Chicago Beat the Blues 4-2, and the Forward Situation Is Already Borrowed Time

The loss to Chicago on Wednesday was the kind of game that clarifies things. The Blues fell 4-2 in the Blackhawks' home opener, and whatever optimism the season-opening win in Dallas had generated is now running against a harder reality: Alexy Toropchenko is six weeks out, and the forward group that was supposed to carry the offensive reinvention is already thinner than management planned.

I've written twice now about what Toropchenko's absence means for the depth chart. The short version is that Zach Dean and Dillon Dube won the 13th and 14th forward slots in camp, which was already a lean margin. Sundqvist, Walker, and Finley all cleared waivers and went to Springfield — nobody claimed them, which tells you something about their NHL value — and that's the pool St. Louis is drawing from now. The offseason was built around adding McTavish, McMichael, and Dube up front, but those investments assume a functional supporting cast behind them.

Robert Thomas remains the one constant. He was the team's best forward last season and figures to carry a disproportionate load again while the new pieces find their footing. That's fine for as long as it lasts, but six weeks is a long time to ask a short bench to hold together, especially with the blue line still sorting itself out above them.