(9-29-21) Blues-Blue Jackets Preseason Gameday Lineup

By LOU KORAC
MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. -- Logan Brown has worn the junior Blues logo many times throughout his young life.

Tonight, he will wear the Bluenote of the St. Louis Blues for the first time in a game.
Brown will make his Blues preseason debut when they play their first road game against the Columbus Blue Jackets at 6 p.m. at Nationwide Arena (BlueJackets.com stream, ESPN 101.1-FM).

Brown, acquired from the Ottawa Senators on Saturday along with a conditional 2022 fourth-round pick for forward Zach Sanford, has practiced three days now with his new team and is looking forward to turning the page on his NHL career to a new chapter.

"Yeah it'll be exciting. It's been a couple years since I've worn it, but I'm looking forward to wearing it again," Brown said. "I'll be pretty comfortable in it.

"I'm just trying to make the most of it. It's a great opportunity in front of me. You don't get opportunities like this often. Whenever it presents itself, just got to do whatever you can to make the most of it."

Brown will center the second line tonight between Ivan Barbashev and PTO veteran Michael Frolik and will see time on the second power play unit on the right wall.

"It'll be good to show them that side of my game," Brown said. "Hopefully I'll prove myself there."

Blues coach Craig Berube said he's spoken to Brown, who stands at 6-foot-6 and 218 pounds, and just wants to see him play to get a better evaluation of the player.

"He's got good hands for a big guy that size for sure," Berube said. "When you get a guy that big, he moves well too for his size, but he's got good hands. He's a high pick, so he's got good ability. ... I've had a couple conversations with him. He needs to just go out and play and get confidence more than anything, I think. Things haven't gone his way in Ottawa. This is a new place for him and he just needs a place to be a confident hockey player more than anything right now and use his ability and his size. When you're that big, you've got to be strong on pucks. Like anybody else we want, we want to play a heavy game on the puck and use his ability with his hands and his feel. He's got good ability making plays. Use your ability.

"Don't know a lot about him, but big kid for sure, moves very well out there for his size and has got good hands. I'm looking forward to seeing him in some games here coming up."

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Marco Scandella is the last of the veterans to make his preseason debut tonight.

The defenseman sat out the first two preseason games, a 6-2 win against the Minnesota Wild on Saturday and 2-1 overtime win against the Dallas Stars on Monday. 

Scandella will be paired with Colton Parayko tonight.

"I'm pretty excited," Scandella said. "It's been a long time. ... Just seeing some of the new guys (watching). Saader's (Brandon Saad) really good, Buch (Pavel Buchnevich), they've had great games. I'm pretty excited about the group we have this year."

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Klim Kostin will play his second preseason game tonight and feature on a line playing right wing with Hugh McGing on left wing and Dakota Joshua at center.

Kostin had an assist in the win against the Wild and continues to be evaluated by the coaching staff as he battles for a spot on the team.

"He's been fine," Berube said. "I think the practices and stuff, when I see him, his shot has been noticeable in camp, he's really shot the puck well scoring on the goalies and things like that. The game he played, I thought that he had a good third period. He was more assertive in the third period using his feet skating, getting on top of people. He's got to be a pretty straight line player for us, up and down, banging bodies, going to the net, using his shot and just playing a simple game. He doesn't need to complicate things. He has to be a power forward in my opinion, be good around the net, get to the net. We're going to use him on the PP tonight in front of the net a little bit. He'll get some looks there, but so far, I think he's been fine."

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The Blues' projected lineup:

James Neal-Robert Thomas-Jordan Kyrou

Ivan Barbashev-Logan Brown-Michael Frolik

Hugh McGing-Dakota Joshua-Klim Kostin

Keean Washkurak-Matthew Peca-Mathias Laferriere

Marco Scandella-Colton Parayko

Jake Walman-Steven Santini

Tommy Cross-Josh Wesley

Joel Hofer will start in goal; Charlie Lindgren will be the backup.

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The Blue Jackets' projected lineup:

Patrik Laine-Cole Sillinger-Jakub Voracek

Gregory Hofmann-Boone Jenner-Yegor Chinakhov

Liam Foudy-Justin Danforth-Emil Bemstrom

Josh Dunne-Brendan Gaunce-Tristan Mullin

Zach Werenski-Adam Boqvist

Gabriel Carlsson-Scott Harrington

Dean Kukan-Thomas Schemitsch

Daniil Tarasov will start in goal; Jean-Francois Berube will be the backup.