St. Louis Blues: Finding The Next Sammy Blais

St. Louis Blues forward Sammy Blais surprised the entire organization this time last year at training camp, and with top prospects getting their chance to showcase their talent to the team, there are some players who could make a splash at camp.

Sammy Blais put on a show for the St. Louis Blues during training camp and in preseason games in 2017, coming out of nowhere and taking the roster spot of an injured Robby Fabbri, the 21-year-old forward saw the opportunity and never looked back.

There are a limited number of opportunities for young players in a similar situation to Blais to earn a roster spot out of training camp for 2018. Players like Robert Thomas and Jordan Kyrou will most likely get the first shot at an opening night assignment.

There are players who are coming back from injury who are also going to be in the mix for a roster spot like Zach Sanford and Robby Fabbri. Blais could bounce back after only appearing in 11 games a year ago, but with the new offseason additions, it looks like there will be no room for Blais in the starting lineup.

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Robert Thomas, who is one of the top prospects in the NHL, will be given every opportunity to make the team. Thomas last year in the OHL was named playoff MVP, putting up 75 points in 49 games for both the London Knights and the Hamilton Bulldogs.

Thomas could see time on the fourth line this year, but head coach Mike Yeo has indicated that he could see Thomas on one of the top two lines before the holiday season.

Regardless of where the team puts Thomas to being the season, he figures to be the leading candidate to win a roster spot out of camp.

Jordan Kyrou is perhaps one of the most offensively gifted players in the St. Louis Blues system. Kyrou was named the OHL MVP last season registering 109 points including 39 goals and 70 assists for the Sarnia Sting.

Kyrou might need some more time to develop before the Blues give him a roster spot,  and the team might be hesitant to give him fourth line minutes. At the moment it appears that there is no room for Kyrou on one of the top three lines, so he may have to wait for an injury to get a shot at making the team.

Perhaps the most obvious choice to make the roster is Robby Fabbri, but instead of performance holding him back, it has been injury concerns. Fabbri is coming off of back to back ACL injuries and the young forward has been out of the lineup for the past two years.

Fabbri has only played in a full season once in 2015-2016 when he appeared in 72 games including the playoffs and put up 37 points in the regular season and tallied 15 more in the playoffs.

When healthy, Fabbri is able to use his speed to create scoring opportunities for both himself and his linemates. Speed could be one of the attributes the current Blues team is lacking. St. Louis was able to sign big bodies like Patrick Maroon and Ryan O’Reilly, but Fabbri could bring a new dynamic to the Blues lineup.

The Blues will have a limited number of roster spots to open the 2018 season and barring any kind of injury to one of the top 9 forwards, the room for a player like Sammy Blais to earn his way onto the roster seems unlikely.