It starts this evening. The San Jose Sharks’ highly anticipated 2024-25 season begins tonight at SAP Center with the debuts of Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith. This is the start of a new chapter for San Jose, with a potential one-two punch under center that could bring back memories of the good old days with Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau.

But the start is likely to be bumpy. Celebrini and Smith will have growing pains and won’t look good night after night. It’s hard to expect a teenager to have consistent success in the best hockey league in the world. However, the pressure will be gone. This is a year of growth for the young forwards, a building block that will help them become NHL stars. Assuming they look like they’re making progress in their development, the numbers on the scoreboard won’t matter to the Sharks’ management this season.

On the other side of the ice, the St. Louis Blues made major strides in the offseason, adding young talent at both the forward position and on defense. The two offer sheets for Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway actually worked, and the Blues added two young players without having to make major sacrifices in terms of draft picks.

The Blues also added Radek Faksa and Alexandre Texier to bolster the attack.

Meanwhile, head coach Drew Bannister will spend his first full season behind the bench for St. Louis. He took over from Craig Berube on December 12th of last season.

The Blues have already officially started the season. The team defeated the Seattle Kraken 3-2 on Tuesday, scoring three goals in 115 seconds to secure the come-from-behind victory.

St. Louis Blues lines on October 10, 2024

St. Louis won the game without Brandon Saad, who missed opening day because of the expected birth of his third child. Saad is also expected to miss today’s game. Torey Krug will be out for a while after undergoing ankle surgery. Oskar Sundqvist is also injured.

With that in mind, Jeremy Rutherford reports on what the Blues’ starting lineup will look like tonight. Jordan Binnington will be a substitute and Joel Hofer will start.

#stlblues Morning skate lineup in San Jose:

Holloway-Thomas Neighbors
Texier-Buchnevich-Kyrou
M. Joseph-Schenn-Kapanen
Toropchenko-Faksa-Walker

Leddy Parayko
Broberg Faulk
Suter boiler

Hofer planned starter

— Jeremy Rutherford (@jprutherford) October 10, 2024

Forward
Dylan Holloway – Robert Thomas – Jake Neighbors
Alexandre Texier – Pavel Buchnevich – Jordan Kyrou
Mathieu Joseph – Brayden Schenn – Kasperi Kapanen
Alexey Toropchenko – Radek Faksa – Nathan Walker

defense
Nick Leddy – Colton Parayko
Philip Broberg – Justin Faulk
Ryan Suter – Matthew Kessel

goalkeeper
Joel Hofer
Jordan Binnington

The San Jose Sharks’ opening night lineups

For the Sharks, look for a youth movement in the lineup. In addition to Will Smith and Celebrini, Danil Gushchin will be part of the starting eleven. Eight of tonight’s starters are 25 or younger.

It’s no shock that Mackenzie Blackwood is starting in net tonight, the guy helped lead the team last season.

#TheFutureIsTeal Lines at practice today, same as last two days. This should be your opening lineup:

Eklund-Celebrini-Toffoli
Granlund W. Smith-Zetterlund
Kunin-Wienberg-Goodrow
Gushchin Storm Dellandrea

Walman Ceci
Ferraro Rutta
Thrun Benning

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) October 9, 2024

Forward
William Eklund – Macklin Celebrini – Tyler Toffoli
Mikael Granlund – Will Smith – Fabian Zetterlund
Luke Kunin – Alex Wennberg – Barclay Goodrow
Danil Gushchin – Nico Sturm – Ty Dellandrea

defense
Jake Walman – Cody Ceci
Mario Ferraro – Jan Rutta
Henry Thrun-Matt Benning

goalkeeper
Mackenzie Blackwood
Vitek Vanecek

How to watch Blues at Sharks on October 10, 2024

Due to a crazy turn of events, you can only watch the Sharks game tonight if you have ESPN+ or Hulu Live TV! Sharks fans expected this, but it’s crazy that the league let ESPN bosses get away with it. This is opening night and if you live in the Bay Area, you won’t be able to watch the game on your regular cable provider.

Okay, except for the rant. Fans can also listen to the game on the Sharks Audio Network. If you are a blues fan, you can listen to the music on the Blues app.

The puck drops at 7:30 p.m. PT/9:30 p.m. CT at the SAP Center in San Jose.

If you can’t make the game, be sure to come here, where fans can chat about all the happenings on and off the ice.