Fowler to make Blues debut after trade; Saad a healthy scratch, replaced by Texier

The St. Louis Blues will have a different look to their lineup today against the Dallas Stars after announcing a trade earlier in the day Saturday, acquiring defenseman Cam Fowler from the Anaheim Ducks along with a fourth-round pick in the 2027 NHL Draft for a second-round pick in 2027 and a prospect.

The Blues also assigned defenseman Matthew Kessel to Springfield of the American Hockey League.

The 33-year-old Fowler is expected to be in the lineup tonight; he was with the Ducks in Columbus, where Anaheim is playing the Blue Jackets tonight.

"It just adds another player that's played in this league for a long time and has been really good at it," Blues coach Jim Montgomery said of Fowler. "You can never have enough good defensemen. The way we've been using our top four, to have someone come in that's going to be eat a lot of those minutes as well."

As for who Fowler will play with?

"We haven't decided yet, but there's a good chance he'll be with [Colton] Parayko though," Montgomery said.

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Brandon Saad has struggled to put together offense this season, no matter where the Blues play him.

The veteran has just four goals in 27 games, scored in just two games, and tonight, he will be a healthy scratch, replaced by Alexandre Texier.

"A little more productivity as far as creating more scoring chances, being in more consistent areas where goals are scored between the dots," Montgomery said. "That would be the primary focus."

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Blues Projected Lineup:

Pavel Buchnevich-Robert Thomas-Jordan Kyrou

Dylan Holloway-Brayden Schenn-Jake Neighbours

Alexandre Texier-Oskar Sundqvist-Zack Bolduc

Alexey Toropchenko-Nathan Walker-Mathieu Joseph

Philip Broberg-Colton Parayko

Cam Fowler-Justin Faulk

Ryan Suter-Pierre-Olivier Joseph

Jordan Binnington will start in goal; Joel Hofer will be the backup.

Healthy scratches include Brandon Saad and Scott Perunovich. Nick Leddy (lower body) and Radek Faksa (lower body) are out.

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Stars Projected Lineup:

Jason Robertson-Roope Hintz-Wyatt Johnston

Mason Marchment-Matt Duchene-Logan Stankoven

Jamie Benn-Sam Steel-Evgenii Dadonov

Oskar Back-Mavrik Bourque-Colin Blackwell

Thomas Harley-Miro Heiskanen

Lian Bichsel-Esa Lindell

Brendan Smith-Ilya Lyubushkin

Jake Oettinger will start in goal; Magnus Hellberg will be the backup.

The healthy scratch is Nils Lundkvist. Matt Dumba (upper body), Tyler Seguin (hip) and Casey DeSmith (flu) are out.