For 10 St. Louis Blues, Who Stays, Who Goes After 2025-26 Season?

[Big_G]

ST. LOUIS -- It's been a while since we've seen the St. Louis Blues overhaul a roster, whether it be through trades or free agency defections.

But heading into the 2025-26 season, which will begin in roughly two months, barring any decisions between now and then, St. Louis could potentially have 10 NHL-rostered players playing the final year of his respective contract and another 11 in Springfield of the American Hockey League, giving them 21 in the organization.

With the Blues, who qualified for the Stanley Cup playoffs last year for the first time in three years, continuing their -- as general manager Doug Armstrong called it, a "re-whatever," let's take a look at those players going into those final-year contracts and whether we feel they are in the plans or not and what each player's next contract could look like:

HERE from Lou Korac & The Hockey News

[bstpete11]

It's a good article, but the first line doesn't make any sense. "It's been awhile since the Blues overhauled a roster."

They only had 12 players play more than 40 games for the team each of the last 2 seasons, one of which was Binnington. So 11/18 skaters means they changed over a third of the roster just between 2024 and 2025.

[danno]

Joseph and Texier can't get off this roster quick enough in my opinion

Sunny and Walker may be done after this season. I don't expect a new contract for either of those

I think DA & the Schnoz will want to keep Toropchenko, so as long as he also wants to stay, I think they'll get something done

Holloway and Broberg will obviously be re-signed

I also expect Fowler, Mailloux, and even Kessel to be re-signed as well

[DawgDad]

Blues are in a good place. Good team, no major holes, solid goaltending. Prospects knocking on the door with many more down the pipeline. Adequate (playable) depth everywhere. No major cap concerns. Solid coaching, front office, ownership support. It took a lot of maneuvering and some hard knocks to get here. Enjoy while it lasts, hopefully a long time.

[b-a-a-a-rclay]

Blues are in a good place. Good team, no major holes, solid goaltending. Prospects knocking on the door with many more down the pipeline. Adequate (playable) depth everywhere. No major cap concerns. Solid coaching, front office, ownership support. It took a lot of maneuvering and some hard knocks to get here. Enjoy while it lasts, hopefully a long time.

You're right. It's important for us to recognize where they are and not take it for granted. Many fan bases have suffered and are suffering through stuff that we have hardly ever tasted ... prolonged periods of bad, and in some cases boring, hockey. Most of our fans are hopeful and we should be.

[Nublues69]

Mathieu Joseph - he can go doesn't justify his money or playing time

Dylan Holloway - He needs to be signed asap

Alexandre Texier - he can go Dvorsky will be better and probably already is

Alexey Toropchenko - He can stay perfect 4th liner

Oskar Sundqvist - He can go, I love the guy but his injuries have caught up with him.

Nathan Walker - He can stay always need him on 4th line.

Philip Broberg - He needs to stay, he needs to be signed now

Cam Fowler -- He needs to stay for next 3 years

Logan Mailloux - He needs to stay he is the only top 4 possibility on rhd

Matthew Kessel - if he can prove it stay if not go

[zamadoo]

As far as the bottom-6/4th/depth forwards are concerned, I ask what contributions they make in the locker room. Personalities matter.

Walker seems like the glue guy that you want to keep if you can.

Sunny seems like that type as well, and he's just so smart that I think you keep him around in a depth role to mentor the young players.

Toro I'm not as sure about, but he brings the element of size to go along with speed and would be hard to replace. The question is whether he wants to stay here, and perhaps whether or not he can elevate his game to be a 3rd liner (which is probably what he would want to go for if he leaves).

The two that I think everyone mostly agree are the odd-men out are Joseph and Texier.

So I ask, is Joseph a good locker room guy and someone who fits in on the bench? He seems to be. What he mainly lacks is consistency and hands. Otherwise he's a decent grinder with speed who fit into the bottom-6/PK nicely last season, and even potted a nice shorty in the playoffs. He just needs to make less money and welcome a depth role.

Texier is an enigma. He has the talent. He has shown that he can play a hard game and make smart plays. But he's the least consistent player who was a scratch (healthy? sick? ???) for such a long stretch last season that I just don't even know what's going on. He's the age of player we're kind of looking for so I'm not saying "let's get rid of him ASAP" but it is now or never for him and I'm kind of rooting for him to put it together this season as a 3rd line winger. Again, what type of person is he? Can he speak English? What do his teammates think?

My final thoughts are that we should be rotating these guys to keep them fresh, and then we will get maximum overall production. The ones who are good with that can be extended.

[TBone]

Mathieu Joseph - he can go doesn't justify his money or playing time

Dylan Holloway - He needs to be signed asap

Alexandre Texier - he can go Dvorsky will be better and probably already is

Alexey Toropchenko - He can stay perfect 4th liner

Oskar Sundqvist - He can go, I love the guy but his injuries have caught up with him.

Nathan Walker - He can stay always need him on 4th line.

Philip Broberg - He needs to stay, he needs to be signed now

Cam Fowler -- He needs to stay for next 3 years

Logan Mailloux - He needs to stay he is the only top 4 possibility on rhd

Matthew Kessel - if he can prove it stay if not go

What do you guys think about Tyler Tucker beyond this year?

[Blues Dave]

Mathieu Joseph - he can go doesn't justify his money or playing time

Dylan Holloway - He needs to be signed asap

Alexandre Texier - he can go Dvorsky will be better and probably already is

Alexey Toropchenko - He can stay perfect 4th liner

Oskar Sundqvist - He can go, I love the guy but his injuries have caught up with him.

Nathan Walker - He can stay always need him on 4th line.

Philip Broberg - He needs to stay, he needs to be signed now

Cam Fowler -- He needs to stay for next 3 years

Logan Mailloux - He needs to stay he is the only top 4 possibility on rhd

Matthew Kessel - if he can prove it stay if not go

What do you guys think about Tyler Tucker beyond this year?

Tuck should stay. He made enough progress last year to play on this team, and he won't have to handle as much tough stuff, again, on this team. Although he seems perfectly capable of handling anything that comes his way, his defense has improved also.

[Old_Goat]

Mathieu Joseph - he can go doesn't justify his money or playing time

Dylan Holloway - He needs to be signed asap

Alexandre Texier - he can go Dvorsky will be better and probably already is

Alexey Toropchenko - He can stay perfect 4th liner

Oskar Sundqvist - He can go, I love the guy but his injuries have caught up with him.

Nathan Walker - He can stay always need him on 4th line.

Philip Broberg - He needs to stay, he needs to be signed now

Cam Fowler -- He needs to stay for next 3 years

Logan Mailloux - He needs to stay he is the only top 4 possibility on rhd

Matthew Kessel - if he can prove it stay if not go

What do you guys think about Tyler Tucker beyond this year?

I like him a lot. But if someone else of higher talent arrives, then I would rather have Tucker be our 7th D-man than Kessel primarily because Tucker is more effective in playing his offside than Kessel, so he is more reliably versatile. Additionally "beyond this year" he may still be our most effective physical/protector or whatever you would call that character of player in this modern age of the NHL. Although Mailloux may also have that in him...we shall see.

[TheJackBurton]

As far as the bottom-6/4th/depth forwards are concerned, I ask what contributions they make in the locker room. Personalities matter.

Walker seems like the glue guy that you want to keep if you can.

Sunny seems like that type as well, and he's just so smart that I think you keep him around in a depth role to mentor the young players.

Toro I'm not as sure about, but he brings the element of size to go along with speed and would be hard to replace. The question is whether he wants to stay here, and perhaps whether or not he can elevate his game to be a 3rd liner (which is probably what he would want to go for if he leaves).

The two that I think everyone mostly agree are the odd-men out are Joseph and Texier.

So I ask, is Joseph a good locker room guy and someone who fits in on the bench? He seems to be. What he mainly lacks is consistency and hands. Otherwise he's a decent grinder with speed who fit into the bottom-6/PK nicely last season, and even potted a nice shorty in the playoffs. He just needs to make less money and welcome a depth role.

Texier is an enigma. He has the talent. He has shown that he can play a hard game and make smart plays. But he's the least consistent player who was a scratch (healthy? sick? ???) for such a long stretch last season that I just don't even know what's going on. He's the age of player we're kind of looking for so I'm not saying "let's get rid of him ASAP" but it is now or never for him and I'm kind of rooting for him to put it together this season as a 3rd line winger. Again, what type of person is he? Can he speak English? What do his teammates think?

My final thoughts are that we should be rotating these guys to keep them fresh, and then we will get maximum overall production. The ones who are good with that can be extended.

The rumor was Joseph was the one who brought in the Jobu figure, and help them rally around that, so I would imagine he is a pretty solid locker room presence.

I likely dangle Texier in a trade simply because his potential is far greater than Josephs so he likely brings a better pick, not insanely better, just better.

[callitwhatyouwant]

Mathieu Joseph - he can go doesn't justify his money or playing time

Dylan Holloway - He needs to be signed asap

Alexandre Texier - he can go Dvorsky will be better and probably already is

Alexey Toropchenko - He can stay perfect 4th liner

Oskar Sundqvist - He can go, I love the guy but his injuries have caught up with him.

Nathan Walker - He can stay always need him on 4th line.

Philip Broberg - He needs to stay, he needs to be signed now

Cam Fowler -- He needs to stay for next 3 years

Logan Mailloux - He needs to stay he is the only top 4 possibility on rhd

Matthew Kessel - if he can prove it stay if not go

I agree with all of these except the Walker Sundqvist. Walker needs to be a rotational guy that gets 2 games on 1 game off or something. Sunny can stay as long as he is 4th line and under a similar idea where he is getting 50-60 games a season. If he can save the legs, he's more worthwhile in playoffs than a lot of players. The stat last year that he was one of the top 5 maybe it was 7 forwards at expected goals against when he was on the ice. Whatever he is doing, he is playing a solid brand of hockey. Offensively it isn't there for him anymore, but he provides stability on a 4th line if the idea is to play defense first. He just was out of place last year on the 3rd line. I think a lot of teams would take Sunny as a 4th liner. If he signs 1-1.5 aav for a 1 year or 2 year deal, you do it.

To quote Monty, "sunny always knows where to be. His hockey IQ is off the charts. He allows the younger players to make mistakes because he covers for them."

That's extremely high praise.

[Nublues69]

Mathieu Joseph - he can go doesn't justify his money or playing time

Dylan Holloway - He needs to be signed asap

Alexandre Texier - he can go Dvorsky will be better and probably already is

Alexey Toropchenko - He can stay perfect 4th liner

Oskar Sundqvist - He can go, I love the guy but his injuries have caught up with him.

Nathan Walker - He can stay always need him on 4th line.

Philip Broberg - He needs to stay, he needs to be signed now

Cam Fowler -- He needs to stay for next 3 years

Logan Mailloux - He needs to stay he is the only top 4 possibility on rhd

Matthew Kessel - if he can prove it stay if not go

What do you guys think about Tyler Tucker beyond this year?

Honestly if he can bring that nasty side out with his defense he could a good partner for faulk, let faulk be more offense then defense. But i have a feeling that with Fischer Ralph Lindstein unless he hits another level he will lose his place