(9-24-26) Blackhawks-Blues Gameday Lineup

Buthere is the 2021 first-round pick in the NHL Draft by the VegasGolden Knights , traded to the Blues for Ivan Barbashev , right in thethick of it, and an opportunity of a lifetime tomake his first NHL roster with another solid game when the Blues(0-2-0) host the Chicago Blackhawks (1-0-1) in the third of fourpreseason games at Enterprise Center today at 7 p.m. (MatrixMidwest: Spectrum Ch. 186, DISH Ch. 31, Over-the-Air Ch. 32.2, 32.3,stlouisblues.com, Blues app, ESPN 101.1-FM).

Thiswill be Dean's third game in as many preseason games, and it'sobvious: the Blues like what they see and want to put him with skillplayers tonight and see how the 23-year-old handles playing on the top line with Pavel Buchnevich and Connor McMichael .

"He'sbeen very noticeable in his speed," Bluescoach Jim Montgomery said of Dean, who has one assist in two games."His speed is a quality that we lack a little bit up front, thatnatural people that can flat-out just fly and create, I call ananxiety on defensemen and goalies off the forecheck or off the rush.