NHL preseason begins next Sunday. So NHL camps could be over by Wednesday or Thursday.
Assuming that Warner and Gardiner and Stewart are back for the weekend, then we'll have 16 forwards (only 15 can play if Lange suits up) and 9 d-men...I'm assuming Josh stays in Winnipeg for now.
By Oct 16th we need to lose a 20yo so we could easily carry 15 forwards until then. Pruden, Montgomery and Williamson are on the bubble right now unless we lose a forward through a trade. Williamson has shown the most improvement since camp, so he will likely stay. Montgomery is a little small. Pruden is a year older and is bigger. A decision here might be put off until Vanstone recovers, though.
Defense is a hard call, since Coghlin kept improving as the preseason developed. It's been a long time since the team has looked this deep at D at this point in the season. Verrall is likely the first casualty, there. Carrying 8 d-men in case of injury or a trade is not unrealistic at this point.
I don't expect that McBride's record will be 0.833 like it was in the preseason but we have a good chance to be over 500 on November 1.
-Wapitikev