The St. Louis Blues have their training camp groups set, and the split tells a pretty clear story about where the roster stands heading into the preseason.
Group A looks a lot like the team’s opening-night picture. It includes plenty of the regulars from last season, plus several new faces who now sit firmly in the mix. Mason McTavish, Connor McMichael, Brandon Carlo, Ross Johnston, and re-signed Jonathan Berggren are all in that top group.
The most notable absences from Group A are Nathan Walker and Oskar Sundqvist, two NHL regulars from last season. That fits the way this camp is shaping up: they could still cycle through the lineup, but for now they’re slotted more as players who may end up in the press box or down in Springfield with much of Group B.
There are also a few names in Group A that jump out immediately. Theo Linstein, Adam Jiricek, and Vladimir Proskurin are worth watching closely. Jiricek and Linstein are part of a defense battle that could decide the seventh spot on the blue line, while Proskurin is a goaltender who was drafted just a few months ago.
That kind of competition is going to define camp. The defense race is one obvious storyline, and the second-line center job is another, with McMichael and McTavish in the mix. When camp opened, McTavish was the first one pushed into the 2C role, with McMichael and Buchnevich on his wings.
#stlblues Group A forward lines:
Holloway-Thomas-Snuggerud
McMichael-McTavish-Buchnevich
Neighbours-Dvorsky-Berggren
Johnston-Suter-Toropchenko
- Lou Korac (@lkorac10) September 17, 2026
Group B is where the hopefuls are gathered, and Nathan Walker, Oskar Sundqvist, and Jack Finley headline that group. It also includes players like Colin Ralph and Dillon Dube, who are trying to get themselves onto the radar and push closer to NHL debuts.
There may still be a surprise or two before camp is over, but the real first test comes on September 19 against the Dallas Stars. That’s the first of only four chances to make an impression, and for some of these players, every shift will matter. Group A feels pretty settled, but there’s still room for a few Group B players to force their way into the conversation.
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Steen has also made one of the quieter but more meaningful calls of his opening stretch in charge, settling an important leadership question while the roster keeps taking shape around him. The next test is whether the moves he has already made are enough to hold steady if the season gets rocky, because the Blues are expected to stay active if they need to correct course. In a market that wants results quickly, the early months of Steens tenure may say as much about the future as any move he makes before the deadline. [Read more 🡒]