With Dylan Holloway, Jake Neighbours and newly acquired Connor McMichael all young enough to own the left side for years, the St. Louis Blues are still stocking the pipeline behind them. The organization’s left wing depth isn’t the deepest part of the system, but there are still a few names worth tracking as the 2026-27 season approaches.
At the top of that group is Otto Stenberg, who already has 32 NHL games on his resume. The 21-year-old has three goals and 10 points at the NHL level, and he spent the 2025-26 season bouncing between St.
Louis and Springfield. With the Springfield Thunderbirds, he put up four goals and 17 points in 36 regular season games while working in a middle-six role.
His ice time reflected that workload too: 13:43 a night with the Blues and 16:40 with Springfield, along with regular special-teams usage. The offense hasn’t fully followed him from Sweden yet, but the hockey IQ and forechecking have.
He enters camp as a bubble player with an outside chance to crack the opening-night roster.
Juraj Pekarcik is next, and his first pro season gave the Blues plenty to think about. The 2023 third-round pick came over after a big year with Moncton in the QMJHL, where he scored 24 goals and 67 points in 53 games.
In Springfield, he kept producing with 11 goals and 35 points in 69 regular season games while logging a steady 14 minutes per night. He doesn’t shoot a ton, but 15 of his assists came as primary assists, a good sign for a player whose game is built on reading the ice.
He still needs more time to round out the rest of his game, but another season or two in the AHL could put him on the NHL radar.
Aleksanteri Kaskimaki has already gotten a taste of the NHL, though it didn’t bring any offense in his five-game look. The 22-year-old has been much more productive in the AHL, where he has 31 goals and 78 points across two seasons.
In 2025-26 alone, he posted 11 goals and 34 points in 57 games and settled in as a top-six staple, playing just under 19 minutes per night. His quick release has developed into a real weapon, and he looks like a player who can complement a line rather than drive it.
Jakub Stancl brings a different kind of intrigue. The 21-year-old Czech left shot was drafted in the fourth round in 2023 and lit up the WHL with Kelowna, scoring 23 goals and 57 points in 58 games during the 2024-25 season.
This past year, he split time between left wing and center with Springfield, which makes him one of the more interesting projection cases in the system. He averaged a little over 14 minutes per game, took 471 faceoffs at a 44% success rate, and also logged 84 minutes on the penalty kill.
He still projects as a bottom-six winger, but there’s at least some runway to explore him down the middle.
Tomas Mrsic rounds out the list, and his profile is all about upside meeting physical development. The 5-foot-11, 170-pound winger went 113th in 2024 after a huge season with Prince Albert, where he scored 33 goals and 90 points in 65 games and averaged 22:34 in ice time.
His first NCAA season at Colorado College was quieter, with five goals and 12 points in 37 games while working in a bottom-six role and averaging 14 minutes a night. The skill is there.
The question now is whether his body catches up. He still looks a few seasons away from pro hockey, but if the strength comes, he has a chance to grow into a middle-six winger.
In Other News...
Robert Thomas Faces Three Early Tests As Blues Captain
Robert Thomas has stepped into one of the most visible jobs in the organization after being named captain, a role that carries both the day-to-day responsibility of setting the tone and the bigger burden of helping a reshaped roster settle in. For the Blues, the assignment comes with the usual expectations attached to leadership, but also with a specific eye on how Thomas handles the blend of toughness, consistency and production that comes with being the face of the room.
The real measuring stick is already clear: the playoffs. In St. Louis, captaincy is rarely judged in a vacuum, and the standard has long been whether the team gets back into the postseason under new leadership. Thomas now inherits that pressure as the club looks to turn roster changes and uncertain projections into something more stable, and the first season in the job will be defined by whether he can help guide the Blues back to that familiar spring stage. [Read more 🡒]