In the 23rd of a 32 part series leading up to the start of the 2025-26 National Hockey League regular season, we will look at the key off-season transactions made by all NHL organizations with an overall grade. Here are the St. Louis Blues.
In the offseason, the Blues added three new players expected to be in the opening lineup on October 9 when they host the Minnesota Wild. They are forwards Pius Suter of Zurich, Switzerland, and Nick Bjugstad of Minneapolis, Minnesota, and defenseman Logan Mailloux of Belle River, Ontario.
Pius Suter
On July 2, the Blues signed Suter to a two-year contract worth $8.25 million. He is joining his fourth NHL franchise after one season with the Chicago Blackhawks and two seasons each with the Detroit Red Wings and Vancouver Canucks.
In 2024-25 with the Canucks, Suter had 25 goals and 21 assists for 46 points. He was a +2 with 18 penalty minutes, five power-play points, two shorthanded points, three game-winning goals, 138 shots on goal, 373 faceoff wins, 43 blocked shots, 59 hits, 19 takeaways and 52 giveaways. In St. Louis, Suter is expected to centre a third line that contains wingers Jake Neighbours and Dalibor Dvorsky.
Nick Bjugstad
Bjugstad signed a two-year contract worth $3.5 million on Canada Day. He is joining his seventh NHL team after seven seasons with the Florida Panthers, two seasons each with the Pittsburgh Penguins, Minnesota Wild, and Arizona Coyotes, and one season each with the Edmonton Oilers and Utah Hockey Club.
In 2024-25, Bjugstad had eight goals and 11 assists for 19 points in 66 games. He is a -2 with 16 penalty minutes, one power-play point, 115 shots on goal, 207 faceoff wins, 29 blocked shots, 104 hits, 12 takeaways and 39 giveaways. The power-play point came on November 23 in a 6-1 Utah win over the Penguins. Bjugstad scored from defenseman Michael Kesserling and Michael Carcone, at 10:37 of the second period and put Utah up 3-1 at the time. In St. Louis, Bjugstad will be centering a line with Alexey Toropchenko and Mathieu Joseph.
Logan Mailloux
Mailloux was traded from the Montreal Canadiens to the Blues for forward Zachary Bolduc of Trois-Rivieres, Quebec on Canada Day. Mailloux has been with the Canadiens the last two seasons. In St. Louis, he is projected to be on the Blues third pairing with Tyler Tucker.
Mailloux had two goals and two assists for four points in seven games with the Canadiens this past season. He was a -5 with six penalty minutes, 10 shots on goal, eight blocked shots, nine hits, and four giveaways.
Projected Offseason Grade
My grade for the Blues in the offseason is a C. In my opinion, they possibly underpaid for Bjugstad, as I like his leadership and physicality, but overpaid for Suter. The reason I am not high on Suter as much is because he struggled in the faceoff circle by winning only 42.7% of draws last season.
