Our opening night lineup predictions continue, and today we're going to attempt to project the St. Louis Blues' second line. Have a read of our third line and fourth line projections, and you may get a sense of who's left to fill out the roster. As we move further up the lineup, less and less is determined by preseason, but the competition within the Blues' top six for who gets to play on the first line should be fierce. Let's get into it.
The Center
In our third line projections, we made the bold prediction that captain Brayden Schenn would be "demoted" to a third-line role to benefit some younger players establishing themselves in the NHL. That leaves the Blues' remaining major offseason addition to take on second-line center duties, and that's Pius Suter. Suter ended up playing on the Vancouver Canucks' top line last year when Elias Pettersson went down with an injury, and while Suter was adequate in such a role, he's much better suited at 2C.
The Wingers
With Dylan Holloway reportedly healthy and ready to go, this is one of the easiest calls of the entire exercise: he's playing left wing on the second line, and has a real opportunity to build on last season's success and cement himself as a Blue who's going to be here for a long time. No brainer.
On the right wing, we have two options: Jordan Kyrou and rookie Jimmy Snuggerud. There's a strong case for either to be here, but we're going to go with the rookie and give Snuggerud the second-line job. That said, with how well Snuggerud played once he joined the Blues, it's easy to envision him playing his way onto the first line in short order.
That's our second line projection for opening night: Dylan Holloway and Jimmy Snuggerud on the wings, and Pius Suter down the middle. Not too shabby.