Does St. Louis need to worry about Utah challenging them in the standings next season?
The St. Louis Blues finished four spots above the Arizona Coyotes — now Utah Hockey Club — with a points differential of plus-15 against their central division opponents.
Is Utah going to push for a playoff spot in the 2024-25 season? Therefore having the Blues worry about them creeping up in their rearview mirror.
In today’s article, we’re going to look at how well St. Louis matches up against the NHL’s new franchise by looking at each team’s rosters and potential lines heading into the upcoming season, along with some team statistics from 2023-24.
Let’s start by looking at the Blues’ projected roster for the 2024-25 season.
Forwards
Neighbours - Thomas - Schenn
Saad - Buchnevich - Kyrou
Toropchenko - Texier - M. Joseph
Sundqvist - Faksa - Kapanen
Extras: Dvorsky, Walker, Bolduc
Defense
Leddy - Parayko
Perunovich - Faulk
Suter - Kessel
Extras: P-O. Joseph, Tucker
Injured: Krug
Goaltenders
Binnington
Hofer
Third-string: Zherenko
St. Louis kept their core together despite missing the playoffs for a second consecutive season. GM Doug Armstrong is showing that he trusts the group of guys he already has to get the team back into the dance.
Armstrong went out and acquired depth players Alexandre Texier, Mathieu Joseph, and Radek Faksa to make his squad faster, and more balanced, and add more scoring throughout all four lines.
The two main omissions who were fairly regulars in St. Louis’ 2023-24 roster are Nathan Walker (still a member of the organization) and Sammy Blais.
Now Utah’s roster.
Forwards
Schmaltz - Hayton - Keller
Crouse - Cooley - Guenther
Maccelli - Bjugstad - Doan
Kerfoot - McBain - Stenlund
Extras: O’Brien, Carcone, Sokolov
Defenseman
Sergachev - Marino
Valimaki - Durzi
Cole - Kesselring
Extras: Kolyachonok, Soderstrom (RFA)
Goaltenders
Vejmelka
Ingram
Third-string: Stauber
Under GM Bill Armstrong, formerly with the Blues organization from 2004 to 2020, the Utah Hockey Club made the biggest splash at the 2024 NHL Entry Draft, acquiring Mikhail Sergachev from the Tampa Bay Lightning.
He wasn’t done there, however.
It was no secret that Utah needed to upgrade on defense if they wanted to be a more competitive team. After acquiring the left-shot Russian defenseman, Armstrong traded for a right-shot defenseman, John Marino, from the New Jersey Devils.
Comparing the two rosters is a tale of two stories.
As for St. Louis, they will be relying on their core players to increase their offensive output a tad more (specifically Schenn and Saad) while getting more offensive contributions deeper in the lineup through new forwards Texier and Joseph.
For Utah, a few of their core forwards are still young and finding a rhythm in the toughest league in the world.
Logan Cooley and Dylan Guenther will have every opportunity to showcase they can produce like a top-six forward, consistently, but also have to show they can be trusted in tough defensive matchups, like Brayden Schenn and Brandon Saad can do for St. Louis.
On defense, the teams are more even this year, especially with the potential season-long injury to Torey Krug.
Sergachev immediately becomes Utah’s No. 1 defenseman and will be relied upon to play over 24 minutes a night in all situations. The Blues don’t have a defenseman like him (Parayko is closest to him).
However, Justin Faulk matches up slightly better than John Marino, and Nick Leddy plays a safer game than Sean Durzi.
Both teams' third pairs are identical. Each has a veteran left-shot guy who has a plethora of games and experience under their belt to aid their young defense partners.
Here’s where the advantages lay, in between the pipes.
Jordan Binnington and Joel Hofer trump what Utah has in the crease. In fact, you could even argue that Hofer, although young, is better or at least on the same level as Karel Vejmelka and Connor Ingram.
Utah allowed 274 goals last season. St. Louis allowed 250. Utah’s netminders, and the team's defensive play in front of them, need to show major progression if they want to contend for a playoff spot.
On the opposite side, the Blues scored 239 goals, fewer than Utah’s 256.
St. Louis is a more experienced team with veteran leaders who understand what it takes to win tight one-goal games. They don’t need to get involved in a high-scoring game.
Alas, if they can increase their goals scored to 260, then that may be enough to get the team back into the playoffs.
Last year, the two teams tied their season series 2-2. Upon analyzing advanced statistics, it's evident that there wasn't a significant difference in their performance against each other. Utah outscored St. Louis 16 to 11, but the Blues had more shots on goal and created more scoring and high-danger opportunities.
Utah’s team will be riding a high all season long playing in a new barn and front of more than 5,000 fans, finally. It will be up to St. Louis to keep them in their rearview mirror.