3 Blues With The Most To Prove In 2023-24

The St. Louis Blues had a down season and sold a lot of talent at the trade deadline in 2022-23. This allowed them to make significant changes to their team and give them a new look this season to hopefully get back into the playoff picture. A lot of individuals on a team that should have made the playoffs, but didn't, have something to prove. Let's take a look at the three with the most.

Robert Thomas

The top players were called out by head coach Craig Berube last season and Robert Thomas was one to respond by saying that everyone in the room is giving it their best. That clearly wasn't good enough and the coach was seeing something that was off with some of the players. Thomas couldn't follow up his breakout season in 2021-22 well enough. He dropped two goals and 12 points in one more game played from 2021-22 to 2022-23. After his response and a chance to make good on what he said last season, as one of the leaders, he has a lot to prove.

Torey Krug

The Blues have had discussions about which one of their top-four defensemen they're going to move. Torey Krug's name has definitely come up after the poor performance last season. He is expected to at least be the top offensive talent on the blue line, but that role ended up being assumed by Justin Faulk. Not only that, Krug got demoted to the third pairing and only averaged 18:35 of ice time per game last season. Since he's not willing to waive his no-trade clause, he needs to show the team his worth and why they should keep him around.

Kasperi Kapanen

The Pittsburgh Penguins finally had enough of Kasperi Kapanen last season and decided to send him down through waivers. Fortunately for him, the Blues picked him up as they had space in their lineup, cap space, and saw something. They were right as he scored eight goals and 14 points in 23 games with the team to close out the season. He has a cap hit of $3.2 million AAV for this season, so with that money comes an obligation to contribute. He has to continue to do so at a fairly high rate this season for the Blues to prove it wasn't luck.