The Blues’ prospect pipeline looks healthier than it has in a while, but that doesn’t mean everyone in the system is breathing easy. For a few young players, this preseason carries a lot more weight than usual, especially with only four exhibition games to work with.
That shorter runway matters. When chances are limited, every shift gets magnified, and for players still trying to carve out a place in St.
Louis, there’s not much room to fade into the background. Three names stand out as the ones with the most to gain - or lose - over the next few weeks.
Zach Dean is one of them. His path back was admirable after entering the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program before the 2025-26 season and returning to finish the final 36 games of the AHL season.
But from a roster standpoint, the missed time comes at a bad moment. Dean already lost most of the 2024-25 season, and the interruption during a key developmental stretch leaves him with a thinner case than he might have liked.
A former first-round pick, he has appeared in just nine NHL games across three pro seasons and has not recorded a point for St. Louis.
With the Blues’ young core expanding, he needs a strong camp to stay in the conversation.
Otto Stenberg is in a different spot, but the pressure is just as real. At 21 and entering his third pro season, he still has time on his side.
Even so, this feels like the kind of year where a player either starts turning promise into a job or starts slipping behind the rest of the group. The Blues are already seeing young talent move into lineup spots, with Jimmy Snuggerud, Dalibor Dvorsky, Logan Mailloux, and now Mason McTavish beginning to take those places.
Justin Carbonneau, Maddex Dagenais, and Tynan Lawrence are also on the way. If Stenberg doesn’t find a foothold soon, the depth chart could get crowded in a hurry.
Then there’s Aleksanteri Kaskimäki, who has done a lot of good work in the AHL but still needs to show he’s more than that. He’s a third-round pick from 2022 and has put up 78 points in 123 AHL games, making him one of Springfield’s best forwards over the past two seasons.
That’s useful production, but the Blues want to see whether it translates into something bigger. If it doesn’t happen in this preseason, he could get stuck in a category that becomes tough to escape.
In Other News...
Blues Fans Already Have One Big Debate About Their New Forwards
The Blues offseason brought in a pair of forwards who should both help, but not in quite the same way. Mason McTavish and Connor McMichael arrive with different kinds of offensive upside, and the early conversation around them is already less about whether they can score and more about how the team will use them once the lineup cards get serious.
McTavish looks like the cleaner fit for a bigger, steadier role because of his age and his broader threat level, while McMichael projects as the more flexible piece whose deployment could shift depending on how the forward groups settle in. That contrast is exactly why fans are already debating the new arrivals, with McTavish carrying the expectation of being the more prominent presence and McMichael still waiting for his spot in the rotation to come into focus. [Read more 🡒]
Blues Fans May Not Have To Wait Long For Carbonneau
Robert Thomas entering the season as the 25th captain in Blues history gives St. Louis a fresh layer of leadership as the club turns the page, and it also helps frame how the organization is thinking about its next wave of talent. One of the names drawing the most attention is Justin Carbonneau, the first-round pick from the 2025 NHL Entry Draft, whose path to the Blues is already part of the conversation around the teams long-term outlook.
Carbonneau is expected to begin the year in Springfield, but there is a real sense around the organization that his stay in the AHL may not last all that long. The Blues have a critical December stretch ahead, and how the team handles that month could shape the timing of his first NHL opportunity, depending on results and whatever injuries come into play. [Read more 🡒]
Blues May Have A Bigger Jimmy Snuggerud Debate Than Fans Think
The Blues have had a busy stretch of headline-making news, from naming Robert Thomas as the franchises 25th captain to confirming their games will air on Prime this season. Amid those bigger announcements, another bit of league chatter landed in the background when The Athletic rolled out its annual Top 150 NHL players list and included several St. Louis names among the games best.
Jimmy Snuggeruds absence from that list stood out, especially for a player whose rookie season was strong enough to earn first-team all-rookie recognition. For a team that is trying to define its next core, it is the kind of omission that can stir a fair debate about just how quickly Snuggeruds reputation should be rising and whether his place among the leagues young standouts is already more secure than outside rankings suggest. [Read more 🡒]