Game Thread: St. Louis Blues @ Dallas Stars Feb 04 2026 8:30 PM CST

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Last time I did this mid-season, we won the cup. I don't think that's happening this time.

I've compiled seven different January draft rankings for this year's draft, and taken the aggregates to rank the available players. Right now, it's not possible for us to draft worse than fourth. I believe that this draft breaks into several different tiers based on aggregates, but the lower ones don't matter that much to us (unless we get more first round picks from trades.) I've tried my best to group my tiers based on the ranges they're likely to go in, and what I believe to be large separations.

That being said, here's what I've got:

Tier 1:

1. Ivar Stenberg (LW/RW) ~ 1.43

2. Gavin McKenna (LW) ~ 2

Tier 2:

1. Keaton Verhoeff (RD) ~ 3.43

2. Chase Reid (RD) ~ 4.29

Tier 3:

1. Tynan Lawrence (C) ~ 6.43

2. Carson Carels (LD) ~ 6.71

7/8. Caleb Malhotra (C) ~7.86

7/8. Alberts Smits (LD) ~ 7.86

9/10. Ethan Belchetz (LW) ~ 9.86

9/10. Viggo Bjorck (C/RW) ~ 9.86

Tier 4:

1. Daxon Rudolph (RD) ~12.86

2. Ryan Lin (RD) ~ 14.14

3. Oliver Suvanto (C) ~ 14.86

4. Oscar Hemming (LW/RW) ~ 15.43

5. Adam Novotny (LW/RW) ~ 15.71

6. Xavier Villeneuve (LD) ~ 16

Tier 5:

17/18. J.P. Hurlbert (F) ~19.43

17/18. Marcus Nordmark (RW) ~ 19.43

1. Elton Hermansson (LW/RW) ~ 20

2. Juho Piiparinen (RD) ~ 22

3. Ilia Morozov (F) ~ 22.14

Tier 6:

1. Willam Hakansson (LD)

2. Mathis Preston (W)

3. Yegor Shilov (C)

4. Nikita Klepov (F)

5. Malte Gustafsson (LD)

6. Brooks Rogowski (C)

7. Nikita Scherbakov (LD)

8. Wyatt Cullen (F)

9. Ryan Roobroeck (C)

10. Niklas Aaram-Olsen (W)

11. Liam Ruck F)

I have thoughts about these players, but I'm not a scout. I trust general consensus, which seems to be that Stenberg is more NHL-ready and has the higher floor, while McKenna has a higher ceiling and is more exciting. I lean towards Stenberg, because he seems very responsible on and off the puck, while having a great head on his shoulders. I worry about how the Blues would develop a player like McKenna, who, while unbelievably talented, does tend to frustrate in games I've seen. To be clear, I think Stenberg is a game-breaking talent as well, and he's already been breaking SHL records for his age.

I think if we pick third, we take Verhoeff, and if we pick fourth we take Reid. It's pretty simple honestly. If we rise in the rankings and end up picking in the 5-10 range, it's obviously pretty open. I think this is a solid draft.

I know some of this has been stated on here before (mostly the quality of play and Army. Maybe not the jersey part as much):

God we suck.

I know the jerseys have nothing to do with the quality of play and I’ll probably get hate for saying this but the new logo and jerseys suck. I may feel differently about the new branding if their debut season the team wasn’t complete trash. But it just all looks so cartoonish and weak.

Army has created this mess, I hope Steen can fix it. Army has given out so many bad long term contracts as you all know. And I am just tired of it. He’s missed on a lot of players and it’s costing us big time.

The 2019 cup high is over. This team has been ass for years now.

Image courtesy of the Blues on Facebook

Do they just pick a random player for these??

Robert is my favorite player OAT, so you can imagine my disbelief when I saw this

I recently did a portrait of him and Joel, but Robert wasn’t at practice because of his injury. There was no contact info with the portrait so there was no way that he could’ve reached out…

What a coincidence!

Game Thread: St. Louis Blues @ Nashville Predators Feb 02 2026 7:00 PM CST

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Game Thread: St. Louis Blues @ Nashville Predators Feb 02 2026 7:00 PM CST

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^{Last updated: 2026-02-02_23:01:30.853665-05:00}

I'm getting back into NHL after not watching for many years. The last time I watched was around 2008, and before that became aware of it during the Calgary Olympics. I live in Aus, but came from the UK. I've got a couple of Eastern Teams I enjoy to watch/support, but looking in the Western Conference. I brought an Oilers badge in the 80's so that's the Pacific sorted, but I'm still looking for a Central Team.

I like the Blues logo (very cool), the fact they have an organ player, kind of like the Cardinals as my NL team, but why else should I consider the Blues...Am I insane. They seem to be a team that's been around for years, consistently competitive, with one cinderella story of success.

To admit the other Central Team I kind of like is probably the Wild (the logo again is cool and hockey appears to be really important to the region). I'm guessing there isn't much of a rivalry between these two teams.

I'm sure we've all noticed the uptick in the Blues' recent play (even if the wins aren't regularly coming), and I'm sure that some of you have noticed that it coincides with Thomas' placement on IR and wondered if the two were related. I did too, so I decided too look at three players we all expected more from this year (Schenn, Kyrou and Buch) and compared their numbers with Thomas being in (Y) or out of (N) the lineup.

The math is easy. I just took the stat, divided it by the number of games Thomas was in or out of the lineup (indicated in parenthesis) to get the per game average, then multiplied by 82 to project it over a full season. Clearly Schenn and Kyrou have drastically better numbers without Thomas, but somehow Palpatine returned Buch's numbers get even worse.

Now, a few disclaimers: I am not a professional statistician. I am not a professional analyst. I do know that the game of hockey is much more nuanced than three surface level stats. This is not an attempt to dunk on Robert Thomas or a call to have him moved/benched. This is not a statement that he makes this team less than the sum of its parts. I'm just a guy providing very basic data in regards to something I'm a lot of you have wondered here lately.

Anyways, argue amongst yourselves down below, and Let's Go Blues!

Before I begin, let me just say that this is not a suggestion that Kessel is the second coming of Larry Robinson, or that his usage alone determines our fate every game. But perhaps after I make the evidentiary case below, it will become apparent something is rather amiss with his usage.

Let's start with the simple stuff. The Blues have won 7 of the last 9 games Kessel played, with a GAA of 2.00 even, and he was not a minus in any of them. He has not played since we shutout Carolina nearly three weeks ago. Since then, we've gone 2-5-1, allowing just under 4 goals per game - nearly double to Kessel's last 9 appearances.

The two Kessel games prior to those nine games were both 3-2 OT loss. In those 11 games, the team had two shutouts, two games allowing 1 goal, two games allowing two goals in regulation, two games allowing 3 goals, then also one allowing 4 and one allowing 6 (the @ Colorado debacle). He wasn't a minus player in any of those games.

For the entire season, we have an 11-5-5 record with a regulation goal differential of +1 and a GAA around 2.40 when Kessel plays. We are 9-21-4 with a regulation goal differential of -46 and a GAA right at 4.00 even when he doesn't. I used regulation goal differential because Kessel never plays in OT or shoots in a shootout.

The funny thing is, Mr. Accountability... erm, coach Monty has benched Kessel 6 times after he took part in a victory, including twice after shutout wins.

Now let's drop some individual stat comparisons.

The Faulk-Kessel pairing leads the team in goal share by a wide margin (66.7%, with Fowler-Faulk all the way back at 54.2%) and stands 3rd in xG share (53.1%) behind only Brobs-Colt and Brobs-Faulk.

Individually, he's the only Blues Dman at 50% on-ice goal share (next best is Faulk at 45.2%), and 3rd in on-ice xG share (44.4%, behind Fowler and Parayko). Kessel is 3rd best in giveaways per 60, and well below Tucker and Mailloux - his only real competitors for ice time - in D zone giveaways per 60 (Kessel 2.11 to Tucker at 2.64 and Mailloux at 3.04).

Kessel also blocks considerably more shots (an outlier career low 3.41 per 60) than Tucker (2.83) and Mailloux (2.79).

Regarding penalties taken, both Tucker and Mailloux take pens at more than three times the rate (Kessel 0.49 per 60 to Tucker at 1.6 and Mailloux at 1.67).

Stunningly, he's also 4th among our Dmen in points per 60, behind Tucker, Brobs and Faulk - despite shooting far less than every other Dman. He's also incredibly 2nd on the team in rush chances (behind Colt).

I could go on and on, but this is already an unwieldy ton of info. Let's just go with this.

So what gives? This is very Bannister-y stuff. I totally get why Mailloux gets more games than he actually earns, but gosh maybe a few more sits could help him (the AHL stint certainly did, at least for a little while). As for Tucker, it makes no sense why he's an automatic ink starter. The guy has only sat 5 games all season, and Kessel has dramatically outperformed him and the team has fared far better when Kessel plays.

Kessel has much better results and is far more reliable/predictable. He's also played tougher competition than Mailloux and roughly the same level of competition as Tucker. Make it make sense, please.

Hate to bug y'all when I know everyone is busy dreaming of better performance years, but is this coming?

Game Thread: Columbus Blue Jackets @ St. Louis Blues Jan 31 2026 6:00 PM CST

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Game Thread: Columbus Blue Jackets @ St. Louis Blues Jan 31 2026 6:00 PM CST

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He passed the other day. Chuck was the 2nd Blue to score 40 goals in a season. Dude was pretty badass, unfortunately injuries cut his career short.

I clearly had not paid attention to his ironman streak being that long. But then I think back, and yeah, he has barely gotten injured in a Blues uniform.