ST. LOUIS -- The Blues will play their final home game of the regular season on Wednesday when they face the Dallas Stars in the first of back-to-back games against them at 6:30 p.m. (TNT, ESPN 101.1-FM), and one player will make his NHL debut and one will play in his 700th NHL game.
Hugh McGing will dress in his first NHL game tonight after being recalled from Springfield of the American Hockey League on Monday.
It's been a long road for the 2018 fifth-round pick out of Western Michigan University. McGing, 24, with the Thunderbirds the past two seasons and has been with the Blues during training camp but it's his first recall.
"I've thought about it a lot," McGing said. "Just excited to get out there and actually do it, actually watch it come to fruition. It's exciting for sure. Something you dream about. I'm happy.
(Surprised) a little bit, yeah, because you just never know. Just excited about it. I got a call from our Springfield GM [Kevin Maxwell] on Sunday right before The Masters started. He told me. Just excited."
The Blues (37-36-7), who also recalled goalie Joel Hofer -- who will start tonight and Jordan Binnington gets the nod tomorrow in Dallas -- and defenseman Tyler Tucker with McGing after assigning goalie Vadim Zherenko and defenseman Dmitri Samorukov to the Thunderbirds, have been able to get extensive looks at younger prospects throughout the second half of the season in particular with them being out of the playoff picture for some time.
McGing falls in line with that theory.
"Hard-working guy down there that gives you everything that he's got every shift," Blues coach Craig Berube said of McGing. "Good energy all the time, competitive. He's done a real good job down there the last couple of years. We wanted to get him up here and give him an opportunity to take a look at him and get a couple games in.
"He has that character in him, things are the way they are, I didn't get the opportunity, I'm just going to keep working, (and) he's done that. Never complains and just gives you effort every game."
The teams has had Nikita Alexandrov up with the big club and Matthew Kessel as well, guys who could be fighting for jobs when training camps opens in September for 2023-24.
"I think it's helped the whole organization," Berube said. "I think the organization as a whole looking at these guys and saying, 'Hey, these guys have played pretty well. They might be players for us next year full time.' So we've got a good look at Tucker, 'Niki' was up here, Hofer, different guys, Kessel came up for a couple games too. They're guys that are going to be highly looked at next year for training camp."
Needless to say for McGing, who has played 135 games in the AHL the past two seasons (29 goals, 40 assists), the road has at times been arduous and challenging to get to this point. He played with the Utica Comets in 2020-21 (23 games; three goals, one assist).
"It can definitely take a toll on your mental health, but for me, I'm just kind of one of those guys that just, I'm not too worried about that," McGing said. "When it's my time, it's my time. Just keep working as hard as you can until you get it."
McGing said there will be a large contingency coming down from his native Chicago for the game, including his parents Jim and Breda McGing.
"I called my parents right away, made sure they were together so I could tell them the news at the same time," McGing said. "They were pretty proud. It was a good experience.
"It's been a nice three years of pro and finally getting the call up. Just a lot of hard work, keeping my head down, grinding, working for it."
While McGing will play his first game, defenseman Torey Krug will be playing in his 700th game.
The 32-year-old, who signed as a free agent on Oct. 9, 2020, has 444 points (85 goals, 359 assists).
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Hofer starts tonight and Binnington, rather than getting his 60th start in the home finale, will start in Dallas on Thursday because the Thunderbirds play three games in three nights starting Friday, and with back-to-back games, Hofer is likely to start the Friday-Sunday games with Springfield and the Blues didn't want to give him a game Thursday in Dallas and then have to get him to Springfield for home games this weekend.
Hofer is 3-0-1 with a 2.79 goals-agaonst average and .915 save percentage in five starts this season. His only one-off game was when he was pulled from his last start when he allowed five goals on 17 shots March 26 at Los Angeles.
"I like his makeup for sure, his attitude, his swagger," Berube said of Hofer, who will be Binnington's backup next season. "He's aggressive and competitive. I like the way he plays the puck. He came up here and played extremely well I thought. I know LA was LA, it was a tough game, but everybody has tough games.
"He's got that strong, mental makeup where he's got to move on from it. He has the ability to do that. That's important for a goalie."
And with it being back-to-back games, Berube didn't want to play Binnington in both contests.
"It's a lot of games for sure, but he's a competitive guy and wants to play and he's not going to turn down playing, that's for sure, but I think he did handle it this year," Berube said of Binnington's workload. "I thought there were times where we weren't good enough in front of him defensively for sure. Obviously every goalie, they go through stretches of bad games, this and that, but for me, he didn't seem tired, he didn't act tired, he did not not want the net, he did not want to just rest. He wanted to get back in there all the time."
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The Blues know they will have a chance -- albeit a small one percentage-wise -- at the draft lottery, so the last two games -- depending on what they do and how many points they get or don't get -- won't affect their draft status much, but the games will have significant meaning for the Stars, who the Blues have played only once this season thus far.
Dallas (45-21-14), who beat the Blues 4-1 here way back on Nov. 28, are one point behind the Colorado Avalanche for first place in the Central Division and just two points ahead of the third-place Minnesota Wild.
Dallas and Colorado each have two games remaining, and Minnesota has just one.
"We've got Dallas coming in here, it's big points for Dallas," Berube said. "We've got to be prepared, I want our guys to play hard, I want our guys to finish out playing hard.
"The game is going to be very meaningful for them. It's going to be a tough game. They're a tough team. They're a good team. They're deep, they've got a lot of balanced scoring, d-corp's solid, goaltending. They're solid all around."
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The Blues' projected lineup:
Brandon Saad-Robert Thomas-Jordan Kyrou
Sammy Blais-Pavel Buchnevich-Kasperi Kapanen
Jake Neighbours-Brayden Schenn-Jakub Vrana
Alexey Toropchenko-Nathan Walker-Hugh McGing
Nick Leddy-Colton Parayko
Torey Krug-Justin Faulk
Tyler Tucker-Calle Rosen
Joel Hofer will start in goal; Jordan Binnington will be the backup.
Healthy scratches include Josh Leivo, Logan Brown and Tyler Pitlick. Robert Bortuzzo (upper body) and Marco Scandella (upper body) are out.
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The Stars' projected lineup:
Jason Robertson-Roope Hintz-Joe Pavelski
Jamie Benn-Wyatt Johnston-Evgenii Dadonov
Max Domi-Tyler Seguin-Ty Dellandrea
Joel Kiviranta-Radek Faksa-Luke Glendening
Ryan Suter-Miro Heiskanen
Esa Lindell-Jani Hakanpaa
Thomas Harley-Colin Miller
Scott Wedgewood will start in goal; Jake Oettinger will be the backup.
Healthy scratches include Joel Hanley, Nils Lundkvist and Fredrik Olofsson. Mason Marchment (lower body) is out.