So What Does Our Lineups Look Like for 2026

[Harry S Deals]

Holloway-Thomas-Snuggy
McMichael-McTavish-Buchnevich
Neighbours-Dvorsky-Drouin
Suter-Finley-Toropchenko
Berggren/Dingo

Broberg-Parayko
Fowler-Mailloux
Lindstein-Carlo
Tucker

Hofer
Binny


Need to dump off Drouin to make a spot for Stenberg.

Stenberg is a starting top 9 forward for STL, they arent sitting Stenberg for Druoin lol, huh?? Not sure you will see Walker, Finley, both on the roster either. Torop is better, going to come down to numbers in a shortened camp

[moose-and-squirrel]

Holloway Thomas Snuggerud
McMichael McTavish Buchnevich
Neighbours Dvorsky Berggren
Stenberg Suter Toropchecnko

Drouin, Finley extras Walker to AHL

Broberg Mailloux
Fowler Parayko
Lindstein Carlo

Tucker/Kessel as extra

Hofer
Binnington

Should compete for a playoff spot. But not likely to make it as injuries and inconsistencies in the middle six will inevitably strike.

I'd keep Walker over both Drouin and Finley.. everyday

[skilles]

Holloway-Thomas-Snuggy
McMichael-McTavish-Buchnevich
Neighbours-Dvorsky-Drouin
Suter-Finley-Toropchenko
Berggren/Dingo

Broberg-Parayko
Fowler-Mailloux
Lindstein-Carlo
Tucker

Hofer
Binny


Need to dump off Drouin to make a spot for Stenberg.

Stenberg for Bourque even up!

No thanks.
I'm not trading Stenberg at this point.

You wouldn't trade Stenberg, who hasn't scored goals at any professional level to speak of (AHL, SHL, NHL) for a 24 year old right shot winger with identical size who just scored 20?

Gotta say, yeah, I'm in disagreement there.

Problem is he has done it once and probably wants A contract I wouldn't like/be comfortable with

[kimzey59]

Holloway-Thomas-Snuggy
McMichael-McTavish-Buchnevich
Neighbours-Dvorsky-Drouin
Suter-Finley-Toropchenko
Berggren/Dingo

Broberg-Parayko
Fowler-Mailloux
Lindstein-Carlo
Tucker

Hofer
Binny


Need to dump off Drouin to make a spot for Stenberg.

Stenberg is a starting top 9 forward for STL, they arent sitting Stenberg for Druoin lol, huh?? Not sure you will see Walker, Finley, both on the roster either. Torop is better, going to come down to numbers in a shortened camp

Stenberg doesn't need waivers to go down.

[ratonmono2]

Holloway Thomas Snuggerud
McMichael McTavish Buchnevich
Neighbours Dvorsky Berggren
Stenberg Suter Toropchecnko

Drouin, Finley extras Walker to AHL

Broberg Mailloux
Fowler Parayko
Lindstein Carlo

Tucker/Kessel as extra

Hofer
Binnington

Should compete for a playoff spot. But not likely to make it as injuries and inconsistencies in the middle six will inevitably strike.

Not likely a playoff team lol. Stop. Some of you are a bit confused.

Ok, you think otherwise? Grand. I said competing for a spot is likely. I think they miss because the middle of the forward lineup is just meh. What exactly is it that you see in this lineup that screams playoff bound for certain?

That first line is really [fork]ing good, if they stay healthy, BIG IF, one of the best in the NHL. If MM hits 50 points, and the D looks like it should, why wouldn't they? The youth all would have to regress for us not to make the playoffs. IMHO, you may see it differently.

I'm not looking at it as a matter of individual point production. I think the first line is really great. I wonder how effective the middle six will be in big competitive games, what possession metrics will look like with this composition. McT has some abysmal metrics among centers. I can see them getting caved in on the regular against the best teams and there isn't enough explosiveness to be a real counter-attack type lineup to balance it. Maybe McTavish surprises me but I don't see him as an impact player, and I've been down on Buch for a long time now. Dvorsky will still have growing pains and McMichael is not a play driver either. I think they're better than last season, no question. But teams do not always simply progress in a linear manner. Other teams will be better as well even with some of the teams ahead of the Blues stepping back. It's all about that middle six looking weak still to me.

[UMR-alum-05]

Holloway-Thomas-Snuggy
McMichael-McTavish-Buchnevich
Neighbours-Dvorsky-Drouin
Suter-Finley-Toropchenko
Berggren/Dingo

Broberg-Parayko
Fowler-Mailloux
Lindstein-Carlo
Tucker

Hofer
Binny


Need to dump off Drouin to make a spot for Stenberg.

Stenberg for Bourque even up!

No thanks.
I'm not trading Stenberg at this point.

You wouldn't trade Stenberg, who hasn't scored goals at any professional level to speak of (AHL, SHL, NHL) for a 24 year old right shot winger with identical size who just scored 20?

Gotta say, yeah, I'm in disagreement there.

You can find a right shot winger for far less than Stenberg.

Such as whom? Who are you thinking. Not being an (donkey), but who?

DP57
Assuming you can clear out Drouin and Suter.

People need to stop trying to trade Suter. He’s the most versatile forward we have. Outside of 1st line minutes, we could move him up and down the lineup as needed. Injuries happen and we’ll need a guy like Suter who’s as comfortable playing 4th line center as he is playing 2nd line wing (in a pinch).

I'm not trying to trade Suter now. If he was to go it was for a draft pick. They need to move Drouin and get a RW and then they are pretty set.

This not wanting to trade Stenberg for a good piece at RW doesn't make much sense to me.

I like Otto but we need somebody who can pot 20-25 goals on right wing to really have something here.

Stenberg ain't that and I don't think there's any reason to ever think he's going to score much

[UMR-alum-05]

Also, love him, but I'm not interested in a 38 year old Perron.

[UMR-alum-05]

Holloway Thomas Snuggerud
McMichael McTavish Buchnevich
Neighbours Dvorsky Berggren
Stenberg Suter Toropchecnko

Drouin, Finley extras Walker to AHL

Broberg Mailloux
Fowler Parayko
Lindstein Carlo

Tucker/Kessel as extra

Hofer
Binnington

Should compete for a playoff spot. But not likely to make it as injuries and inconsistencies in the middle six will inevitably strike.

I'd keep Walker over both Drouin and Finley.. everyday

Lol why? Finley winning faceoffs is more important than anything Walker brings.

[Harry S Deals]

Holloway Thomas Buch
Neighbours McT Snuggerud
Connor M Dvorsky Stenberg
Walker Suter Torop/Berggren

I'll take Kaskimaki in camp over Walker but that may not happened in a shortened camp, Walker has a contract. Finley sucks, waive him down. Druoin is a no body who couldnt make the line up last year, dump him too. Torop has some pretty good intangibles, they may retain Berggren as the depth guy.
This could get even more complex if they sign a vet RW.

The up side here is this:

Holloway is a rising star, he and Thomas were (bleep) near unstoppable. Monty may have to spread some offense down with Snuggy, Neighbours will bounce back and provide some responsible D play. Even if McTavish disappoints a bit hes a 50 pt player there is big upside here but who is he passing too? That may limit his point totals. A 50 pt 2nd center for STL is light years from where they were last year and probably means playoffs. McTavish has the ceiling to explode as well, tbd.
The 3rd line is where is see offensive growth McMIchael is a good forward he'll get 20 ish, DD is probably a 15 goal 35-40 pt center, Stenberg looked really good at the end of the year, PK guy, 12 goals ish. Again a big improvement over the bottom 6 last year
4th line will be better esp if Suter is the pivot although Suter can play wing too with injuries. Whether its Toro/Walker or Berggren or Kaskimaki the 4th line will produce more points finally

[moose-and-squirrel]

Holloway Thomas Snuggerud
McMichael McTavish Buchnevich
Neighbours Dvorsky Berggren
Stenberg Suter Toropchecnko

Drouin, Finley extras Walker to AHL

Broberg Mailloux
Fowler Parayko
Lindstein Carlo

Tucker/Kessel as extra

Hofer
Binnington

Should compete for a playoff spot. But not likely to make it as injuries and inconsistencies in the middle six will inevitably strike.

I'd keep Walker over both Drouin and Finley.. everyday

Lol why? Finley winning faceoffs is more important than anything Walker brings.

that's the ONLY thing Finley does.. Walker does everything else much better

[UMR-alum-05]

Drouin is not a nobody he's had multiple seasons of 50 points.

He's just a left handed Kyrou-lite and he doesn't fit the team.

He would have a role on a team like the Avs. But they don't have any cap space for him. Same with Dallas.

[UMR-alum-05]

Holloway Thomas Snuggerud
McMichael McTavish Buchnevich
Neighbours Dvorsky Berggren
Stenberg Suter Toropchecnko

Drouin, Finley extras Walker to AHL

Broberg Mailloux
Fowler Parayko
Lindstein Carlo

Tucker/Kessel as extra

Hofer
Binnington

Should compete for a playoff spot. But not likely to make it as injuries and inconsistencies in the middle six will inevitably strike.

I'd keep Walker over both Drouin and Finley.. everyday

Lol why? Finley winning faceoffs is more important than anything Walker brings.

that's the ONLY thing Finley does.. Walker does everything else much better

Finley kills penalties. He was the FIRST choice to kill penalties and take defensive zone faceoffs. Hell they started him on the ice 3-3 overtimes just to win the (bleep) draw.

He's on the team until he's supplanted by someone that can do what he does. That isn't Walker.

[Pierre McGuire]

Holloway-Thomas-Snuggy
McMichael-McTavish-Buchnevich
Neighbours-Dvorsky-Drouin
Suter-Finley-Toropchenko
Berggren/Dingo

Broberg-Parayko
Fowler-Mailloux
Lindstein-Carlo
Tucker

Hofer
Binny


Need to dump off Drouin to make a spot for Stenberg.

Stenberg for Bourque even up!

Why on earth would you want to trade Stenberg? Last night you said he was tradebait too.

[skilles]

If we can come up with a right winger Stenberg will be great starting in the AHL and being the first call up. Doing so would make our top 3 lines so deep we wouldn't need much from the 4th making Finley A great option to win FO in the d end and change.

I do think in this scenario Suter is not a great fit for us anymore. Not because he doesn't deserve to be but because the pieces just are not a match and that spot would be better served by A similar valued RW

[UMR-alum-05]

Holloway-Thomas-Snuggy
McMichael-McTavish-Buchnevich
Neighbours-Dvorsky-Drouin
Suter-Finley-Toropchenko
Berggren/Dingo

Broberg-Parayko
Fowler-Mailloux
Lindstein-Carlo
Tucker

Hofer
Binny


Need to dump off Drouin to make a spot for Stenberg.

Stenberg for Bourque even up!

Why on earth would you want to trade Stenberg? Last night you said he was tradebait too.

He's never scored goals at any professional level to date.

Not the SHL.
Not the AHL.
Not the NHL. Small sample.

We also have other similar players. And we need a goal scoring right wing.

[moose-and-squirrel]

Holloway Thomas Snuggerud
McMichael McTavish Buchnevich
Neighbours Dvorsky Berggren
Stenberg Suter Toropchecnko

Drouin, Finley extras Walker to AHL

Broberg Mailloux
Fowler Parayko
Lindstein Carlo

Tucker/Kessel as extra

Hofer
Binnington

Should compete for a playoff spot. But not likely to make it as injuries and inconsistencies in the middle six will inevitably strike.

I'd keep Walker over both Drouin and Finley.. everyday

Lol why? Finley winning faceoffs is more important than anything Walker brings.

that's the ONLY thing Finley does.. Walker does everything else much better

Finley kills penalties. He was the FIRST choice to kill penalties and take defensive zone faceoffs. Hell they started him on the ice 3-3 overtimes just to win the (drat) draw.

He's on the team until he's supplanted by someone that can do what he does. That isn't Walker.

and Walker kills penalties as well.. again, he's a better all around player than Finley. not even close