Blues prospects bond at St. Louis City SC facility before camp
St. Louis sent 19 prospects to an MLS facility to build chemistry before camp, signaling a development shift that could pay off in Springfield.
Nineteen Blues prospects, including all nine members of the 2026 draft class, opened development camp in soccer cleats at St. Louis City SC’s facility and Energizer Park instead of on the ice. The week is built to loosen the room, speed up relationships and teach young players how to move together before they ever reach Springfield.
A camp built around chemistry, not just evaluation
The 2026 development camp began Sunday, June 29, and it was set up as an off-ice-only week with no skating at all. Instead, the schedule centered on off-ice workouts, weight-room sessions, nutrition lessons, a cooking competition, visits to Enterprise Center, Busch Stadium and Energizer Park, and go-kart racing. The format was meant to teach prospects what it means to represent St. Louis, the organization and the logo they may eventually wear in pro hockey.
Doug Armstrong said the Blues have gone back and forth over whether prospects should skate at camp, but this version was designed to get them to know the organization and each other.
Why the MLS stop was more than a novelty
Using a Major League Soccer facility gave the Blues a different kind of classroom. The prospects took part in soccer drills, watched what an MLS player’s day looks like and then tested themselves in penalty shots against City2 MLS NEXT Pro keepers. That setting pushed the group into movements and habits that sit outside a normal hockey camp, from coordination and balance to quick changes of direction and communication in a live, unfamiliar environment.
Soccer demands touch, timing, spacing and trust, and those same traits matter when a young player is learning how to play fast without being reckless.
Colin Ralph’s penalty kick fit the tone of the day. Ralph, a second-round pick and defenseman in the 2024 NHL Draft, handled the moment without fuss.
The prospect group shows how deep the pipeline has become
The 19-player roster mixed the nine-man 2026 draft class with other recent and top prospects. Tynan Lawrence, Maddox Dagenais, Luke Schairer, Justin Carbonneau and Ralph were in the room. Lawrence went No. 11 overall and Dagenais went No. 16 in the first round, while the Blues used nine selections and two trades at the draft to reshape the board.
St. Louis brought in the entire class, then folded it into the same week with other high-end prospects so the first conversations, first jokes and first shared challenges happened together. The organization also added Mason McTavish from the Anaheim Ducks and Brandon Carlo from the Toronto Maple Leafs, altering the depth chart.
For players close to Springfield, the quickest benefit from a week like this is familiarity. Luke Schairer called the facility awesome, while Justin Carbonneau, a 2025 first-round pick, said it was great to be back and pointed to the city’s people and weather.
What Springfield stands to gain
The Springfield Thunderbirds are where this approach is supposed to show up first. When prospects arrive already knowing one another, already having shared off-ice work and already understanding the club’s standards, the first months in the AHL can move faster. A room that trusts itself handles travel, practice loads and role changes better than one that is still being introduced to itself.
The carryover is especially relevant for Lawrence, Dagenais, Schairer, Carbonneau and Ralph. The camp’s emphasis on movement, communication and composure should help players who are learning how to make pro habits automatic, not just intentional. For a defenseman like Ralph, the message is about calm under pressure and clean movement. For young forwards like Lawrence, Dagenais and Carbonneau, it is about tempo, spacing and being comfortable in a group.
A clear break from recent Blues camps
The 2026 format is a sharp departure from recent years at Centene Community Ice Center. In 2024, development camp featured on-ice practices and scrimmages, with daily sessions free and open to the public. In 2025, the club again used Centene for on-ice sessions each day, including 60 minutes of skills and power skating followed by a 15-minute 3-on-3 scrimmage.
The Blues changed the shape of camp on purpose, shifting from evaluation in skates to off-ice education. The timing also fits the organization’s larger transition, with Alexander Steen named the 12th general manager on June 30, 2026, while Armstrong moved solely into the president of hockey operations role.
This article was produced by Prism’s automated news system from verified source data, official records, and press releases, then run through automated quality and moderation checks before publishing. The system is built and supervised by the people who set the standards it runs under. Read our full AI policy.
Did this article answer your question?
