The old-look, new-approach Blues are on home ice for the first time in 2023-24 with a classic Saturday night home opener.
At the other end tonight is a team doing a good impression of a proper homecoming opponent: The Seattle Kraken have started the season 0-2, with only one goal scored.
[Follow Kraken-related views at Davey Jones Locker Room]
Seattle was a pleasant surprise last season with their first playoff appearance. The analytics fellas will note they had a high 5-on-5 shooting percentage all season, and perhaps some painful regression may come this season. Perhaps not.
The Kraken, of course, still feature two Cup-winning former Blues, because somehow it was totally cool for them to pluck one player (Vince Dunn) in the expansion draft while using the free agency tampering window to agree to terms with the other (Jaden Schwartz). Good job, NHL! No other team suffered more from the Kraken’s entry into the league. (Hey! Some teams lost guys like Jeremy Lauzon and Chris Driedger. Nathan Bastian and John Quenneville too!)
Not that I’m bitter.
Speaking of bitterness, you know what’s great? It’s the Blues home opener tonight, and the Cardinals are weeks past their worst season in 30 years. So what’s the home page of the Post-Dispatch look like?
Dear Post digital editors: You’ve left plenty on the table.
Expected Blues Lines
Pavel Buchnevich — Robert Thomas — Jordan Kyrou
Brandon Saad — Brayden Schenn — Kasperi Kapanen
Jakub Vrana — Kevin Hayes — Sammy Blais
Alexey Toropchenko — Oskar Sundqvist — Jake Neighbours
Nick Leddy — Colton Parayko
Torey Krug — Justin Faulk
Marco Scandella — Tyler Tucker
Expected Kraken Lines
Jared McCann — Matty Beniers — Jordan Eberle
Jaden Schwartz — Alex Wennberg — Andre Burakovsky
Eeli Tolvanen — Yanni Gourde — Oliver Bjorkstrand
Tye Kartye — Pierre-Edouard Bellemare — Kailer Yamamoto
Vince Dunn — Adam Larsson
Jamie Oleksiak — Will Borgen
Brian Dumoulin — Justin Schultz