Blues Keep Going, Sign Pius Suter

Photo: Bob Frid | USA Today Sports

The St. Louis Blues were, in fact, not done.

One day after signing C Nick Bjugstad, the Blues added another piece- signing C Pius Suter to a two-year deal with a $4.125m average annual value.

After Mikael Granlund, a center the Blues reportedly were interested in, signed a 3x$7m deal in Anaheim, GM Doug Armstrong pivoted to Suter. In turn, he managed to sign a younger center to a reasonable cap hit without giving much term.

Suter, an undrafted Swiss who made his debut with the 2020-21 Chicago Blackhawks, joins the Blues after two strong years with the Vancouver Canucks. He set career highs in 2024-25 with 25 goals and 46 assists.

Suter, standing 5'11" and around 175 lbs., won't dazzle fans with his size or speed. He is, however, a very steady, all-situations player that teams can always use.

Suter isn't much of a play driver, but he is an opportunist who reads the play well and manages to find open ice. Players don't score 25 goals in the NHL on accident, as Suter has shown to have strong finishing ability.

Suter projects to slot into the 3C role, sandwiched between Brayden Schenn and Bjugstad. This moves Oskar Sundqvist out of a center spot, which may lead to more roster moves in addition to Nick Leddy getting placed on waivers on Wednesday.

The Blues came into the offseason with an obvious plan to revamp the center depth. On paper, they've done just that. Suter and Bjugstad are a more talented 3-4C combo than Sundqvist and Radek Faksa were.

However, one area that Faksa particularly helped the Blues was in faceoffs. Faksa was 57% on the dot last season, a far cry from Bjugstad (47.4%) and Suter (42%). The WTF line started many periods largely because of Faksa's ability to win possession

This situation calls for the expertise of Steve Ott. The Blues' associate coach was a career 55.5% from the dot in his 848-game NHL career. If he can get Bjugstad and Suter an additional three percentage points, that will be a win for the team.

Assuming Suter slots in at the 3C, there will be plenty of players vying for spots on his wings. If the playoffs are any indication, Jake Neighbours could be penciled in on his left side. That leaves the right wing, as things currently stand, between Mathieu Joseph, Alex Texier and Dalibor Dvorsky.

Joseph won a similar battle last year, getting into 60 games mostly with Sundqvist and Zack Bolduc. However, with Bolduc gone and Sundqvist possibly to follow, that chemistry is gone. Texier got into fewer games, but appears to have the faith of Armstrong, as it was Texier needing an opportunity that was the driving force in getting rid of Brandon Saad. It doesn't seem likely that both of these players will be on the Blues come opening night.

The most intriguing option is easily Dvorsky. Although he is a natural center, Dvorsky could earn games and get acclimated to the NHL playing the wing.

The situation would be similar to Robert Thomas playing on Tyler Bozak's wing for the first year-and-a-half of his career. Thomas, a natural winger, learned the NHL game playing to the side of an undrafted, do-it-all center. Doesn't that sound familiar? The fit could make perfect sense, especially with Suter's short-term contract serving as a possible gateway for Dvorsky being ready for the position.

But Dvorsky needs to earn it.

There was a reason he only got into two games after his initial call up last year- he wasn't ready yet. The Blues are going to give Dvorsky every opportunity to play and to succeed, but they won't rush him into a position he isn't ready for when there are other, more established options.

Either way, these are problems for October. Today, on July 2, the Blues became a better hockey team according to just about everyone. More moves may follow, but the core of the 2025-26 St. Louis Blues is becoming set.