DEFENSE

Jake Walman - Colton Parayko
Scott Perunovich - Justin Faulk
Marco Scandella - Robert Bortuzzo
Torey Krug - Niko Mikkola

GOALIES

Jordan Binnington
Ville Husso

"We've got some new faces which adds a lot to us, gives us that excitement that we need," O'Reilly said. "Last year was very disappointing, we weren't consistent with the way we wanted to play. Some new looks, some new faces brings that excitement. It's still very early, we have to work hard in camp and see how things unfold a bit, but I'm very optimistic. I really like our group and I think we're going to do very well."
Up front, the dynamic combination of Kostin, O'Reilly and Kyrou is certainly exciting, and we can't wait to see what 2020 first-round draft pick Neighbours could do with talented players like Schenn and Buchnevich. And how about perennial 20-plus goal guy Saad with the slick mitts of Thomas and the pure scoring ability of Tarasenko?
On the backend, we know Parayko and Walman paired well together last season, and Perunovich - who was one of the best players in Traverse City last week - gets an amazing opportunity to showcase his stuff with Justin Faulk. Then there's Torey Krug, Marco Scandella, Robert Bortuzzo, Niko Mikkola…
We could go on and on, but we can't wait to see what these line combos and pairings can do.
Of course, like O'Reilly said, it's very early. There is no guarantee that all of these combinations will stick. Right now,
the 53 players in training camp
are divided into two groups, and as camp continues, more and more will be assigned to the American Hockey League or back to their junior teams.
But there is a chance we get to see some of these line combinations in an exhibition - the preseason starts with two home games at Enterprise Center (Saturday, Sept. 25 vs. Minnesota and Monday, Sept. 27 vs. Dallas).
And if you couldn't tell… we can't wait.