Jim Montgomery is heading into a kind of problem he hasn’t had to solve much before in St. Louis: too many players pushing for too few jobs.
The Blues’ next phase is being built around youth, and that gives the roster real upside - along with the kind of early-season chaos that can come with it. The 2026-27 season is shaping up as a messy one, in the best and worst ways.
Montgomery’s record since taking over on November 24, 2024 sits at 72-51-19, so the wins have come more often than the losses. Still, the bigger picture remains unsettled.
St. Louis has not yet turned that solid stretch into a clear path toward contender status.
That uncertainty is part of what makes the coming training camp so important. After a busy NHL Draft and free-agency period, the Blues have added more bodies to the mix just as a wave of young talent is ready to force its way into the conversation. The result is a crowded competition for opening-night roles.
One of the biggest openings comes on the wing after Jordan Kyrou’s departure to Washington. Behind Robert Thomas’ first line, there also isn’t a set group of centers in place. Mason McTavish, Connor McMichael, Dalibor Dvorsky, and Pius Suter are all in the mix for those jobs, and whoever doesn’t win a center spot will likely slide to the wing.
That leaves Montgomery with a roster full of players who can make a case for being regulars. Even prospects such as Adam Jiricek and Justin Carbonneau have done enough at the Junior Hockey level to suggest they can handle NHL competition.
This is a different kind of challenge for Montgomery. In Boston, he inherited an already strong team and pushed it further.
In St. Louis, he has been working with a club that has upside but still needs the right pieces to fall into place.
So the shortened preseason and training camp matter a lot here. They’ll help determine who is ready now, who needs more time, and which prospects deserve the chance to get NHL reps. Montgomery has to nail those calls, because getting the timing wrong could set the Blues back for years.
In Other News...
Blues Offseason Aggression Leaves One Huge Question Hanging
The Blues have spent the offseason acting like a team determined to change its own shape, not just tweak around the edges. Jordan Kyrou is gone, Jonathan Drouin was bought out, and the front office has kept moving pieces in and out while adding Connor McMichael, Mason McTavish, Brandon Carlo, Ross Johnston and Dillon Dube to a roster that looks very different from the one it started with.
It is an aggressive retool, and the ambition is obvious. St. Louis has already paid a steep price in draft capital and made some bold bets on present-tense improvement, but the bigger issue now is what all of it is meant to solve. With a full roster and plenty of cap space still sitting there, the Blues have made themselves harder to read, not easier, and the next move may tell the real story of where this is headed. [Read more 🡒]