It's the first day of the 2026-27 NHL season--there are real, actual, impactful hockey games being played tonight. The St. Louis Blues are not one of those teams taking the ice tonight, but they did have to submit their final 23-man roster yesterday evening for opening night on Friday.
The roster in full
The Blues are starting the season with 14 forwards, seven defensemen, and two goaltenders.
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— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) September 28, 2026
There are two extras on the roster: Logan Mailloux and Tyler Tucker, who are both injured and will miss varying amounts of time. Mailloux will miss about eight weeks as he recovers from hand surgery, and Tucker is week-to-week with no definite timeline for return. Teams are allowed to start the season with players on injured reserve but, if the Blues wish to reactivate Mailloux or Tucker, they'll have to send someone else down to the Springfield Thunderbirds in the AHL to comply with the 23-man limit.
The rest of the roster is more or less as expected: Joel Hofer and Jordan Binnington are your goaltenders, the recently claimed Justin Barron joins the defense, and Adam Jiricek rejoins the roster after being sent down. The forward group, however, has a couple of surprises.
The surprises up front
One of the Blues' strengths is their forward depth, which could be the envy of almost any contending team--the only shortcoming is the lack of true superstar talent at the top of the lineup. There were a lot of players trying to earn a spot in the bottom six, and several veterans found themselves on the waiver wire. Waiving those vets cleared the way for Zach Dean and Dillon Dube to try to stick in the NHL.
Dean was a first-round selection for the Vegas Golden Knights in 2021, and he's only played nine NHL games to date (all of them during the 2023-24 season). At 23 years old, Dean's ceiling is likely a tweener: a player who's rock solid in the AHL but never consistent enough to carve out a roster spot as an NHL regular. It appears he'll get some runway to try and prove he deserves a nightly role.
The more surprising one is Dube. Dube was one of the five players acquitted in the Hockey Canada scandal, and a petition was started by Blues fans urging the team to release Dube, similar to how Cal Foote's contract with Farjestad BK in the Swedish Hockey League was terminated after pushback from fans. That didn't happen, and with Dube now on the team, it will be a storyline all season for better or worse.
Aside from the changes on defense, the Blues' forward lines shouldn't look too different from their final preseason game against the Chicago Blackhawks. The Blues have a heck of a first week ahead, and they'll have to come out strong or risk another sluggish start to the season.
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