The Blues’ pipeline is starting to feel a lot less like a distant future and a lot more like the next wave. With the organization moving into the Alexander Steen era and looking ahead to the 2026-27 season, the spotlight is shifting toward the young players who haven’t yet logged an NHL game in St. Louis but could be part of the core before long.
That group is loaded with names worth tracking, and a few stand out above the rest.
Justin Carbonneau sits at No. 1 on this list, and the appeal is obvious. It would have been something to see him skate alongside the player he admired most, Jordan Kyrou, but the path now points somewhere else: Carbonneau has a real chance to grow into the team’s primary scoring threat.
Jimmy Snuggerud is also in the mix for that role, but Carbonneau projects as the kind of offensive force who can build a long career with the puck on his stick. A line with those two next season is at least something to keep an eye on.
Adam Jiricek comes in at No. 2, and he may have the clearest route to an NHL debut in 2026-27 among the names here. He looks ready for that next step, with just a few more games in Springfield potentially standing between him and a chance to help the Blues if the defense needs a boost.
For St. Louis, the wait has been long enough that the anticipation is starting to build.
At No. 3 is Tynan Lawrence, another center who should make training camp a real battle for Jim Montgomery. Drafted 11th overall last month, Lawrence was brought in to be the full package.
His game has been compared to Matt Boldy in Minnesota or Sebastian Aho of Carolina because of the way he handles both ends of the ice. If he can even approach that level, the Blues will have landed a major piece.
Dmitri Buchelnikov checks in at No. 4, and he might be the most intriguing gamble on the board. A second-round pick by Detroit in the 2022 NHL Draft before being moved to St.
Louis in the Justin Faulk deal, the 22-year-old winger has spent the last couple of seasons facing top competition in the KHL. He’s coming off a year in which he played 44 games and scored 14 goals, and with more time, he could become a legitimate top-six option for the Blues.
Springfield in 2026-27 could be his next stop.
Rounding out the list at No. 5 is Maddox Deganais, the 16th overall pick in the 2026 NHL Draft. He’s a big center with plenty to like: he can skate, he thinks the game well, and he’s one of two players here coming up through the QMJHL.
Deganais still has a long development runway ahead of him, but the upside is easy to see. If the Blues’ championship window opens the way they hope, he could be the kind of piece that fits right in.
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 🡒]
Jim Montgomery Faces A Blues Roster Crunch That Could Define Next Season
Jim Montgomery enters his second season behind the Blues bench with a 72-51-19 record since taking over on Nov. 24, 2024, but the bigger story now is less about what happened last year and more about how crowded things have become. St. Louis is moving deeper into a youth-focused phase, and that means a growing list of players will be chasing a shrinking number of jobs as the roster takes shape for next season.
Training camp is going to matter, and the preseason may matter even more, because Montgomery has to sort through new additions and prospects while figuring out who is ready for NHL minutes. For a team trying to balance development with competitiveness, the next few weeks could go a long way toward defining the lineup the Blues carry into opening night and beyond. [Read more 🡒]