MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. -- When the St. Louis Blues brought in Jimmy Snuggerud last season, it was the perfect storm.

After all, here’s a 21-year-old that just had a strong three-year run at the University of Minnesota that decided to wait an extra year to turn pro after the Blues wanted him to come out after his sophomore season. But he wanted to get better, feeling the need to get better because he didn’t feel he was ready for the big show.

That was a sign of maturity in itself right there, so when Snuggerud, the son of former NHLer Dave Snuggerud (1989-1993; Buffalo Sabres, San Jose Sharks, Philadelphia Flyers) and grandson of Jim Westby, a member of Team USA’s 1964 Winter Olympics squad, turned pro and made his NHL debut April 3 against the Detroit Red Wings, it was an appetizer of what the Blues and their fans hope is to come.

Seven regular season games (one goal, three assists), followed by seven Stanley Cup playoff games in the Western Conference first round against the Winnipeg Jets (two goals, two assists) gave the 2022 first-round pick (No. 23 overall) a head start as the path to his first full season begins.

“Huge,” Snuggerud said. “Just getting to meet the guys at the end of last year, go through those games, the 14 regular-season and playoff games, it’s massive. Getting to know the practice rink and the game rink too, and just kind of coming in knowing a lot of the guys and being here was a huge part.”

And what did Snuggerud learn?

“Physically just the size, needing to gain weight and stuff,” Snuggerud said. “I feel like that extra 6-7 pounds helps more than you ever realize. Mentally the grind of the season, it’s a long season, it’s 82 games. It takes a lot of mental toughness and a lot of mental strength. I feel like it’s not getting too high or low and just enjoy the moment.

“Personally, I guess, yeah (things went well), but as a player, you really want to win. I wouldn’t say it went the best, but losing that game (seven) sucked as a player. You want to move on as much as you possibly can and win games.”

The Blues didn’t bring the right wing in last season just to get his feet wet; they brought him in because they knew they had a player that can make an immediate impact. After all, when Snuggerud debuted, the Blues were in a fight for their playoff lives. Why would they bring in someone to make their NHL debut if they didn’t think he could fit in?

Not only did he fit in, he fit in with impact players. Robert Thomas, specifically, and that exuded tremendous confidence.

“He’s such a skilled player, he’s an elite player at every level,” Snuggerud said of Thomas. “I kind of feel like confidence just comes and when you’re trying to play your best, you need to stay motivated in the game. Confidence doesn’t just come from hockey alone, it comes from outside the rink too and doing things with confidence. Not cockiness, but confidence and staying humble about it. If you’re confident in certain areas of your life, I feel like it can translate to the rink.”

Snuggerud came in last season, and got a taste of NHL life. But now as he’s into his first full training camp and having to endure upon an entire marathon of an 82-game schedule, travel, lifestyle, getting to know an entirely new city, learning to be on his own one day, living arrangements and all the like, the Blues will stay guarded despite the hype of what this player can bring.

“As a manager, you hope for the best and prepare for the worst,” Blues general manager Doug Armstrong said. “You couldn’t find a more perfect storm for a young player to come into a lineup. The team was on a roll, the attitude was fantastic, the health was good, as plug-and-play, then you get to the playoffs and you play every other day, you’re not traveling that much, your body doesn’t wear down. It’s going to be a new world for him right now starting with training camp, the grind of a training camp and then you’re on the road, you start in St. Louis, then you go to Calgary, Vancouver, shoot home, then you’re back out. It’s a different animal.

“We expect big things from him. I know ‘Monty’ really expects big things from him, the way he used him last year with our top players. He’s going to get that opportunity. He’s put a ton of work in this summer, but again, with a player like ‘Snuggy’, a player like [Logan] Mailloux, I’m not concerned what they look like the first two weeks of the season. We’re in the long haul with some of these guys, but we’re also in the winning business, and if they can’t do it, that’s OK. Somebody else will until they’re ready.”

Blues coach Jim Montgomery may have already let it be known that this could in fact be a special player.

Why? Because coaches like to give players plenty of information to process. For a young kid wet behind the ears, it tends to be overwhelming. That hasn’t been the case for the sharpshooter.

Snuggerud’s been able to absorb the information and process it with relative ease.

“Elite hockey players can. That’s what it comes down to,” Montgomery said. “I could tell any of our high-end players about this play on the bench without showing an I-pad, without going to a board and we can discuss it. Spacially, we know what we’re talking about, and they understand it at a high level and they’re able to process (it). Sometimes they already know what I’m talking about and they have a better idea.

“He just seems to be very calm. The first day I talked to him when he arrived here last year, I thought he’d be nervous; he didn’t seem nervous. He’s just getting information and processing it. He seems to go out executing it at a high level. You’re worried, I was worried personally. Came to the NHL, we gave him a lot, how’s he going to work in the summer? He went and he put on 12 pounds. He probably only ends up being eight or nine pounds heavier, but that’s a big difference.

“He’s bigger, he’s faster, he’s stronger, and then he’s got the skill to go with it. His motor, he just seems like he’s on top of pucks, he’s getting pucks back. Things just seem to be happening.”

This kid knew what needed to be done, he went into the summer with a plan, attacked it, and has been whipping around the rink like someone shot out of a chute.

Snuggerud played at 6-foot-2, 185 pounds at Minnesota last season and is now up to 193. Because he knows what the next progression is.

“Size, speed, rim plays, net drive,” he said. “There’s so many different things you can work on as a player. You set the bar really high for yourself. There’s so many good players around you so that makes it a lot easier in practice to work on those things because guys want it just as bad as you do and they can help you work on that after practice and stuff. Those things are what I’m leaning on the most.”

Snuggerud is another one with the burning desire after that agonizing loss against the Jets last season. It makes the motivation easy to strive for a player that could be the next sharpshooter since Vladimir Tarasenko.

“It goes both ways. You need to be motivated from it and learn from how not to do that again,” he said. “You also need to put it in the past and move forward.

“Obviously there’s still fuel to the fire in that aspect of you want to win, but you have to move forward as a player and use it as a learning experience.”

Observations From Blues' 4-1 Preseason Loss Vs. Blue Jackets The <a href="http://thn.com/stlouis">St. Louis Blues</a> dropped their second preseason game in as many days to open the 2025-26 season with a 4-1 loss against the <a href="http://thn.com/columbus">Columbus Blue Jackets</a> at Nationwide Arena in Columbus on Sunday.