A month into the 2026-27 season, the St. Louis Blues have landed almost exactly where plenty of people thought they would: stuck in the middle.
Their 7-7-1 record gives them 15 points and sixth place in the Central Division, a perfectly ordinary start in a division that doesn’t leave much room for error. But the Blues haven’t just been average - they’ve also had to deal with brutal goaltending from their veteran netminder and a run of miserable puck luck.
The bigger issue is that the players expected to carry them haven’t carried enough.
Mason McTavish and Connor McMichael opened the year looking like real steals, but both have cooled off hard. McTavish has gone five games without a point and sits at minus-7, while McMichael has just one point in his last five games and is minus-4. That wouldn’t sting quite as much if the rest of the top group were rolling, but that hasn’t happened either.
Robert Thomas has 10 points on the season, even after his monster game against the Boston Bruins. Dylan Holloway is only a little ahead of him with 12.
Jimmy Snuggerud has at least been scoring goals, but Pavel Buchnevich’s early-season bounce-back has fallen apart. These are the names the Blues need producing, and they’re not making up for the depth scoring that has dried up.
The problems don’t stop up front. Cam Fowler has been borderline unplayable, and the defense has been hanging on while waiting for Logan Mailloux to return. There’s also concern around Colton Parayko, who missed a game because of an injury that could turn into something more serious if he has to sit longer.
And at this point, Jordan Binnington doesn’t need another diagnosis. He needs a change of scenery as soon as possible.
Jim Montgomery’s team has been here before, too. He took over early in the 2024-25 season and gave the Blues enough of a lift to sneak into the playoffs as a wild-card team, then nearly knocked off the President’s Trophy-winning Winnipeg Jets. But in his first full season, the Blues started slowly again and, even after a hot stretch following the Winter Olympics, still missed the postseason.
Now the same questions are back. Montgomery hasn’t found a fix for the 5-on-5 play, which has gone stale.
The power play has at least climbed to just over 20 percent after a rough start, good for 19th in the league, and the penalty kill has been excellent at sixth in the NHL. Even so, the even-strength game is still dragging them down.
There’s time to recover - they’ve played only 16 of 84 games - but the Blues can’t keep drifting. With several top teams already ahead of them in the standings, they need to start banking points soon or they’ll stay right where preseason projections put them: in the league’s mediocre middle.
In Other News...
Blues May Have A Quiet Roster Answer Developing In Springfield
One of the quieter developments in the Blues system is unfolding in Springfield, where Jakub Stancl is getting a look in the middle after arriving as a 2024 fourth-round pick. The Thunderbirds have used him as a center as he continues to round out his game, and the shift gives St. Louis a better sense of how his skill set might translate if he keeps moving up the organizational ladder.
For the Blues, the appeal is obvious: a young forward who is learning the defensive side of the position while also getting real work on faceoffs. The results are still a work in progress, but Stancl is showing enough growth to keep the conversation going about whether he can eventually settle into a dependable bottom-six role in St. Louis. [Read more 🡒]
Blues Need A Road Trip Response Before This Slide Gets Worse
The Blues head into their Metropolitan Division road trip looking for a cleaner response after a 3-1 loss to the Rangers, a game that left them needing more finish and more push from their top players. Robert Thomas, Jimmy Snuggerud and Pius Suter are all expected to matter in the next one, and the matchup with New Jersey brings a different kind of test, especially with the Devils carrying a power play that has clicked at 19.1 percent this season.
Jordan Binnington is also part of the conversation as St. Louis sorts out its plan for net, though the Blues have not yet confirmed who will get the start against New Jersey. However they line up, this feels like the kind of early road-game pivot that can either steady a team or let a slide linger, and the Blues could use a sharper answer before the trip starts to define them. [Read more 🡒]
Blues Built For More Bite But One Big Doubt Is Growing
The Blues came into the season with a reputation for wanting more edge, but through 15 games the numbers have not quite matched the image. St. Louis has logged 274 hits, a total that leaves it tied for 25th in the NHL, and some of that drop-off traces back to the lineup shuffling caused by injuries and absences among the clubs more physical players.
With Tyler Tucker still sidelined and Alexey Toropchenko and Ross Johnston also having missed time, the conversation around adding more bite has started to turn toward Springfield. Oskar Sundqvist and Nathan Walker are among the names in the mix, and while that kind of move could help restore some of the teams identity, it is only part of a bigger picture that also includes the power play and the defense. [Read more 🡒]