Dylan Holloway didn’t just find a new team when he arrived in St. Louis, he found a new version of himself. The player who struggled to carve out a role in Edmonton has become something entirely different in the Gateway City: a legitimate NHL contributor with speed, bite, and the kind of upward trajectory that forces an organization to make real decisions about its future.
His next contract won’t be about potential anymore. It will be about production, identity, and how the Blues see him fitting into the next era of their roster.
The transformation has been unmistakable. In 111 games with St. Louis, Holloway has scored 34 goals and 46 assists for 80 points, a pace that places him firmly in the middle‑six conversation with flashes of top‑six upside. His shooting percentage has climbed to 13.2 percent as a Blue, a meaningful jump from his early years, and his ice time has risen dramatically to more than seventeen minutes per night. He has become a player the coaching staff trusts in real minutes, real situations, and real matchups. That alone marks a significant shift from the sheltered usage he saw before arriving in St. Louis.
We offer you Dylan Holloway's first goal as a Blue, assisted by Philip Broberg. #stlblues pic.twitter.com/MSEBPXfOiR
— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) October 20, 2024
His breakout 2024–25 season remains the centerpiece of his St. Louis résumé. 26 goals, t37 assists, and 63 points in 77 games established him as one of the most productive young forwards on the roster. He finished +21, earned down‑ballot Selke and Lady Byng votes, and showed the kind of two‑way engagement that made him more than just a scorer. He became a forechecking threat, a transition driver, and a player who could tilt the ice with his legs. It was the kind of season that forces a front office to take notice.
This season has been more uneven, but not discouraging. Through 34 games —and a nagging injury— Holloway has eight goals and nine assists, and while the production has cooled, the usage has not. His ice time has climbed again, his physicality has spiked, and his role has expanded even as the team around him has struggled. His –13 rating is more of a byproduct of the broader issues the Blues have faced defensively, not a regression in his individual game. The foundation he built last season is still intact, even if the finishing touch has been streakier.
What matters most for the Blues is that Holloway’s St. Louis sample is now large enough to be trusted. He is not a projection anymore. He is a player with 80 in a Blue Note, a player who has shown he can score, drive play, and handle responsibility. He is also a player whose game still swings between dynamic and quiet, which makes his next contract a balancing act between belief and discipline.
That brings us to the comparison that inevitably shapes the conversation: Jake Neighbours. Neighbours signed for two years at $3.75 million per season, a contract that embodies his consistency, his reliability, and his growing importance to the organization. The question is whether Holloway belongs in that same financial tier, or even something higher.
His current season could and will hopefully be the outlier. His overall St. Louis body of work suggests a player who has earned a meaningful raise but not quite Neighbours’ level of trust.
The Blues’ cap structure only sharpens the decision. With $44.62 million committed to forwards, $35.38 million to defensemen, and $10.18 million in goal for 2026–27, the team cannot afford to misprice its middle‑six. Holloway’s next deal must reflect both his value and the reality that the Blues are already carrying heavy money on the back end and in net. They need efficiency up front, especially from players who are not part of the Thomas‑Kyrou‑Buchnevich tier.
The most sensible contract, the one that fits Holloway’s St. Louis performance, the team’s internal salary structure, and the broader cap picture, could be one of two options.
Option A: longer term, lower salary — four‑year deal in the neighborhood of $3.25 million per season beginning in 2027–28. It rewards Holloway for what he has become in St. Louis without equating him to Neighbours’ consistency. It buys his prime years without overcommitting into his thirties. And it gives the Blues cost certainty at a position where value contracts often determine whether a team can compete or simply tread water.
Option B: shorter term, higher salary — two year deal in the neighborhood of $4 million per season. The salary cap is rising and so are current NHL contracts. Shorter term could result in a mirrored contract of Neighbours, but also something slightly above it. Consider it another bridge contract that rewards Holloway for what he has provided offensively while giving the Blues an extra sense of security should Holloway not pan out like many had hoped for.
Holloway’s time in St. Louis has been a story of growth, opportunity, and emergence. He has become a player the Blues can win with, a player who fits the identity they want to build, and a player whose best hockey still feels within reach. His next contract should reflect that. Not the player he was in Edmonton, not the player he might become in five years, but the player he has been in a Blue Note.