Friday, June 21, 2019

Blues to open season Oct. 2 against Capitals

First-ever Stanley Cup banner raising ceremony to take place prior 
to game; remainder of 2019-20 NHL schedule to be released Tuesday

By LOU KORAC
ST. LOUIS -- For the first time, there will be a championship banner raising for the Blues to open a season.

The NHL announced on Friday afternoon the home openers for each of the 31 teams, and the Blues will open the 2019-20 season on Wednesday, Oct. 2 at 7 p.m. against the Washington Capitals in a battle of the past two Stanley Cup champions.

Before the game, the Blues will unveil and raise to the Enterprise Center rafters the first-ever Stanley Cup champion banner along with one signifying them as Western Conference champions.

The remainder of the NHL schedule will be released on Tuesday at 11 a.m. (CT) on NHL Network. 

It will mark the second time in three seasons the Blues will be part of a banner-raising ceremony They opened on the road in 2017 when the Pittsburgh Penguins unveiled their championship banner, and the Blues went on to spoil the night with a 5-4 win in overtime.

The Blues will conclude their eight-game preseason schedule on Sept. 29, then have two days off before opening the regular season. The Capitals visit Enterprise Center on Sept. 27.

* Prospect camp set -- The Blues will hold their 2019 prospect camp June 25-28 at Enterprise Center.

Blues prospects expected to participate in camp include first-round draft picks Klim Kostin (2017) and Dominik Bokk (2018), second-round pick Scott Perunovich (2018) and fourth-round picks Alexey Toropchenko (2017) and Joel Hofer (2018). Draft picks selected at the 2019 NHL Draft in Vancouver could be added a later date.

Scrimmages are free and open to the public, but a mobile ticket will be required to attend. Reserve up to eight tickets by choosing your session(s) below and using the promo code: PROSPECTS. Use this link to apply: https://oss.ticketmaster.com/aps/blues/EN/promotion/home

Each day of camp will feature a scrimmage split between 4-on-4 and 3-on-3 play.

Morning sessions will not be open to the public. Please see below for a day-by-day breakdown of the camp schedule (doors open one hour before each event):

Tuesday, June 25
10:15 a.m. – Team MacInnis on-ice skills and power skating
11:15 a.m. – Team Tkachuk on-ice skills and power skating
1 p.m. – Goalies on ice
2 p.m. – Scrimmage

Wednesday, June 26
10:15 a.m. – Team Tkachuk on-ice skills and power skating
11:15 a.m. – Team MacInnis on-ice skills and power skating
1 p.m. – Goalies on ice
2 p.m. – Scrimmage

Thursday, June 27
1 p.m. – On-ice testing
3 p.m. – Scrimmage

Friday, June 28
10:15 a.m. – Team MacInnis on-ice skills and power skating
11:15 a.m. – Team Tkachuk on-ice skills and power skating
6 p.m. – Scrimmage

PROSPECT CAMP ROSTER
TEAM TKACHUK
Forwards: Ben Copeland (74), Casey Gilling (81), Kevin Hancock (82), Klim Kostin (37), Nikolaj Krag (58), Mathias LaFerriere (59), Tyson McLellan (80), Taylor Schneider (63), Alexey Toropchenko (65)

Defense: Jared Kucharek (68), Colin Swoyer (61), Tyler Tucker (75)

Goalies: Jakub Dobes (40), Joel Hofer (1)

TEAM MACINNIS
Forwards: Mitchell Balmas (88), Dominik Bokk (26), Pat Curry (76), Cam Donaldson (84), Krystof Hrabik (89), Robby Jackson (79), Filip Helt (86), Hugh McGing (56), Connor Sodergren (72)

Defense: Scott Perunovich (47), Griffen Mendel (60)


Goalies: Jonas Arntzen (30), Jack Caruso (45)

* 2019 Draft in Vancouver -- The 2019 NHL Draft gets underway at Rogers Arena today at 7 p.m. with first round selections on NBCSN. Rounds 2-7 will take place on Saturday at noon on NHL Network.

The Blues have four picks in this weekend's draft but barring trade, which is unlikely, none in the first round. That pick, No. 31, went to the Buffalo Sabres in the trade that brought Ryan O'Reilly to St. Louis on July 1, 2018.

The Blues will have picks in the second round (62nd), third round (93rd), fifth round (155th) and seventh round (217th). Their fourth-round pick went to Toronto for the trade that brought forward Nikita Soshnikov to St. Louis, and their sixth-round pick went to Anaheim for the deadline trade that netted defenseman Michael Del Zotto.

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