ST. LOUIS – Hunter Skinner was all smiles, and why not?
The defenseman will make his NHL debut for the St. Louis Blues (6-8-3) on Friday when they host the Philadelphia Flyers (8-5-3) at 7 p.m. (FDSNMW, ESPN 101.1-FM).
The 24-year-old, who will have his parents Steve and Michele as well as a brother and sister in attendance for the game, was acquired from the New York Rangers on Feb. 9, 2023 in the deal that sent Vladimir Tarasenko and Niko Mikkola to Broadway.
“Since I was a little kid,” Skinner said. “It’s a dream-come-true. I’m super-excited for tonight. Took last night and this morning to prepare for it, but I’m super-excited about it.”
Skinner will play on the third defensive pairing with Matthew Kessel.
Making his NHL debut tonight, Hunter Skinner, leads the stretch. #stlbluespic.twitter.com/DMYEhCRUyK
— Lou Korac (@lkorac10) November 14, 2025
“If this is not the greatest day in his life, it’s in his top three,” Blues coach Jim Montgomery said. “Everybody remembers their first game, you dream of it. There’s nothing like your first game in the NHL. Bright lights, big city. St. Louis Blues against the Philadelphia Flyers, legendary teams. It’s awesome that you get to have that experience. But he’s someone that over time can be a Blue.
“I got to know him in training camp really for the first time and he has energy, loves playing hockey. You can tell it pours through his pores. … What we’re wanting to see is he has poise with the puck, but he’s hard too. He plays the game with physicality and emotion, which our team can use.”
Skinner has toiled with Springfield of the American Hockey League since his arrival to the Blues organization, playing in 147 games before finally getting the chance to perform on the big stage. It never deterred him from continuing to put the work in.
“No, not really,” he said. “Just trust in the process, just the path that I’m on. God put me here for a reason.
“Just putting the work on, trying to be as consistent as possible, keep my head down, grinding every day, not worrying about the future, just going day by day.”
Skinner said he found out, “(Wednesday) at practice, I kind of got a little nod and mostly this morning. Once I walked in and I saw the board, I was super-excited.”
Having his family here will be important.
“Parents, brother, sister, grandparents have passed away so they’re not here, but I’ll be playing for my grandma for sure and my grandpa,” Skinner said. “I haven’t really talked to (his parents) over the phone yet. I just shot them a text. I’m pretty sure they’re ecstatic, as ecstatic as I am.”
Skinner impressed the coaches during his run in training camp and wants to keep that momentum going.
“I felt good. I felt like I put my best foot forward. Hopefully it led to me getting to this point. I’m just excited about it.
“Playing simple, just be physical, hard to play against, tight gaps, getting my shot through. I think using my feet.
I played with (Kessel) and I played with ‘Tucks’ quite a few times. I’m pretty excited. Two Michigan boys.”
- - -
Skinner will replace Tyler Tucker, who along with Nick Bjugstad will be healthy scratches for the first time this season.
“It is a reset, yeah,” Montgomery said of Tucker. “I’m seeing him give up more time and space than he did last year. Last year it was consistent that he didn’t give it up, this year it’s been inconsistent. We had a good talk about it. I know when he gets back in, he’s going to be the aggressive, physical … even in the offensive zone, he’s not as aggressive as he was last year.”
Bjugstad will sit for Mathieu Joseph, who returns after missing Tuesday’s 3-2 win against the Calgary Flames with a lower-body injury.
“Defensively I think he’s done a lot of good things even in the last 2-3 games,” Montgomery said of Bjugstad, who has four goals and one assist in 17 games. “He’s just not having the same impact he was having. I don’t mean scoring, I mean building the team game, building momentum for our team. A lot of times when we talk about a good shift, it’s what you leave for the next guys going on the ice, it’s not what you actually did. You can have a great shift, two scoring chances and then you play five seconds in your D-zone and you have a bad change, I’m not leaving good ice. That’s how you want to try and build, good changes, good rhythm for the game.”
- - -
The Blues are 3-1-1 the past five games and after Friday, host the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday before heading out on a big five-game road trip starting Tuesday.
“There’s signs, but we’ve got to see consistency coming out the right way,” Montgomery said. “I liked the way we came out and started the game last game. We didn’t put them on their heels, but we played intelligently.”
- - -
Blues forward Jake Neighbours was on the ice for the morning skate, his first time with the team since blocking a shot Oct. 25 against the Detroit Red Wings.
Neighbours, who leads the Blues with six goals, started skating this past Sunday on his own and is still on target to be reevaluated in the five-week timeframe the team gave.
We have a Jake Neighbours sighting for the morning skate #stlblues ... pic.twitter.com/5K7u3dPqX7
— Lou Korac (@lkorac10) November 14, 2025
- - -
Blues Projected Lineup:
Pavel Buchnevich-Robert Thomas-Jimmy Snuggerud
Dylan Holloway-Dalibor Dvorsky-Jordan Kyrou
Brayden Schenn-Pius Suter-Mathieu Joseph
Alexey Toropchenko-Oskar Sundqvist-Nathan Walker
Philip Broberg-Colton Parayko
Cam Fowler-Justin Faulk
Matthew Kessel-Hunter Skinner
Jordan Binnington will start in goal; Joel Hofer will be the backup.
Healthy scratches include Nick Bjugstad, Alexandre Texier and Tyler Tucker. Jake Neighbours (leg) is out.
- - -
Flyers Projected Lineup:
Matvei Michkov-Sean Couturier-Travis Konecny
Owen Tippett-Christian Dvorak-Trevor Zegras
Tyson Foerster-Noah Cates-Bobby Brink
Garnet Hathaway-Rodrigo Abols-Nicolas Deslauriers
Cam York-Travis Sanheim
Nick Seeler-Jamie Drysdale
Emil Andrae-Noah Juulsen
Samuel Ersson will start in goal; Dan Vladar will be the backup.
Healthy scratches include Nikita Grebenkin, Adam Ginning and Egor Zamula. Rasmus Ristolainen (triceps) is out.
Blues Top Four Defensemen Logging Big Minutes, Especially Of Late; Are They Getting Taxed Too Soon?Parayko, Broberg, Faulk, Fowler all over at least 22 minutes a night, more so in past half dozen games; Blues will need more from likes of Tucker, Kessel, Mailloux on bottom pair as season rolls along to keep others from getting worn down
For action-packed issues, access to the entire magazine archive and a free issue, subscribe to The Hockey News at THN.com/free. Get the latest news and trending stories by subscribing to our newsletter here. And share your thoughts by commenting below the article on THN.com or creating your own post in our community forum.