3 players who may find full-time roles with the St. Louis Blues next season
The St. Louis Blues have quite a few players in their system who should be ready to take the next step and find a full-time role with the club for 2024-25.
When Matt Kessel signed his two-year extension earlier this week, it all but confirmed he would be in the opening-day lineup come October 2024. Kessel, however, isn’t the only player who should see a full-time role with the big club next season, as there are a few St. Louis is giving a trial as the season winds down.
The Blues technically remain in the NHL playoff race, but there is also a good chance they will see an ‘e’ next to their name sooner than later. After 66 games, they are still six points out of the final wild card spot. And thanks to the Minnesota Wild - currently not in the wild card - looking like one of the Western Conference’s best teams and the Vegas Golden Knights playing better hockey, it will be tough for St. Louis to land that last wild card spot.
This would give those who have yet to play a full season at the NHL level time to gain experience. They will also do all they can to prove they’re ready to handle the full 82-game schedule for next season.
St. Louis Blues could find future full-time NHLers as the season winds down
There are no guarantees the players listed in the following slides will see an 82-game slate next season. Two are still on two-way, entry-level contracts, while the third made the big club earlier this season, but has appeared in just 18 games this year and was not a regular member of the lineup.
Which youngsters could work their way into a full-time role with the Blues next season, and where do they currently stand? One is a recent call-up who may have already made his NHL debut by the time you read this. The other has played in just a handful of NHL games, and the third, we discussed earlier and will dive into deeper detail regarding them in the final slide.
Zach Dean will get his trial with the Blues
Zach Dean should excite a fan base looking for its next playmaker, and the former first-round pick in 2021 has the potential. To say he crushed it during his final season in the QMJHL is an understatement, as Dean was one of the best players on the ice for the Gatineau Olympiques with 70 points in 50 games.
His playoff performance saw an additional 26 points in 13 contests, and the Blues didn’t need to wait long before he made his mark with the Springfield Thunderbirds. Dean’s numbers, 13 points in 47 contests, aren’t what you would call remarkable, but his recent surge is what put him on the map.
Nine of those points came in his previous 13 games with Springfield, a monumental improvement from the four he logged in his first 34. However, injuries could have been responsible for his lack of production early, showing that a healthy version of Dean can be arguably the best player on the ice at the AHL level.
If he parlays his recent production to even something remotely close with the big club, Dean will set the stage to get an extended look in camp next season. In the event he’s reassigned to Springfield, it won’t be long until we see him back with the Blues.
Zachary Bolduc will be a prime candidate should he keep progressing
Like Zach Dean, Zachary Bolduc was sensational during his last QMJHL season, scoring 110 points and 50 goals in 2022-23, plus another 19 points and 11 goals in 18 postseason contests. Bolduc also showed he could make the successful jump from the junior hockey level to the AHL, recording 23 points and eight goals in 48 contests.
Bolduc hasn’t been as effective of a scorer throughout his small sample size, with just two points and a goal in 11 contests. Note, however, that Bolduc has only logged an average time on ice of 10:35, so it’s not like he’s receiving top-six minutes. He has also shown his efficacy in the defensive zone, logging four blocks, four takeaways, and finishing seven checks, but that’s just the beginning.
Bolduc’s on-ice save percentage at 5-on-5 is a stellar 92.2 percent, so the 21-year-old has brought value, and it won’t be long until the former 17th-overall pick sees the ice more. If Bolduc gets hot during the last month of the season, he will be the front-running forward prospect in the system to earn a full-time role in St. Louis next year.
Tyler Tucker will have a year to prove he can stick with the Blues full-time
Tyler Tucker earned a spot with the Blues out of camp, but injuries have predominantly kept the defenseman out of the lineup for a good portion of the season. Tucker returned to Springfield to condition, and recently found himself back in the lineup for a few games, and has played in 18 total this season.
He has just two points in 18 contests, but physical play is what makes Tucker such a strong candidate to once again win a spot with the Blues and stay healthy enough to play in most and, ideally, every game next year. Tucker is also the only player on this list with NHL experience dating back to last season when he appeared in 26 games.
During that stretch, Tucker logged 50 hits and blocked 26 shots, a trend that continued this season, but at an even higher rate. In his limited number of games, Tucker has had 20 blocks and 41 hits, and if he keeps playing this physical brand of hockey, he will remain an effective player for St. Louis, and it would be a foregone conclusion that he will sign an extension.
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(Statistics provided by Hockey-Reference)