NHL 2025-2026 – In the final year of his contract with the Saint-Louis Blues, Alexandre Texier enters the season with a precarious status as the 13th man in the rotation. At 26 years old, the only Frenchman in the NHL will have to fight to find a place in the lineup.
For the 16th consecutive season, at least one French player is present on the roster of a franchise NHL. In line with Cristobal has, Antoine Roussel et Pierre-Édouard Bellemare, Alexandre Texier is one of the rare tricolors to have managed to settle for more than five years across the Atlantic. However, at only 26 years old, the French ice hockey prodigy finds himself in an uncomfortable situation.
The label of hope definitively removed, Texier in danger
In fact, the latter is in the last year of his contractand will find himself a free agent at the end of the season. Drafted in 2017 as an extremely promising player, he has since shown that he has the abilities to be an NHL player. However, his lack of presence is starting to weigh on him since he only has 233 games on the clock after all his years, and he has only once crossed the mark of 50 regular season games in a single campaign (78 in 2023-2024). It was during this same campaign that he made a convincing return following a year in Switzerland to recharge his batteries mentally. Unfortunately, this exercise did not find continuity.
Last season, the Frenchman competed 31 small matcheseven having the lowest average playing time since the start of his NHL career (12:29). Always excellent in protecting the puck and aggressive in defense, he will have accumulated 11 points (including 6 goals) while providing valuable services on the last two lines. However, this was not enough to convince. Now in his prime, he finds himself faced with competition from the young prospects on whom the franchise is counting. Thus, his status in the hierarchy has fallen further at the start of this new season.
Here’s the full 2025-26 Opening Night Blues Roster:
FORWARDS
#9 | Alexandre Texier
#10 | Brayden Schenn (C)
#13 | Alexey Toropchenko
#18 | Robert Thomas (A)
#21 | Jimmy Snuggerud
#22 | Pius Sterus
#25 | Jordan kyrou
#26 | Nathan Walker
#63 | Jake Neighbours
#70 | Oskar Sundqvist… pic.twitter.com/4TQU3IuWfY— BluesMuse (@STLBluesMuse) October 6, 2025
6 minutes of play in two matches
Proof of this is, Alexandre Texier was in the stands for the opening match lost by the Blues in Vancouver on Friday (5-1). The next day, he was able to make his debut against Calgary. Not because of a strong choice by the coach Jim Montgomerybut thanks to the injury contracted by Alexeï Toropchenkowho joined two other attackers expected in the lineup in the infirmary, Milan Lucic et Oskar Sundqvist. It therefore took three significant absences to see the Frenchman step on the ice.
Aligned in the third trio alongside Pius Sterus et Jake Neighbourshe made 9 passes on the ice for a total playing time of less than 7 minutes, the second lowest on his team. With a check as the only statistic, the Habs got through the game without having any real impact. While Toropchenko should quickly return, Texier could thus find himself back in the stands for the new trip to Vancouver on the night of Monday to Tuesday.
A place in the rotation to regain
Yet, Jim Montgomery knows what the Frenchman can bring, as he described between the first two matches, in comments transcribed by The Hockey News : “Last year, he gave us more attack thanks to his technical qualities on several occasions. He gives time in the offensive zone because of his elite puck protection. »
For his part, Alexandre Texier insisted on the importance of being present when he is called: “If I get a chance, I have to play my game and stay focused on the little details. I spoke about it with Claude Julien (assistant coach)we watched some videos. It might not be perfect, but I’ll obviously try to do my best. »
The Frenchman has character, and proved it again during the pre-season by retaining a place that was already threatened in the roster. However, he must find the light in the coming months to show the entire NHL that he can settle permanently in the league. Despite his natural talent and qualities, Alexandre Texier no longer has time.
