It's been a little while since the St Louis Blues have made it to the Stanley Cup playoffs, but this upcoming season could change that in more ways than one. With its best youth development in a few years and several key offseason additions, St Louis could be a potential playoff spoiler by next April if they play their cards right. Here are 5 reasons why the Blues just might pull it off.
The full power of Jimmy Snuggerud
Arguably the Blues' best young talent on the current roster, the 22-year-old Minnesota superstar had an excellent sophomore season in the NHL, scoring 21 goals and logging 30 assists to break 50 points in 2025-26, playing in 70 games. He's part of the Blues' young dual threat alongside centre Robert Thomas, while Snuggerud holds down the fort on the right wing side. Add those to the left-wing power of Dylan Holloway (more on him later), and St. Louis' primary offensive line looks pretty scary, which also makes you wonder how they haven't made it back to the postseason. But of course, like any team, you can't rely solely on your offense to get it done for all 82 games. And speaking of those 82 games, everyone gets an extra pair this season, as the league expanded the calendar to 84 games for the first time since the 1993-94 season. Going back to Snuggerud, he's the most likely breakout candidate for the entire Blues team, with his biggest strength being his power on one-timers.
Dyaln Holloway's potential
Since being dealt from Edmonton alongside Philip Broberg, a talented young defenseman, Holloway has made his mark in St. Louis. Posting his second straight 20+ goal season in 2025-26, with 22 goals and 29 assists, he also broke 50 points like Snuggerud. Even more impressive is that he did it in far fewer games than Snuggy, playing in only 59 contests due to missed injury time. Holloway's first season in the Gateway City was equally impressive, notching 26 goals and 37 assists for 63 points in 2024-25. It's definitely reasonable to assume Holloway would've matched or even slightly surpassed those numbers if he hadn't missed so much time as he did this season. He's clearly got the offensive output for it, making it all the more understandable as to why he's on the Blues' top offensive line with Snuggerud and Robert Thomas. If Holloway can stay healthy and even play in all 84 regular-season games this year, he might even break the 30-goal mark, something only the best players in the entire league do. It might even earn him an All-Star Game appearance, something that Thomas did himself just a few years into his career.
The impact of the new arrivals
The Blues were quite busy this offseason at the trade deadline, grabbing a handful of skaters who should be 2 to keep an eye on. Mason McTavish is a talented young scorer from Anaheim, scoring a modest 17 goals and 24 assists for 31 points for the Ducks last season. In 2024-25, he, like the other players mentioned so far, eclipsed 20 goals, with 22-30-52 during that season. The Swiss native is still only 23 years old, so he's got plenty of time to develop with his new team that's in the Midwest rather than the West Coast. Also joining the Blues this season is Washington's Connor McMichael, who was swapped for another Blues star in Jordan Kyrou. McMichael has six years of NHL experience and similar numbers to McTavish in the last two seasons, and it appears both of them are slated to be on St Louis' secondary offensive line along with Pavel Buchnevich, who was one of the league's hottest commodities this summer. McMichael and McTavish will be put into the LW and C slots on that secondary offensive line, respectively.
Joel Hofer's push for the starting job
Being a backup to Jordan Binnington has really gotten to Hofer, and ever since the middle of last season, he's made an aggressive push to be the man between the pipes for this season over Binnington. Hofer played in a few more games than Binnington, 46 to 41, and also had the better record, with a 24-13-5 effort compared to Binnington's 13-20-7 record. Additionally, Hofer's goals-against average and save percentage were noticeably higher than Jordan's, with a 2.61 compared to a 3.33 and a .909 versus a .873. It makes you wonder why he didn't possibly become the starter down the stretch. Who knows- could it have potentially helped St Louis make the playoffs instead of them just missing out via the wild card spots? We'll see this season, depending on just how many contests the 26-year-old Winnipeg native in his 6th season ends up playing or starting compared to his fellow netminder.
Jim Montgomery's coaching style
The Blues absolutely caught fire after the Olympic break and looked to be racing towards a wild-card playoff spot before things inevitably fell apart. But after momentum like that and a full offseason rest, head coach Jim Montgomery and his Blues team should be recharged and ready, perhaps more than ready to challenge what's been the NHL's toughest division for years now. Montgomery's overall coaching structure, which includes a rebuilt power play unit even with the loss of stars like Kyrou, has been bolstered by those new offseason additions, and of course, the top offensive line looks better than ever. Additionally, their defense has gotten some positive retooling with Broberg and veteran Colton Parayko still with the team. Many fans should be surprised or keep a sharp eye on the Blues this season, because they might be the biggest spoiler of the 16 postseason teams when next April rolls around.
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