When crafting an NHL team, it is best to have a concrete roster entering a new season and to use training camp and preseason to iron out chemistry problems. But there is another side of the coin that is equally as beneficial, which is the concept of roster battles.
Most teams never get the chance to have the latter, but for the St. Louis Blues, they are one of the very few teams that have this great problem. This could give them a bit of an advantage, but not right away.
The Blues have the seventh-best prospect pool according to The Athletic's Senior Writer for NHL Prospects, Adam Pronman. That is a great sign for the future.
Piecing together the opening night puzzle
The most important thing about these roster battles in training camp boils down to two ideas. First, the better player gets to play in the NHL as a part of the Blues, and they earned it. And second, the loser gets enough experience that when another opportunity arises, they will win that battle.
Looking at the Blues roster, there are battles all over the place. Defensively, prospect Adam Jiricek is fighting for a spot, with Tyler Tucker possibly being the player to battle. Let us also not forget about Theo Lindstein, who had a good season in 2025-26 and might be ahead of Jiricek due to his play time at the NHL level.
Offensively, it is a lot more ferocious as more players are fighting for a minuscule amount of spots. This is going to be a dual-edged sword, as there is a chance that the right choice might be missed.
Otto Stenberg and Justin Carbonneau highlight the group of bubble players that could crack the opening-night roster, but it gets a lot deeper for the next few years. The recent selections of the 2026 NHL Draft, Tynan Lawrence and Maddox Deganais, are amongst the top of the list for 2028-29's opening-night roster. Let us also not forget about Milton Gästrin, who came over in the trade for Jordan Kyrou as the sweetener.
Another interesting concept is a battle for the second-line center spot, with Dalibor Dvorsky, Mason McTavish, and Connor McMichael vying for it. You can throw Pius Suter in the mix as well, but there is a very good chance that he could be moved before the season even starts.
All of these names and position battles will create a very competitive training camp and preseason. It is a dog-eat-dog vibe, and only the strong will survive. That is exactly the kind of team that head coach Jim Montgomery should have under his leadership for the 2026-27 season.
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