For the Blues, the biggest question before a noon road game in Nashville is not the opponent’s structure or the travel schedule. It is whether Mason McTavish is available at all, because one late lineup call can change the shape of the night before puck drop.
Jim Montgomery said Saturday morning that he did expect Mason McTavish to be able to play, but the forward will still take warmups in Nashville and remain a gametime decision. That keeps the Blues vs Predators projected lineup in motion right up until the final minute, which is never ideal when a team is trying to settle its top six on the road.
A projected lineup, not a final one
The timing matters here. McTavish did not practice with the team on Friday, and the Blues are set to play Nashville at Bridgestone Arena on Saturday at noon. So even though Montgomery sounded optimistic, the team is still working off projection rather than certainty.
That uncertainty is important because the Blues’ forward combinations were already being discussed in terms of fit and balance. The projected look included Jake Neighbours and Mason McTavish, Robert Thomas and Jimmy Snuggerud, Connor McMichael and Pavel Buchnevich, and Pius Suter and Ross Johnston. If McTavish cannot go, that would ripple through the alignment immediately.
What Montgomery is managing
The key detail is not simply whether McTavish is healthy enough to suit up. It is how much the Blues are willing to change in response to his status. A player listed as a gametime decision can force a coach to hold back one version of the lineup and be ready with another, especially in a road game where the final decision comes just before the opening faceoff.
That is why Saturday’s warmups matter. They are the last checkpoint before the Blues decide whether to keep the projected setup intact or shuffle the forward group again. For a noon start in Nashville, that leaves very little margin for error and very little time for adjustment.
So the story entering Blues vs Predators is straightforward: Mason McTavish is trending toward a chance to play, but the Blues will not know for sure until warmups are over. In a matchup where lineup balance may matter as much as the opponent across the ice, that is no small detail.
