St. Louis Blues Third Line Could Feature Some New Faces

The St. Louis Blues third line was a driving force for their Stanley Cup-winning team, but despite having so much success, major changes may be in order.

Teams that win the Stanley Cup usually have three, sometimes even four solid lines that propel them to the holy grail of hockey. The St. Louis Blues team had the same identity of championship teams in previous years.

St. Louis was loaded with talent up and down the roster during the 2018-19 season, and every line the Blues had were able to perform at some point during the season, even during the team’s early-season struggles.

However, the Blues’ third line stood out the most at some of the most important times during the late-season push to get into the playoffs, and in the first two rounds of the postseason.

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The line many fans fell in love with featured Tyler Bozak, Robert Thomas, and Pat Maroon but for the upcoming season, the third line might feature a different cast of characters.

We’ll start with the obvious. Maroon has yet to sign a contract with any team, and according to CapFriendly, the Blues only have $1.9 million left in cap space. Probably not enough to retain the St. Louisan for another year.

Hometown discounts on go so far, and even if the Blues wanted to give Maroon every last dime of their cap space, it likely wouldn’t be enough to keep the Big Rig.

So the question regarding the Blues third line, is what life will be like without Maroon? The only remaining player that I see remaining on the team’s third line is Bozak.

Regardless of how you feel about Bozak’s skills, he is clearly the Blues third-best center and is almost a lock to start the season on the third line. Placing him on one of the top two lines, replacing Brayden Schenn or Ryan O’Reilly makes no sense, so we can pencil in Bozak for the third line.

Another big question will be how St. Louis wants to employ Thomas. The Blues placed him on the third line last season in order to control his minutes and ease him into the NHL game.

Thomas, as a result, had a very productive rookie campaign and will likely garner more responsibility next year. The case could be made for Thomas joining one of the top two lines in 2020, namely the Blues’ second line.

The first line, I would imagine, is set in stone. Schenn, Jaden Schwartz, and Vladimir Tarasenko need to be the team’s first line entering the new season, especially after their performance in the playoffs last year.

The second line is where I would like to see Thomas next season. Though Zach Sanford paired well with O’Reilly and David Perron, Thomas’ playmaking ability could propel the second line to a new level.

This leaves one spot open on the third line to play with Bozak and Sanford. Sanford can score when necessary, but can also be a heavy body down low with the puck, so the Blues could opt for another big body, or bring in more skill to complement Bozak.

Sammy Blais might be the best candidate to fill this role, with Oskar Sundqvist coming in a close second. Blais has a good combination of skill and strength that could play nicely on the third line.

However, playing Sanford and Blais together could create the opportunity for a prolonged scoring drought as neither of the forwards have proven to be consistent scorers.

Sundqvist had a great season last year, but it was the first time in his career he has put together an offensive-minded season.

The Blues third line will be like every other team in the league, it will be a supporting line that spells the top two lines and won’t be relied on to carry the scoring load. Still, a Sanford-Bozak-Blais line could work well in the Blues’ favor.