Snapshots: Blues Training Camp, Kolosov, Luchanko

The St. Louis Blues enter the 2025-26 season with the clear goal of returning to the postseason and building off of their 96-point performance from 2024-25. With Blues training camp set to begin next week, The Athletic’s Jeremy Rutherford shed some light on the key lineup and roster decisions the club’s decision-makers are likely to ponder over the course of the team’s preseason process. The most consequential lineup position up for grabs that Rutherford identified was the first-line winger spot alongside star center Robert Thomas and key veteran winger Pavel Buchnevich. Former University of Minnesota star Jimmy Snuggerud is considered the front-runner for the role, in part due to his performance late last season when he posted eight points in 14 combined regular-season and playoff games. According to Rutherford, 2020 first-round pick Jake Neighbours, fresh off a career-best 22-goal, 46-point campaign, is another name in the mix for that spot.

Another lineup spot Rutherford identified as up for grabs this preseason is the third-line role vacated by Zachary Bolduc, who the team dealt to Montreal in exchange for blueliner Logan Mailloux. Bolduc had a stellar 19-goal rookie campaign, and his tenacity and scoring instincts could prove difficult to replace. Rutherford named veteran Nick Bjugstad, whom the Blues signed to a two-year, $1.75MM AAV deal this summer, as a potential fit for the spot. Bugstad, 33, is just one year removed from a strong 22-goal, 45-point season. According to Rutherford, he’ll likely have to fend off challenges from players such as 2023 10th overall pick Dalibor Dvorsky and veteran wingers Mathieu Joseph and Alexandre Texier to win the job.

In other news from across the NHL:

• Philadelphia Flyers president of hockey operations Keith Jones told reporters in his press conference yesterday that the team expects Aleksei Kolosov to report for training camp, and today, The Athletic’s Kevin Kurz confirmed that Kolosov will indeed do so. Kurz reported that Kolosov, 23, is now in Philadelphia, ready to compete for a spot with the Flyers. Kolosov’s placement in the organization was a point of contention last season, and ultimately, the netminder played in 17 NHL games with the Flyers and 12 AHL games with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. Entering his second full campaign in North America, the former Dinamo Minsk starter will need to have a strong training camp and preseason to erase the memory of his .867 NHL save percentage and beat out either incumbent starter Samuel Ersson or offseason addition Daniel Vladar for an NHL job.
• Yesterday, it was reported that Flyers 2024 first-round pick Jett Luchanko was being held out of the start of the club’s rookie camp for precautionary reasons. Today, there has been an update on Luchanko’s status, with Kurz reporting that the young center is now expected to miss the entirety of the team’s rookie camp. Kurz added that Luchanko is also expected to be ready to return to the ice for the start of the club’s full training camp, and it is there that he will attempt to make the team’s opening-night roster for a second season in a row. Luchanko played in four games for the Flyers to start 2024-25 before he was reassigned to the OHL’s Guelph Storm.