NHL projects the 2025-26 St. Louis Blues' lineup

To keep engagement going in the offseason, the NHL has been releasing its lineup projections for each team for the last few weeks. Today, they released the Blues' projected lineup, and there are a couple of quibbles we have with their selections.

A first line of Pavel Buchnevich, Robert Thomas and Jimmy Snuggerud is a bit odd; Snuggerud may prove to be a top-line player, but the more likely outcome is Jordan Kyrou skates with Buchnevich and Thomas to start the season.

That brings us to the second line of Dylan Holloway, Brayden Schenn, and Kyrou. We talked about swapping Kyrou and Snuggerud, but the most glaring issue is Schenn at center; at this stage in his career, Schenn is better suited to a reduced role on the third line. After all, isn't that what GM Doug Armstrong signed Pius Suter to do? Be a more reliable second-line center?

The third line, then, is all sorts of messy. Suter and Schenn should be swapped, sure, but Nick Bjugstad would make more sense as the center of the fourth line. There's a glaring omission, as well: where's Dalibor Dvorsky? He should make the team in some capacity this fall, which would appropriately bump Bjugstad to the fourth line.

So, if we factor in Dvorsky, we've got 13 forwards, which means someone has to sit--and Oskar Sundqvist seems like the most probable candidate. Alexander Texier is missing, too, and so is Mathieu Joseph, so the Blues will have some decisions to make at camp. Overall, the NHL got most of the names right, but didn't slot them where they should be.

The defense group, however, looks much more accurate. Cam Fowler and Colton Parayko on the top pair makes sense, Philip Broberg with Justin Faulk seems appropriate, and the youth movement on the third pair of Tyler Tucker and Logan Mailloux should work. Barring a surprise prospect making the team (Theo Lindstein, if absolutely everything went right?) or a late summer veteran signing, that blue line appears pretty locked in.

In net, there are no questions: it's still Jordan Binnington's crease as Joel Hofer continues to develop into an NHL-caliber goaltender. The only way their roles are reversed is if Binnington struggles early or gets injured, or Hofer goes on an absolute heater to start the season. Anything's possible, but the goalie position is as close as St. Louis comes to "set it and forget it."

Overall, not a bad projection from the NHL in terms of who's making the roster, but their position predictions could use some tweaking.