As the Blues refine their roster with opening night about a week away, they know one constant that they can count on: Dylan Holloway.
Holloway scored twice during the Blues’ 5-3 preseason loss to the Stars on Tuesday night, a bright spot as St. Louis dropped to 0-3-1 in the preseason. Philip Broberg also scored for the Blues as Joel Hofer made 25 saves in his first full game of training camp.
Tuesday was the first time that Holloway played in a game with his new center Pius Suter, signed by the Blues to a two-year contract over the summer, and Jordan Kyrou on the opposite wing. The trio has practiced together for about week before taking the ice against Dallas. The result? Five combined points as Holloway (two goals), Kyrou (two assists) and Suter (one assist) lit up the box score.
“I thought it was pretty good,” Blues coach Jim Montgomery said of the line. “Obviously, they scored the two goals, but besides the two goals, I didn’t think they gave up all that much, and I thought that they continued to support each other really well.”
In one year, Holloway has transformed himself from the new kid on the block after arriving from Edmonton into a part of the core for the Blues moving forward. He submitted a career-high 63 points a season ago, and became one of the biggest bargains in the NHL. When Holloway was injured in the final month of the regular season, it was a major blow to the Blues’ chances of advancing in the playoffs.
Now, it’s about replicating his performance from a season ago – or maybe even exceeding it.
A year ago, Holloway and Kyrou teamed with Brayden Schenn to form one of the top lines in the league in January, but the Blues have thus far stayed away from that combination in camp. Instead, they’ve given Suter a chance to run with the thoroughbreds and it appears likely they will open together when the Wild come to town for the opener on Oct. 9.
In the first period, all three of them picked up a point on Holloway’s first goal of the night. Suter won a faceoff. Kyrou controlled the puck along the boards. Holloway found soft ice above the circle for a clean shot that beat Stars goaltender Casey DeSmith.
In the third period, Holloway entered the offensive zone with speed, dropped a pass to Kyrou between his legs, and then opened up in the slot for the return pass. Tuesday’s game was almost a year to the date from Holloway’s two-goal game in the 2024 preseason on Sept. 28 vs. Chicago.
“What you love about him is his second- and third-effort on pucks,” Montgomery said. “I’ve said it a couple of times last year, this is a second and third effort league, and he’s relentless on pucks. That’s why he comes up with pucks. That’s why everybody wants to play with him. If I was to ask anybody on our team ‘Who do you want on your line?’, he’s going to be one of the first names that comes up.
“Because you know you’re going to get the puck. You know you’re going to get offensive opportunities because he’s relentless. I think he brings us real good energy and a real good role model as to how we need to play. We need more of that permeating throughout our lineup in training camp right now.”
The Blues will be feeding Holloway as many minutes as they can this season.
He’ll once again play on the power play in a one-timer position as the Blues lean towards manning two somewhat balanced units. He’ll receive top-six minutes. He figures to be at least an option to be on the ice for a 6 on 5 attack at the end of the game (he was on Tuesday, but was tripped and turned the puck over to Jason Robertson for an empty-net goal). And then the Blues also want him on the ice on the penalty kill.
Holloway was used by former Blues coach Drew Bannister on the penalty kill, but did not kill penalties once Montgomery took over in late November. He did not kill penalties in Edmonton.
“He’s just in tremendous shape,” Montgomery said. “He can handle a lot of ice. Being able to get him (on the) PK, we’ll be able to get him up into the 18-19 minutes a night, which the way he’s continuing to develop, that’s the kind of ice time he’s demanding right now with his play.”
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Matthew DeFranks | Post-Dispatch
Hockey reporter
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