The second day of the St. Louis Blues training camp sessions is underway, and surprise, surprise, there were no changes to Group A. This is a very good sign in the early stages of the 2026-27 season.
No changes for Group A lines/D-pairs on Friday #stlblues:
— Lou Korac (@lkorac10) September 18, 2026
Holloway-Thomas-Snuggerud
McMichael-McTavish-Buchnevich
Neighbours-Dvorsky-Berggren
Johnston-Suter-Toropchenko
Broberg-Mailloux
Lindstein-Parayko
Fowler-Carlo
Tucker-Jiricek
Hofer
Binnington
Proskurin
There are a couple of ways to look at this, but one overwhelming take here is that head coach Jim Montgomery sees something that he likes to not make a single change after one day. It might be jumping the gun, but he may have already found the opening night lineup for October 2 in Dallas.
Let's talk about it.
No change is a good thing
There were a couple of decisions made prior to the first day that really set this in motion. The second-line center spot was given to Mason McTavish, and instead of Jake Neighbours being on the second line, it is Pavel Buchnevich. That really established a solid top-six, with a really good third line with Neighbours, Dalibor Dvorsky, and Jonatan Berggren.
The same goes for the defensive side, as Theo Lindstein was the talk of the day after the first practice. Montgomery really liked his play, and he is getting reps as the second-pair blue liner with alternate captain Colton Parayko. This could be the makings of one of the longest-lasting duos, and most successful as well, for the 84-game regular season.
Why does Jim Montgomery like Theo Lindstein so much? "He might be our best defenseman at moving (the puck) up to the forwards and supporting it right away. As soon as someone’s open, boom, it’s tape-to-tape and it’s gone." #stlblues
— Lou Korac (@lkorac10) September 17, 2026
Not having any kind of change really exacerbates a really bad problem that the Blues ran into last season, in which Montgomery spun this roster upside down and backwards. Every night was a lineup change, and fast-forward to now, it seems like he might remain a bit more stagnant in 2026-27.
This group was already slated as the NHL Group
The label on the "A" Group was that it was pretty much the idea for the opening night lineup. A couple of players like Vladimir Proskurin and Adam Jiricek would be the easy ones to check off and ship back to the WHL and Springfield, respectively. Lindstein is fighting to take Tyler Tucker's spot, and might end up doing so by the end of the preseason.
Aside from them, this lineup and these line combos are as good as you are going to get. Group B also had their shot yesterday and made a pretty good impression, but nobody showed that they should have gotten the call-up to the NHL-ready group yet.
Will this be the lineup that Montgomery uses on night one of the 2026-27 season?
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