Jimmy Snuggerud and Joel Hofer Steady Jim Montgomery’s .500 Blues

Midway through a tense third period inside Enterprise Center on Tuesday night, 22-year-old right winger Jimmy Snuggerud darted into soft slot ice, snapped home his team-leading 10th goal of the campaign to break a 2-2 deadlock, and lifted St. Louis to a gritty 3-2 victory over Detroit. Snapping a frustrating three-game losing streak on home ice restored immediate breathing room inside Jim Montgomery’s locker room.

Now sitting dead even at 8-8-2 (18 points) in seventh place within a tightly packed Central Division, the St. Louis Blues embody mid-November equilibrium. Anchored by confirmed starting netminder Joel Hofer’s calm .920 save percentage in the crease, Robert Thomas’ playmaking vision, and an aggressive shorthanded penalty-kill unit, Montgomery’s reimagined roster heads west to Salt Lake City on Thursday night to challenge the fourth-place Utah Mammoth.

Youthful Roster Reshape and Crease Handoff Under Jim Montgomery

Under head coach Jim Montgomery, St. Louis has accelerated an ambitious generational pivot without sacrificing competitive two-hundred-foot structure. Flanking elite playmaking pivot Robert Thomas with emerging sniper Jimmy Snuggerud and speedy left winger Dylan Holloway on the first line injected immediate dynamic pace, while slotting young center Mason McTavish to anchor a physical second trio between Jake Neighbours and Jonatan Berggren fortified the middle of the ice. Even the third unit blends high-pedigree youth and veteran savvy, pairing skilled forward Dalibor Dvorsky alongside Connor McMichael and Pavel Buchnevich ahead of a heavy checking fourth line of Alexey Toropchenko, Pius Suter, and Ross Johnston.

Just as pivotal has been Montgomery’s meritocratic crease hierarchy, elevating poised 6-foot-5 netminder Joel Hofer into the confirmed primary starting role ahead of veteran backup Jordan Binnington, while pairing mobile defensemen Philip Broberg and Logan Mailloux atop a blue line rounded out by Justin Barron, Colton Parayko, Cam Fowler, and Brandon Carlo. Sitting 8-8-2 with a +1 goal differential and +10000 Stanley Cup futures odds, St. Louis is carefully threading the needle between under-25 player development and immediate wild-card contention.

Joel Hofer’s .920 Calm, Snuggerud’s Release, and Shorthanded Bite

Everything clicking for St. Louis begins inside the crease and on special teams. Hofer’s sparkling .920 save percentage has propelled the Blues to a tied-for-ninth team save percentage (.899), consistently erasing defensive breakdowns when young pairings get caught pinching at the offensive blue line. Up front, Snuggerud’s quick-trigger release has produced team highs of 10 goals and 14 points—capped by his third-period game-winner and primary assist Tuesday against the Red Wings—feeding directly off Thomas’ surgical passing seams (team-best 11 assists).

Special-teams execution has quietly blossomed into a major divisional equalizer under Montgomery’s staff, producing an elite 106.9 percent combined special-teams net index. St. Louis ranks eighth in the NHL on the penalty kill at 84.4 percent, surrendering just seven power-play goals across 45 shorthanded situations while aggressively jumping high-zone passing lanes to bury three shorthanded goals of its own. Paired with a steady 14th-ranked power play converting at 22.4 percent (11-for-49), the Blues consistently tilt the special-teams ledger even on nights when five-on-five offense grinds.

Even-Strength Scoring Droughts, Low Shot Blocking, and IR Realities

Where St. Louis runs into trouble inside the Central Division is generating sustained five-on-five slot volume and clearing shooting lanes in front of its netminders. Entering Tuesday’s three-goal win, the Blues ranked tied for 21st in scoring at 2.94 goals per game (50 goals) against a 3.12 goals-against average (tied for 16th), while controlling 48.5 percent of five-on-five shot share—the share of even-strength shots on goal generated, ranking 20th in the league at 27.1 shots for versus 28.8 shots against (-29 shot differential, 20th). Defensively, St. Louis ranks 29th in blocked shots (207) and tied for 23rd in hits (338), forcing Hofer and Binnington to track clean perimeter looks far too often.

Injuries and salary-cap mechanics also shape Montgomery’s nightly depth options. Veteran defenseman Torey Krug remains on long-term injured reserve with an ankle condition (eligible July 1, 2027, having not played since 2023-24), a move that enables St. Louis to utilize $4 million in salary-cap relief. Meanwhile, depth center Dillon Dube sits on injured reserve with a neck injury (eligible December 4), and physical blueliner Tyler Tucker remains on injured reserve recovering from a knee injury (eligible November 12, though his return timetable stretches at least into mid-November).

Dead-Neutral 100.8 PDO Confirms an Honest Baseline With Room to Grow

Unlike several Central rivals riding extreme shooting or goaltending variance, St. Louis owns the most honest analytical profile in the division. The Blues carry a 100.8 five-on-five PDO—the sum of even-strength shooting percentage and save percentage centered around 100.0—sitting squarely inside the 98.7-to-101.3 neutral sustainability band. Shooting 10.9 percent (20th in the NHL) while saving .899 as a team means the 8-8-2 Blues are neither propped up by unsustainable puck luck nor buried by bad bounces.

That neutral baseline places the spotlight squarely on internal growth from St. Louis’ under-25 core. As McTavish, Neighbours, Dvorsky, Broberg, and Mailloux accumulate reps together inside Montgomery’s puck-support system—improving upon 18th-ranked faceoffs (49.4 percent), tied-for-21st takeaways (69), and 17th-ranked giveaways (286)—even a two-percent climb in five-on-five shot share would tip one-goal games like Saturday’s 3-1 loss in Nashville back into the win column.

Measuring Up at Delta Center and Navigating the Central Logjam

Thursday night’s divisional road trip to Delta Center to face the 10-7-1 Utah Mammoth serves as an immediate measuring stick. Only three standings points separate seventh-place St. Louis (18 points) from fourth-place Utah (21 points) and fifth-place Nashville (21 points), with sixth-place Winnipeg (19 points) wedged right between them—turning every head-to-head November meeting into a four-point wild-card swing.

Across December and into early 2027, keeping Hofer fresh through judicious tandem starts from Binnington while tightening shot-blocking lanes in front of Parayko, Fowler, and Carlo will dictate St. Louis’ ceiling. If Snuggerud and Thomas keep humming atop line one and McTavish’s second trio unlocks consistent five-on-five finishing, Montgomery’s young Blues will remain a dangerous thorn in the Western Conference bracket hunt.