As the summer continues to roll along, it is time to start taking a look at what the 2025-26 St. Louis Blues can look like. The roster is generally set, with 23 players under contract and ready to go as training camp nears.
In terms of line combinations, there should not be much of a drastic change from last season. But, there is one key spot that will be different from most of the 2024-25 season, but was evident at the end of the year and into the playoffs.
Has Jimmy Snuggerud, with Dylan Holloway seemingly going to be back from injury at the start of next season, earned his place at the first-line right-winger spot?
Give it a shot?
The Blues have a great group of top-six forwards, and with the trade of Zack Bolduc, the wingers seemingly look set in stone. The real battle now is whether or not head coach Jim Montgomery wants to give Jordan Kyrou a look with Robert Thomas on the first line, or give the new kid a shot.
At the start of the season, it might be a better idea to give Snuggerud a chance to prove himself once again. The Blues have to look at whether or not last season's immediate impact down the stretch and in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs was a fluke or not.
The clock is ticking on Snuggerud, as the Blues are going to have a log-jam in terms of wingers with 2025 first-round selection Justin Carbonneau waiting in the mix. That is still a few years away, but with Holloway having an incredible impact last season and Pavel Buchnevich being a consistent player year in and year out, it could come down to Kyrou or Snuggerud, not both.
He will have to earn it early
After making it to the playoffs last season, the expectation is to make it once again in 2025-26. But, the Blues cannot rely on a last-second Hail Mary to make it into the last wildcard like they did in 2024-25. That strategy has a very low chance of happening again.
The Blues are going to have to have a complete 82-game season, with no margin for error. If Snuggerud is given the nod at the start of the year, he will have to earn it every single night without fault. He might have the shortest leash on this team, besides newly acquired defenseman Logan Mailloux.