While some NHL teams drop the puck on the 2023-24 regular season as early as Tuesday, the St. Louis Blues will be kicking back for a little rest and relaxation in Frisco, TX before their season-opening matchup with the Dallas Stars on Oct. 12.
The trip will give the team a chance to do some bonding before they begin another campaign.
It’s not entirely a vacation - there is some work involved as the team will practice on Tuesday (9:30 a.m.) and Wednesday (1:30 p.m.) at Comerica Center - but the rest of the time will be free for some golf, a team dinner and just general hanging out before the rigorous season schedule begins.
“I think it's probably the most important time of the year. It's always something I look forward to," Robert Thomas said of team-building trips. "Obviously there are new faces, but it's nice to get to know everyone on a more personal level. These things are so important for getting a team together, so it's something everybody in this room takes to heart and loves doing.”
A team-building trip will be big for the Blues this year as the roster looks significantly different than it did to begin last season. Players such as Ryan O’Reilly, Vladimir Tarasenko, Ivan Barbashev and Noel Acciari are no longer with the organization. There are some newcomers, though - Kevin Hayes has yet to play a regular-season game in the Blue Note after joining the club via trade from the Philadelphia Flyers in June - and other relative newcomers include Jakub Vrana and Kasperi Kapanen, who each joined the club late last season, and Nikita Alexanderov and Joel Hofer, who each spent the majority of the last few seasons in the American Hockey League.
"I think it's a great idea for team chemistry," Hayes told stlouisblues.com of the team-building trip. "We just spent the last month or so together to make a team, work hard every day, now we go on a team-bonding trip and get to know one another. Play some golf, hang out, learn more about my teammates, I think it's great. It's helpful for everyone, but especially for the new guys. They get to show their personality a little bit. It's a lot of fun coming to the rink every day, working hard, but now we get to go to dinner, play golf and just be yourself."
Frisco is home to the Dallas Cowboys’ practice facility, two 18-hole PGA golf courses, FC Dallas of the MLS, the National Soccer Hall of Fame, the Museum of the American Railroad and even a National Videogame Museum. The town had a population of 200,509 in the 2020 U.S. census and was the fastest-growing city in the country from 2000-09 and again in 2017.
“It's good to get away as a group, do some things together," added Blues Head Coach Craig Berube. "We've got everybody involved and it's just a nice way to get off to the start of a season, doing some things together as a group. That's really what it boils down to. It's not complicated, we're not trying to look for anything, it's just getting together as a team, doing some fun things and also putting some work in at the same time.”
