Blues preseason begins tonight against Dallas Stars

The last time that the Blues saw the Dallas Stars was on May 7th. It was a game seven for the ages, with the Blues moving on to the Western Conference Final and the Stars heading back to Dallas. Big Ben Bishop put up a 52 save performance that night in a wrap-up to one of the Blues’ toughest challenges in the post-season.

Tonight, well, it’s preseason hockey. We get into debates every year if preseason games are worth paying attention to (I’m in camp yes, if not for prospect analysis reasons then because it’s hockey and why wouldn’t you care?), and this year there seems to be even less of a reason to tune in. There’s one roster spot up for grabs right now - Pat Maroon’s - and quite a few players who won’t be hanging around long enough to challenge for it.

That doesn’t mean tonight’s game at 7:30 should be marked off your schedule. Since KMOX no longer is the Blues’ radio broadcast affiliate, there’s no competition with tonight’s Cardinals game. ESPN 101 FM will be broadcasting the entire event. Put the Cards on mute if you must.

Also, tonight’s game will afford fans a look (or listen) at some young kids. Tonight’s lineup features younger Blues regulars showing some prospects how it’s done:

Forwards: Ivan Barbashev, Sammy Blais, Robby Fabbri, Klim Kostin, Mathias Laferriere, Mackenzie MacEachern, Jordan Nolan, Ryan Olsen, Austin Poganski, Oskar Sundqvist, Michael Vecchione, Nathan Walker

Defense: Andreas Borgman, Robert Bortuzzo, Jake Christiansen, Jake Dotchin, Joel Edmundson, Niko Mikkola, Derrick Pouliout

Goalies: Ville Husso, Adam Wilcox

Notable among that group are Klim Kostin, who is one of the names tossed around as a contender for Maroon’s roster spot, and Ville Husso. Husso’s looking to improve after being leapfrogged by Jordan Binnington on the depth chart. Long considered the Blues’ top goaltending prospect, Husso had a season to forget last year (6-17-2, 3.67 GAA, .871 SV%) and would love to get back to playing the game that he’s known for,