MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. -- In Day 6 of St. Louis Blues training camp, the lines and defensive pairings on the ice Tuesday at Centene Community Ice Center served as a glimpse of what the opening night lineup could look like on Oct. 9.
Or did they?
A number of them did, but there were others that only served as a glimpse of what may or may not happen.
One in particular had newly-signed center Pius Suter at center between Dylan Holloway and Jordan Kyrou, with Brayden Schenn centering Jake Neighbours – in practice for the first time after missing the first three days due to personal reasons – and Mathieu Joseph.
“I like the player a lot, whether that translates to him playing between Kyrou and Holloway, I’m not sure,” Blues coach Jim Montgomery said of Suter. “We know what it looks like with Schenn. We know that that was a line that produced extremely well for us. So we’re seeing it with Suter. The good thing is when you have two veteran centers like Suter and Schenn, wherever they’re going to play, they’re going to play for the team.”
A lot of the other lines look very familiar:
And although Montgomery didn’t want to fully disclose this would resemble a lot of opening night, it served notice that a lot of it is.
“A little bit. We wanted to put guys back together that had played together before or see some guys that are new with other players that had been here,” Montgomery said. “That was a little bit behind it. We’re starting to get people together that we think might be part of our lineup.”
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Neighbours was back in a familiar spot and taking part in a practice for the first time after returning to the ice on Sunday when he and 2023 third-round pick Juraj Pekarcik, injured in the Tom Kurvers Prospect Showcase in Minnesota, each skated after practice.
“It’s great to see his smiling face, and I thought he looked good,” Montgomery said of Neighbours. “That was a tough practice on conditioning, getting up and down the ice a lot. He didn’t seem to be behind on anybody.”
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It was interesting to see Joseph on the Schenn line, which could mean he’s caught the eye of the coaching staff.
“I think his habits and details have been better,” Montgomery said. “He’s really made an effort to be good with his stick on the forecheck, his stick in the D-zone, on the tracking situations and he’s playing fast. He’s hitting holes with his speed, which is always very noticeable, but how he has time and space with the puck because of those things.”
With Joseph opening eyes at the moment, it makes another newly-acquired center, Nick Bjugstad, as a wild card as to where he plays.
“Yeah, it does,” Montgomery said. “It makes us deeper whoever ends up claiming that, because we have a lot of guys. Camp is only six days going. We have 11 days left here, and everyone’s going to be moved around here, right wing and center, seeing different people and different combinations.”
That also includes Alexandre Texier, 2023 first-round picks Dalibor Dvorsky and Otto Stenberg, and PTO Milan Lucic, who departed practice early from the second group on Tuesday after a shot on a battle drill locked up with defenseman Logan Mailloux.
“I haven’t gotten word yet. I think it might have been a tweak of the groin,” Montgomery said of Lucic. “Right now I would say he’s 50/50 for tomorrow.
“I think it was just caught in a rut on the ice going down. We were getting up and down the ice today. The second group especially, the group that he was in, the ice got snowy real quick. That makes it harder to skate. He was just pushing. More exerting on your muscles.”
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One drill worked on was the penalty kill, which was tremendously better down the stretch last season and in the first-round playoff series against the Winnipeg Jets but one that was still 27th in the league.
PK pairings included Robert Thomas and Pavel Buchnevich, Bjugstad and Nathan Walker, Alexey Toropchenko and Oskar Sundqvist, Neighbours and Schenn, Suter and Holloway at forwards; Cam Fowler and Colton Parayko, Philip Broberg and Justin Faulk, Theo Lindstein and Matthew Kessel and Corey Schueneman and Hunter Skinner on defense.
“After 4 Nations, our penalty kill minus one game where I think we gave up four goals in Dallas was probably top eight in the league, and playoffs was pretty good,” Montgomery said. “We felt we found what is good for our defensemen and our forwards, the type of PK we need to be, and I think we’re getting better at that and we’re adding layers of (aggressiveness).”
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The only skater to miss practice entirely on Tuesday was Springfield captain Matthew Peca.
“He tweaked something at the end of practice the other day,” Montgomery said. “I think he’s 50/50 tomorrow.”
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