While the NHL preseason is for most fans a low-stakes affair as the results of games don’t matter for the standings, they are often extremely high-stakes affairs for many of the players involved – many of whom are looking to secure a spot in the NHL for the upcoming season. The competition for limited roster spots is often fierce, and one of the fiercest appears to be playing out in St. Louis, where four forwards of varying experience and talent levels are competing for three roster spots. The Athletic’s Jeremy Rutherford indicated that PTO signee Milan Lucic, 2023 first-rounder Dalibor Dvorsky, and veterans Mathieu Joseph and Alexandre Texier are competing for a likely three roster spots between them.
Out of that group, the clear “odd one out” appears to be Lucic, who is playing in camp on a PTO. According to Rutherford, the Blues believe Lucic could help in a few specific areas they’d like to improve, namely “physicality and sticking up for teammates.” But Rutherford reports that Lucic’s start to camp has been “nondescript” and that those areas where he can make his mark aren’t really things that factor into a practice setting. With just four NHL games played since 2022-23, Lucic faces a steep uphill battle to win a roster spot, especially since Rutherford noted that two of his main competitors, Joseph and Texier, were “two of the more noticeable forwards” in the early portion of camp in St. Louis.
Some other notes from the Western Conference:
- The Seattle Kraken issued injury updates to two players today: forward Jared McCann is listed as day-to-day with a lower-body injury, while center Nathan Villeneuve will miss the rest of training camp with his own lower-body ailment. This development is particularly unfortunate for Villeneuve, 19, as he’s lost the ability to impress team brass in advance of his final season in the OHL. According to the Kraken’s official camp blog, Villeneuve “made a lasting impression” in last year’s preseason process before being cut, and now due to this injury he won’t have the opportunity to do that again in 2025. A 2024 second-round pick, Villeneuve scored 34 goals and 70 points in 57 games for the Sudbury Wolves last season.
- The Chicago Blackhawks’ lineup plans for next season are beginning to take shape, and in particular it appears new head coach Jeff Blashill has firm plans for how he wants to deploy center Jason Dickinson in 2025-26. The Athletic’s Scott Powers reports that Blashill “thinks he can best utilize Dickinson as a third-line shutdown center,” adding that he plans on matching Dickinson’s line against opposing top lines. At the moment, Dickinson is centering veteran Ilya Mikheyev and 23-year-old Landon Slaggert, and if Blashill’s plans end up successful, the trio could be extremely helpful in taking some pressure off of top center and franchise face Connor Bedard. Dickinson enters 2025-26 as a pending UFA set to make $4.25MM against the cap.