Blue Jackets at Blues Preseason Preview/GameDay Thread

The Blues preseason is done after tonight. After blowing a 3-0 lead to lose 4-3 in overtime to the Minnesota Wild on Wednesday night, the team made one more round of cuts to trim the roster down to 29 players. One of those cut was Michael Frolik, here on a professional try-out. James Neal’s still here, as are Jake Neighbuors, Scott Perunovich, Logan Brown, and Dakota Joshua. Brown and Joshua are a good sign that the Blues are still focused on adding some grit and determination to the team along with the skill that Perunovich and Neighbours, among others, can bring.

The coaching staff is still tinkering with the lines, but tonight’s lineup should be as close to a regular season lineup as we’ll be getting during the preseason. It may be a bit of a commentary on which of the last players standing will get any remaining roster spots available.

The actual lines for tonight look a little different than the top lines in yesterday’s practice. Draw your own conclusions. From stlblues.com:

Forwards

Brandon Saad - Ryan O’Reilly - David Perron

Jordan Kyrou - Brayden Schenn - Pavel Buchnevich

James Neal - Robert Thomas - Vladimir Tarasenko

Jake Neighbours - Tyler Bozak - Ivan Barbashev

Defense

Marco Scandella - Colton Parayko

Torey Krug - Justin Faulk

Jake Walman - Robert Bortuzzo

Goalies

Jordan Binnington

Colten Ellis

Since this is a home game, it will be available for fans in the St. Louis area on Bally Sports Midwest, the Bally app, and for fans everywhere you can stream Chris Kerber and Joey Vitale’s call on 101 ESPN.