With preseason training camp starting in just a few short days, it's time to take a look at which players on the St. Louis Blues have the most to prove at camp. For many, it's a contract year--and while they will have the remainder of the regular season (and, hopefully, a playoff run) to prove their value and usefulness to the organization, it never hurts to start things on the right foot.
Importantly, for every player on the team, this is their first preseason camp with Jim Montgomery as head coach, considering he was hired midseason. With that sort of clean slate, everybody has to prove they deserve their roster spot, but these five players in particular need to make a good impression.
Jimmy Snuggerud
Could you have asked for a better end of the season from the young winger? Snuggerud joined the Blues after wrapping up his NCAA career, and put up a goal and three assists in seven games to close out the season--then, in seven playoff games, he had two goals and two assists.
That hot start to his professional career should curry some favor with the coaching staff, but it's important to remember that Snuggerud is still a rookie and thus waiver-eligible. If the coaches feel he's not stepping up or doesn't look as NHL-ready as last April, perhaps they send him for a conditioning stint in the AHL. It'll be up to Snuggerud to prove he needs to be on the Blues roster for Game One.
Logan Mailloux
The newest addition to the Blues roster, Mailloux, may have the most to prove of anyone. This will be his first time in a Blues sweater, period, and, as a young player, some growing pains are to be expected. How quickly he can overcome them and earn a roster spot will be up to him, but after Philip Broberg's success last season as a new blueliner with the team, it's easy to envision Mailloux becoming a roster regular. The fact that it's the last year of Mailloux's Entry-Level Contract puts some pressure on him to excel, too.
Dylan Holloway
It was a rough end to Holloway's season, missing out on the playoffs due to injury. All signs point to a healthy return for the young forward, but how much that injury has impacted his game remains to be seen. He'll be on the roster regardless of his camp performance, but his usage will be determined by how much success he finds in the preseason. Like Mailloux, Holloway is in the last year of the two-year contract he signed as part of the offer sheet that brought him to St. Louis from the Edmonton Oilers.
Cam Fowler
Contract years are a theme here, and Fowler, at 33 years old, needs to show in camp that he's still got the juice to outplay the youth movement coming up from behind. If he can fend them off in camp, he should be able to earn an extension at some point in the season. Fowler wasn't at Blues camp last year, obviously, so this is a great opportunity to get situated on any new systems instead of having to learn on the fly like last year.
There should be some great camp battles to watch, but these four players have a lot to prove as the 2025-26 season gets underway.