The St. Louis Blues are set to have a big season this coming year, one with real expectations of success. To get there, the Blues are going to have to hit some green lights on key areas of the roster. They need certain pockets of talent to take a step forward or avoid major regression.
Where could the potential pitfalls of the 2025-26 season lie? What do the Blues have left to prove for the upcoming season?
The defense regresses
The biggest potential yellow flag for this upcoming season is the play of the defense. Last year, defenseman Colton Parayko, Cam Fowler, and Philip Broberg all experienced career years, and young players like Tyler Tucker looked to be taking a step forward as well.
The defensive outlook was just about the best-case scenario for the Blues, so expecting that to repeat could lead to some troubles. Cam Fowler will be entering his age-34 season, and his top-pair partner is no spring chicken either at 32 years old. The top pair could be due for some regression, which would set the Blues back since it was such a strength for them last season.
Furthermore, the second pair has some questions of its own. Justin Faulk and Philip Broberg make an unlikely second pair, and both seem to be going in opposite directions; Broberg only increasing his skill, whereas Faulk seems to be slowly regressing.
Faulk has shown signs of regression for a few years now, with his points totals dipping year after year. It seems like he is running out of good hockey in the tank, which could hurt the Blues. And with Broberg being as young as he is, there is a lot of potential for variance that could lead to him taking a step backwards.
How much regression comes is up in the air, and the ways in which Fowler and Parayko won on the ice did look repeatable, but Father Time is undefeated, and this could be the season it falls off. And there exist lingering question marks with Faulk and Broberg that could go the wrong direction. There's reason to think otherwise, but it is a potential pitfall of the upcoming year of hockey.
The youth doesn't step up
The second potential landmine to avoid is if the coaching of the youth fails. Young players, by nature, have a high amount of variance, which could ultimately prove to be a weakness.
I think fans are rightfully expecting big things from Jimmy Snuggerud, Jake Neighbours, Dylan Holloway, and even Dalibor Dvorsky this season, but progression is not always a linear increase.
Each young player in their own right could take a step back, for one reason or another; they're still young and growing in their own body, they played on such a hot stretch the past season, the league adapts to their playstyle and finds a way to shut them down, etc.
Young players have sophomore slumps or down years all the time, as progression is not always linear. If too many falter behind, the Blues could be in trouble and have another weakness.
The goaltending wildcard
At this point, we'd like to think we know what we are getting from goaltending tandem Jordan Binnington and Joel Hofer, but goalies are always a wildcard.
This can be a wildcard in a positive sense or in a very negative one. Binnington has the most to prove in the regular season, and another season with a save percentage north of .900 would quell a lot of doubt for fans, but there is no guarantee he can hit that mark. And Joel Hofer just got his extension to be the long-term backup in St. Louis, but he is prone to having the occasional blowup start that could mess with his year-end statistics.
Goaltending is never a known quantity in the league, even among the league's best. If the goaltending does take a step backwards, the team overall would be in a very precarious position with a truly exploitable weakness.
It isn't always fun to look at the downside, but it can be a prudent way to assess the position the Blues are in. Entering into a season with expectations doesn't only mean things will go right; there is always the chance for failure.
We gave a season preview and broke down in further depth the potential floor and ceiling of the team on the latest episode of my podcast, the Note News podcast, which you can find here:
All Blues fans are hoping to hit green lights on the season totals, but that is never a guarantee. If the Blues disappoint in 2025-26, I would expect one or all of these reasons to be the key.