(10-8-24) St. Louis Blues-Seattle Kraken Gameday Lineup
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Ready or not, it’s here.
The 2024-25 season for the St. Louis Blues kicks off today with a matinee game, the start of a three-game road trip that opens against the Seattle Kraken at Climate Pledge Arena (3:30 p.m.; ESPN, ESPN+, ESPN 101.1-FM).
The Blues, 43-33-6 last season which was good for 92 points but not good to make the Stanley Cup playoffs, which they missed for the second straight season, and are hopeful that the addition of depth will enhance their chances for improvement.
“I feel like we’re getting better every game,” said one of those new additions, forward Mathieu Joseph, acquired in a trade with the Ottawa Senators on July 2 for future considerations. “There’s a lot of new guys I feel. It takes time to get the new systems and know your teammates and develop chemistry with guys and see what works. I feel like it’s been only a couple games. Hopefully we can do that consistently and bring that pace like that, but that’s a step in the right direction and I like the compete level for sure.”
The Blues not only added one Joseph but two when they signed Mathieu’s younger brother, defenseman P.O. Joseph, to a one-year contract. They added center Radek Faksa via trade — also for future considerations — from the Dallas Stars, acquired forward Alexandre Texier from the Columbus Blue Jackets via trade, signed veteran defenseman Ryan Suter to a one-year contract as insurance at the time when it ultimately was announced that fellow defenseman Torey Krug would be lost for the season following left ankle surgery. But the biggest noise the Blues made was a double offer sheet to the Edmonton Oilers for a pair of 23-year-olds, defenseman Philip Broberg and forward Dylan Holloway, on Aug. 13 that the Oilers declined to match one week later.
The Blues also added veteran presence behind the bench with the hiring of Stanley Cup champion coach Claude Julien.
The Joseph brothers will become the seventh sets of brothers to play for the Blues franchise and first since Rich and…
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