The St. Louis Blues have a problem: too many players doing well enough to earn a role in the team's bottom six, but not nearly enough roster spots to go around.
Ok, so it's not a real problem but, unfortunately, there will be cuts by the end of preseason: the Blues, like the rest of the league, only have 23 roster spots to go around. The top of the lineup is pretty much set, minus a few line tweaks, and nobody will be surprised to see Robert Thomas centering the first line.
That leaves, by our count, 10 players competing for six spots at the bottom of the lineup--11, if you're a true believer in Milan Lucic earning an NHL contract.
Blues have a logjam brewing in the bottom six
Then, you have to consider who the roster locks are. Brayden Schenn is the captain of the team and, if he's not on the second line, he's definitely on the third line; offseason additions Nick Bjugstad and Pius Suter are going to make this team.
Youngster Jake Neighbours is making this team. Then you've got the freshly re-signed Nathan Walker (who dropped the gloves already this preseason), as well as Mathieu Joseph, Oskar Sundqvist, Alexei Toropchenko, and Alexandre Texier, plus prospect Otto Stenberg,
Justin Carbonneau and Dalibor Dvrosky competing for the remaining spots--and maybe Lucic, who assisted on the one goal the Blues scored against the Dallas Stars.
That's a lot of players for very few spots--and all of them have a case to make the team! It may take the entire preseason to truly determine who's earned a spot, and who will be cut; with so much competition, the veterans can't just rest on their laurels or successful play last season--they need to beat out the younger players pushing for ice time.
Who makes the Blues' season-opening roster, and who gets cut, could be a photo finish.