The 2024 Summer Olympic Games kick off in Paris, France, on July 26. Over 40 Olympic sports will be represented by 10,500 athletes from 206 National Olympic Committees (NOCs). The St. Louis Blues roster has a few players with the skill set to compete in certain Olympic sports.
An Olympian’s skill set includes speed, strength, endurance, flexibility, precision, and cardio requirements. Nonetheless, here is the list of players on the Blues’ current roster who could participate in specific sports based on their skill set.
Jordan Binnington – Table Tennis
Jordan Binnington is one of the most highly respected and talented goaltenders in Blues history, but what sport would he play if he was selected for the 2024 Summer Olympics? At about 6-foot-2 and 172 pounds, Binnington could be a great table tennis player.
Being a great table tennis player requires reaction speed, precision, and a lot of cardio to go side-to-side repeatedly in a match. Binnington currently has most of the skills necessary for this sport. He does most of this as a goaltender when moving around his crease to save pucks.
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To stop a puck coming towards him at about 80 to over 100 miles per hour (mph), Binnington needs to be able to use that reaction speed to make a precise save. Similarly, a table tennis ball can travel as fast as 80 to over 120 mph when hit by a professional table tennis player. This would give Binnington a bit more of a challenge, but with his reaction training and the saves he made with his paddle, I’m confident he could put on a good rally in table tennis with his skills.
Another skill that Binnington carries is agility, which is very useful in table tennis, especially when moving side to side to hit the ball back to the opponent. As a goaltender, Binnington has to use his agility to push from one post to another to cover rebounds and loose net areas that could be exposed. In a table tennis match, Binnington would be agile to move from one end to another because of his experience moving from crease to crease.
Joel Hofer – Volleyball
Standing at 6-foot-5 and 179 pounds, Joel Hofer is one of the most promising goaltenders on the Blues roster, and his height alone makes him perfect for volleyball. There are several positions in volleyball, but Hofer would best suit the outside hitter, which covers the front and middle players to watch how the play goes and react based on the situation (offensive or defensive). The outside hitter has an average height of 6-foot-5 in the men’s category, making Hofer perfect for this position.
Playing the outside hitter requires Hofer to move a lot, which again falls under his skill set as a goalie in hockey through agility. Reaction speed is also crucial, as he would have to call plays and then move for a pass or block to keep the ball moving.
As a goaltender, Hofer always calls the players in front of him to move in a specific spot when a play is heading towards him so that he can see the shot coming towards him. He can move the defenceman or forwards in front to create a shot-blocking opportunity.
Hofer still carries an excellent playmaking IQ, which is crucial as goaltenders must quickly move out of their crease or handle the puck after a save. In terms of volleyball, Hofer could use that IQ to move towards the ball in his zone and make a calculated pass that would set up his team for a potential point opportunity. Hofer ranked in the top 20 last season in goaltender assists, scoring only one.
Robert Thomas – Basketball
Robert Thomas may not be the tallest basketball player, but at 6-feet-0, he can play point guard. This would be an excellent position for Thomas, a talented playmaker, especially after putting up 60 assists last season. The point guard is usually the basketball team’s general who runs the play for most of the game for their team.
Thomas would suit that position as he led the offense in points last season with 86 points. His agility and playmaking IQ are great for creating opportunities to score points as a point guard would. In basketball, the point guard is usually one of the top options for shooting a three-point shot for more points in crucial situations. If we had to compare that in the National Hockey League (NHL), it would be like shooting from a long-range around the blueline area, where Thomas has taken seven shots this season.
If we consider the shot success rate from long-distance, Thomas went zero for seven, meaning he wouldn’t be a great three-point shooter if he were a point guard. However, his shooting success rate from mid-range and high-danger areas has been way more successful than his long-range shooting. He averages about a 16% success rate from mid-range and high-danger areas. This means as a point guard in basketball, he’d be more of a mid-range or post-dominant player, and it would be similar to a player in basketball who averages a 45 to 50 percent success rate in field goals.
Thomas is also very skilled with hand-eye coordination, which is crucial in basketball. You have to dribble the ball and keep it moving to get around a defender to either make a pass or score a basket. Based on all these traits, I’m confident that Thomas will hold it down on the court for Team Canada in basketball.
One sport I’d see Colton Parayko play very well is soccer/football, based on his ability to block shots last season and defend around the net. In that case, a center-back position would be great for someone of Parayko’s skill and stature. Center back is also a defensive position. Parayko is a defenseman in hockey, so there is some knowledge of how to defend against an opponent trying to score a goal.
Parayko’s shot-blocking ability benefited the Blues last season, as he blocked 218 shots, the most in the league. In soccer/football, the defender at the centerback position must block shots, oncoming passes or crosses going down the middle of the crease, and players trying to attack the middle slot for a goal.
Another skill Parayko has in his arsenal of skills to be a soccer/football player is his size. At 6-foot-6 and 228 pounds, Parayko has an excellent stature to prevent players from pushing him off when he tries to challenge the ball and get around him. His height can also be good for blocking loose balls, trying to stop the goal in high-danger situations in front of the net, and scoring headers off a corner kick.
As a hockey player, Parayko is used to skating for about 23 minutes a night. Skating with absolute intensity has built good cardiovascular endurance despite playing with shifts where he would sit on the bench and then change lines. In soccer/football, cardiovascular endurance is a significant need, especially as a defender, because there are no shifts or line changes, and the only way a player can get off is through substitution from the coach. In this case, Parayko would have to run up and down a field for 90 minutes, not including extra time if there is a tie game during the knockout stage.
Closing Thoughts and Honorable Mentions
For honorable mentions in this, I would put Brayden Schenn in there for boxing, as he had the most fights (four) this season on the Blues roster and won two out of the four. While he is not the tallest player for fighting, he’s got a good reach and can strike very well, and he has good poise to keep his feet moving and still fight. Olympic boxers also fight with headgear on, so it would be equivalent to fighting a player with their helmet on; the only difference is that the headgear has to stay on when you fight in boxing.
Hopefully, we will get to see some of these athletes in the Winter Olympics when the NHL allows them to compete for their respective countries in the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milano Cortina, Italy since the NHL said they were not sending players in the 2018 and 2022 Winter Olympics due to travel and insurance costs struggles as well as failure to come to terms with the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
