The St. Louis Blues will begin their season with a relatively favorable schedule in the month of October. They’ll play multiple divisional opponents and a couple of teams expected to compete for the best odds in the 2023 Draft lottery. Either way, this schedule is not all that difficult and should allow for the Blues to get off to a good start.
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As was the case last season, I will publish these articles monthly with the notable games in that month. The Blues’ schedule is dynamic with the league calendar being fully back to normal post-pandemic this season, especially with the unpredictable teams in their division and around the league.
Columbus Blue Jackets – Oct.15
The season opener is eight days after the Nashville Predators and San Jose Sharks’ two-game series in Prague and four days after the league kicks off with a national television doubleheader. The Columbus Blue Jackets had an interesting offseason with perhaps the biggest splash in the league signing Johnny Gaudreau to a seven-year deal with an annual average value (AAV) of $9.75 million.
The Blue Jackets have a steady mix of youth, veterans, and star players with two solid goaltenders. They will likely have a fierce duo on the wings of their top line with Gaudreau and Patrik Laine. It’s easy to forget about their young studs as well with Kent Johnson and Cole Sillinger set to make the opening-night lineup. They have a solid blue line that is led by Zach Werenski and newly signed Erik Gudbranson.
They will present a unique challenge to the Blues with their diverse lineup and the uncommon opponent factor. The Blues will have to guard against high-danger chances as they will be able to create a lot of them with firepower throughout their top-nine forwards. I think the Blues can score against the Blue Jackets, but keeping the puck out of their own net could be an issue.
Edmonton Oilers – Oct. 22 & 26
Any time Connor McDavid and Leon Draisatil come to town, it’s must-watch hockey. The Blues will play the Oilers twice in the month of October, once in Edmonton and once in St. Louis. These games will be within five days of each other with the Blues playing the Winnipeg Jets in between. The Blues went 1-1-1 against the formidable Oilers last season with two of those three games being at the Enterprise Center. They did an okay job against McDavid last season, allowing him to score just five points in three games, which isn’t too bad all things considered.
The Oilers have a new goaltender after adding Jack Campbell in free agency over the summer. He’s coming off two quality seasons for the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Oilers had to upgrade in net. Other than that, the Oilers have a similar team to last season where they reached the Western Conference Final before being swept by the Colorado Avalanche. The Blues and Oilers always score a lot of goals against each other; there were a total of 26 goals in three games by both teams last season. Needless to say, these will be fun games to watch early into the season.
Nashville Predators – Oct. 27
Along with the Minnesota Wild and Dallas Stars, the Predators are right there when it comes to threatening the Blues for second place in the Central Division this season. The Blues did whatever they wanted in three of the four games against the Preds last season. They went 3-0-1 while losing the first of the four after blowing a 2-0 lead in that game. The Blues simply did whatever they wanted in the offensive zone in the other three games.
In the final two games between them last season, the Blues scored 15 goals and allowed seven. Jordan Kyrou had five points in those two games, as did Robert Thomas. The Blues and Predators should be quite competitive with both of them coming into the season with similar expectations. The Preds brought back Filip Forsberg on a massive extension and traded for defenseman Ryan McDonagh, who won two Stanley Cups with the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The Predators will need to heavily rely on Juuse Saros in net as well as their scoring upfront with Forsberg, Matt Duchene, Ryan Johansen, and Norris-winning defenseman Roman Josi. I expect this late October matchup to set the tone for a season-long battle within the division.
Other Games in October
- Wednesday, Oct. 19: at Seattle Kraken, 9 PM
- Monday, Oct. 24: at Winnipeg Jets, 7 PM
- Saturday, Oct. 29: vs. Montreal Canadiens, 6 PM
- Monday, Oct. 31: vs. Los Angeles Kings, 7 PM
The other four games for the Blues in October will be against opponents without high expectations for the most part. The Kings made the playoffs last season and should be solid, but they aren’t a Cup contender. The Jets have a new coaching regime with head coach Rick Bowness coming over from the Dallas Stars, but it feels like a turmoil-ridden dressing room. As for the Kraken and Canadiens, the battle for Connor Bedard in the 2023 Draft is on with these two teams at the bottom of the league. The Blues’ schedule is going to be wide open to start the season, so they should be able to rack up the points early on. It won’t take long to find out how good their offense is against below-average defensive units.
Ethan Carter has been writing at The Hockey Writers for over three years now. He also co-hosts The Blue Note Podcast for the Bleav Network, which covers the Blues and the NHL multiple times per week.