TruBlueFan_1970 wrote: ↑01 Oct 2025 08:20 am
I think Stenberg has made a great impression, but no room for him this year. And while I’ve been down on him, I do think Lindstein had one of his better games, against a real NHL lineup. Won’t make the team, but I saw glimpses of what everyone has been saying about him. And while he won’t make it, I thought Skinner looks as good/better than Kessel, who may be looking over his shoulder. Here’s my guess on final roster. Has a cap perspective twist, and just guessing at lines so take with a grain of salt.
Buch-RT-Snuggs
Holloway-Schenn/Suter-Kyrou
Neighbours-Schenn/Suter-Joseph
Toro-Bjugstad-Walker
Extras: Sunny & Texier (gets us close to cap)
PTO continued: Lucic
If Lucic gets up to speed, Texier gets waived and Lucic is 14th forward.
Agree with pretty much all of this. Out of all of the guys that started camp on the outside looking in, it might just be Skinner who currently has the best shot of making the team. I find that a little surprising but maybe I shouldn’t. He was very solid in Springfield last season. I, and I would assume most, would consider him a career minor leaguer type but it goes to show that oftentimes, there’s really not a huge separation between a fringe NHLer and top-AHLer. Anyone else think he might just steal the #7 job from Kessel?
In the end though, my guess is the roster will be what you have above. Dvorsky, Stenberg and Kaskimaki have all looked good but we don’t need any of them yet and all could use some more seasoning. I bet we see all 3 at some point this season though.
Also, we should probably distinguish what exactly we’re talking about - the official 23-man roster the Blues will submit to the league next week or the actual 23 guys that’ll be on the roster a day or two later. Because if we’re talking the 23-man roster sent to the league, it will include Krug and thus only 22 of the guys listed above.
That’s for Cap purposes though and I think most of us are more interested in which players will actually be on the team once the games get going. But just saying - expect at least one of Snuggy/Mailloux to technically not make the team…but then be added back to the roster the next day once Krug is placed on IR or LTIR.
I’ve been rooting for Lucic but he was just bad last night. Sounds like there’s a good chance he gets into the last 2 preseason games as well but unless he finds another gear (or 2 or 3 more gears really), I just don’t see it. I like the idea of Looch but he’s just been an absolute non-factor so far. Then again, Texier hasn’t really shown much either so I guess we’ll see. And both JR and DeFranks have now both directly stated what I suggested a week ago - that the PTO could be extended to the regular season so that tells me it’s something they’re clearly discussing as an option. So I’d agree with you that that could happen…unless they get enough data these last 2 preseason games to be able to make the call on wanting to sign him or not.
I get what you are saying, but wouldn't that be considered a paper transaction and violate the new paper transaction rules? From that standpoint, Texier is likely waived, they submit the 23-man roster with Krug, then after that, they put Krug on IR (or LTIR) then sign Lucic.
Edit:
The rule I am referring to for anyone who isn't familiar with it:
The NHL CBA eliminates "paper transactions," a loophole that allowed teams to send waiver-exempt players to the AHL to accrue cap space and then quickly recall them for games
. Under the new rule, if a player is sent down to the minor league, they must play in at least one AHL game before the NHL team can recall them, with a limited exception for goalies. This change took effect for the 2025-26 season and was ratified in a recent Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed by the NHL and NHLPA, according to reports from PuckPedia and other outlets.
There is talk that the opening night roster is going to be exempt from the new paper transaction rule, although how there hasnt been any guidance at this point is a surprise.
You are correct. PuckPedia just posted the following on Twitter:
Breaking
PuckPedia reports that the NHL recently provided teams with a clarification on the new no "Paper Loans" rule that requires a player sent down to play 1 AHL before being recalled.
The news is that the rule is not in effect until Oct 10.
This means teams can send players down for opening rosters & then call them up prior to Oct 10 even if they have not yet played an AHL game.
The biggest impact is for teams that want to set their LTIR pool by being under the cap. They can now send players down, submit a roster, add a player to LTIR, and then immediately call the players up.
Read more here:
puckpedia.com/LTIR25
Thus, the paper transactions I was talking about to finagle the 23-man roster for Cap purposes to start the season are still possible.
For day 1 to to finalize rosters it makes sense as everyone would be on a level playing field.
After that though, the rule makes a lot of sense.
It's a rule the NHL came up that actually should work as intended and should actually help close a loophole. No more doing a paper transaction to be cap compliant for one to three games in Nov/Dec while the player travels with the team. He's going to have to physically go down and play an AHL game in order to come back up.
TruBlueFan_1970 wrote: ↑01 Oct 2025 08:20 am
I think Stenberg has made a great impression, but no room for him this year. And while I’ve been down on him, I do think Lindstein had one of his better games, against a real NHL lineup. Won’t make the team, but I saw glimpses of what everyone has been saying about him. And while he won’t make it, I thought Skinner looks as good/better than Kessel, who may be looking over his shoulder. Here’s my guess on final roster. Has a cap perspective twist, and just guessing at lines so take with a grain of salt.
Buch-RT-Snuggs
Holloway-Schenn/Suter-Kyrou
Neighbours-Schenn/Suter-Joseph
Toro-Bjugstad-Walker
Extras: Sunny & Texier (gets us close to cap)
PTO continued: Lucic
If Lucic gets up to speed, Texier gets waived and Lucic is 14th forward.
Agree with pretty much all of this. Out of all of the guys that started camp on the outside looking in, it might just be Skinner who currently has the best shot of making the team. I find that a little surprising but maybe I shouldn’t. He was very solid in Springfield last season. I, and I would assume most, would consider him a career minor leaguer type but it goes to show that oftentimes, there’s really not a huge separation between a fringe NHLer and top-AHLer. Anyone else think he might just steal the #7 job from Kessel?
In the end though, my guess is the roster will be what you have above. Dvorsky, Stenberg and Kaskimaki have all looked good but we don’t need any of them yet and all could use some more seasoning. I bet we see all 3 at some point this season though.
Also, we should probably distinguish what exactly we’re talking about - the official 23-man roster the Blues will submit to the league next week or the actual 23 guys that’ll be on the roster a day or two later. Because if we’re talking the 23-man roster sent to the league, it will include Krug and thus only 22 of the guys listed above.
That’s for Cap purposes though and I think most of us are more interested in which players will actually be on the team once the games get going. But just saying - expect at least one of Snuggy/Mailloux to technically not make the team…but then be added back to the roster the next day once Krug is placed on IR or LTIR.
I’ve been rooting for Lucic but he was just bad last night. Sounds like there’s a good chance he gets into the last 2 preseason games as well but unless he finds another gear (or 2 or 3 more gears really), I just don’t see it. I like the idea of Looch but he’s just been an absolute non-factor so far. Then again, Texier hasn’t really shown much either so I guess we’ll see. And both JR and DeFranks have now both directly stated what I suggested a week ago - that the PTO could be extended to the regular season so that tells me it’s something they’re clearly discussing as an option. So I’d agree with you that that could happen…unless they get enough data these last 2 preseason games to be able to make the call on wanting to sign him or not.
I get what you are saying, but wouldn't that be considered a paper transaction and violate the new paper transaction rules? From that standpoint, Texier is likely waived, they submit the 23-man roster with Krug, then after that, they put Krug on IR (or LTIR) then sign Lucic.
Edit:
The rule I am referring to for anyone who isn't familiar with it:
The NHL CBA eliminates "paper transactions," a loophole that allowed teams to send waiver-exempt players to the AHL to accrue cap space and then quickly recall them for games
. Under the new rule, if a player is sent down to the minor league, they must play in at least one AHL game before the NHL team can recall them, with a limited exception for goalies. This change took effect for the 2025-26 season and was ratified in a recent Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed by the NHL and NHLPA, according to reports from PuckPedia and other outlets.
There is talk that the opening night roster is going to be exempt from the new paper transaction rule, although how there hasnt been any guidance at this point is a surprise.
You are correct. PuckPedia just posted the following on Twitter:
Breaking
PuckPedia reports that the NHL recently provided teams with a clarification on the new no "Paper Loans" rule that requires a player sent down to play 1 AHL before being recalled.
The news is that the rule is not in effect until Oct 10.
This means teams can send players down for opening rosters & then call them up prior to Oct 10 even if they have not yet played an AHL game.
The biggest impact is for teams that want to set their LTIR pool by being under the cap. They can now send players down, submit a roster, add a player to LTIR, and then immediately call the players up.
Read more here:
puckpedia.com/LTIR25
Thus, the paper transactions I was talking about to finagle the 23-man roster for Cap purposes to start the season are still possible.
For day 1 to to finalize rosters it makes sense as everyone would be on a level playing field.
After that though, the rule makes a lot of sense.
It's a rule the NHL came up that actually should work as intended and should actually help close a loophole. No more doing a paper transaction to be cap compliant for one to three games in Nov/Dec while the player travels with the team. He's going to have to physically go down and play an AHL game in order to come back up.
I like it.
Agreed. It wasn’t something that was used often but yes, some teams were sending their waiver exempt kids down to the minors for the 2-3 days inbetween games to save on the cap and try to bank cap space to be used at the deadline. It was a shrewd move…but also ones that screwed over those younger players as they were effectively full-time NHLers but got paid as AHLers since on paper, they had been sent to the minors. I’m sure the NHLPA didn’t like this as it screwed these players out of earnings they’d earned by making the NHL roster.
But agreed it makes sense to be able to do it to start the season before teams can place guys on LTIR.
Breaking
Breaking