I don't think they're going to be splitting up Buchnevich-Thomas-Tarasenko this earlier in the season. They seem to want to give Brown a crack at 3C, and they've had Kyrou stapled to O'Reilly most of the preseason/camp. Perunovich is hurt and no one seems to know how bad but he's missing a good chunk of the preseason at this point. If he happens to be healthy and makes the lineup, he won't be playing above Leddy on opening night (though wouldn't be surprised if he steals a top 4 job from him eventually). Don't really see why they would need Tucker on the roster if they're already scratching a defenseman. If Perunovich isn't ready, maybe, but I kind of think it will be Santini or Rosen first.

Buchnevich-Thomas-Tarasenko
Schenn-O'Reilly-Kyrou
Neighbours - Brown - Saad
Barbashev - Acciari - Leivo

Krug - Faulk
Leddy - Parayko
Mikkola - Bortuzzo

Kostin
Toropchenko (if he's ready, seems like he is?)
Rosen/Santini

Thoughts on ROR-Kyrou together? It just doesn't unlock anything for me. Maybe you're able to hide some of Kyrou's defensive inefficiencies playing him with ROR but you're also putting that line up against the other team's best so you're not getting the good matchup for Kyrou to feast on. Eventually I'd like to see

Kyrou-Thomas-Tarasenko
Saad-ROR-Buch
Neighbours-Brown-Schenn
Barby-Acciari-Leivo/Klim/Pitlick

I don't totally hate it but I don't think it really utilizes either player in the best way. I think masking the defense problems is what the logic is and I do think that will work but I wonder if the speed mismatch will hurt the offense, especially from Kyrou. Kyrou has some really good passing ability, but if he's leading the breakout and O'Reilly is struggling to keep up and he continues to struggle to finish like he did last year, I worry there's just going to be a lot of wasted time in the offensive zone and/or lots of Kyrou doing a lot of one-and-dones.

Ultimately Kyrou and Thomas need to be playing together for me, I think they have completely complementary skillsets and their chemistry is the future of the team. I also like Buchnevich and O'Reilly together, for me that's the basis of a Danault-esque shutdown line you send out against everyone. I would have loved to see Perron stick around and round out that trio. If those pairs are together I won't have much to complain about (until it stops working), especially if Brown can snag the 3C spot and allow Schenn to be a top-6 power forward than a third line center.

I will say, it's a bit tough to see how Tarasenko fits in this lineup beyond this season, even beyond the cost it would take to keep him and whether he even wants to stick around.

I’m super in on that 4th line. Pitlick is fine too cuz he’s got a lot of energy compared to the somewhat sluggish Leivo, but I find Leivo much more effective

Bruh, Brown is not going to be on Dad's line. That line gets the hardest matchups. He ain't suited for that. ROR will get Kyrou.

And where's Torp?

wasn't really paying attention to my scratches but he should be there and tucker down

He's always been highly touted... he's played well this pre-season. Maybe it is his breakout season?

Ah yea I forgot that scotty got injured... I don't think it takes him long to overtake leddy though. From what we saw of leddy last season he is washed. For one of the 'best skating defensemen' in the league he looks so sluggish and inefficient out there. I am not a fan of any facet of Leddy's game.

As for Kyrou I don't like him playing with ROR, we aren't going to get what we want out of him... I would much rather see him with schenn or thomas.
I do agree that the 89-18-91 line was very good

So...
Brown-Thomas-Senko
Saad-ROR-Buch
Neighbours-Schenn-Kyrou

The way that Chief roles the lines all of those guys would be getting good minutes... What do you think?

He's gonna suddenly breakout with heady defensive player and maximum effort? He hasn't been highly touted for a while now. I hope he improves, but he has no business being on the line facing other team's top line 20 minutes a night. Chief has already said his top six is set. Brown is shooting for third line time, and the competition is tough.

How about the updated lines I posted?

Where?

I generally agree with you, as I said in my reply to A_K I'm hoping they're not super committed to ROR and Kyrou together and Perunovich I think definitely has the talent to supplant Leddy but he's basically out for the season now (Blues announced he's out six months for shoulder surgery) so that will have to wait, if it ever happens. My initial response was what I think the Blues will do, not necessarily what I would prefer would happen.

With Leddy, the main concern is that I don't think the Blues thought out the box at all. And they haven't been thinking out of the box on defense for a long time. Since Pietrangelo left (and even before with Faulk), the Blues have been locking in veteran at high prices for less-than-ideal ages, and none of them have stepped up to be top offensive contributors or shutdown defensemen. I view most of our defensemen- especially the big three- positively to varying degrees but collectively I don't think this group works.

I think Leddy can have a positive effect on a transition game that the Blues sorely lacked last year. He seems to be good at retrieving the puck, though he doesn't do it often. I think he is still good at moving the puck from our zone, through the neutral zone, and into the o zone, even at his declining speed. He may be able to set up a rush play or two. But I don't think he's going to be worth 4 million a year for the next 4 years. And I think if the Blues had been more proactive either in the last few years- when Ethan Bear, Jonas Siegenthaler (or even Devon Toews!) were going for nothing- or even in the last few months- as teams like Boston and Winnipeg try desperately to rid themselves of the cheaper Mike Reilly and Brendan Dillon- then we would be much better off.

With Brown, you have to be careful about his preseason performances because this is kinda what he does- has a great preseason, makes you think he's turned the corner, then fades as soon as he's in the NHL. He did it a ton in Ottawa. I'm not going to be convinced he's going to be an NHL regular until I see it happen. If he is though, I think he is much better suited for the bottom six than the top six, unless he shows otherwise in real games. Much like I think we'll get more out of Schenn as a top six winger than a bottom six center. Kyrou too- if he's going to make 64 million dollars, he needs to be in the top six, somehow, preferably on the top line. I'd rather him be with O'Reilly and getting top six minutes than with Schenn if he's going to be fighting for minutes. We talk about rolling four lines or even three lines but that very rarely actually works for a long time. Your best players need to be playing a lot. They rolled things pretty evenly last year, but this group is not as deep as it was then. There shouldn't be a scenario where Kyrou and Thomas are playing the same 5v5 minutes as Brown and Neighbors.

If everything works out perfectly, this is my "ideal" forward corp:

Tarasenko - Thomas - Kyrou
Schenn - O'Reilly - Buchnevich
Neighbors - Brown - Saad
Barbashev - Acciari - Toropchenko

Your top line is your top line. Schenn - O'Reilly - Buchnevich takes the defensive assignments. Neighbors - Brown - Saad is an offense first 3rd line. 4th line is a pretty classic checking/PK specialists landing spot.