Who's In? Erik Johnson, D; Martin Kariya, F; Paul Kariya, LW (Nsh); Keith Tkachuk, F (Atl); Hannu Toivonen, G (Bos)
Who's Out? Dallas Drake, F (Det); Radek Dvorak, W (Fla); Glen Metropolit, F; Ville Nieminen, F; Curtis Sanford, G (Van)
What's Changed? The most significant move for 2007-08 actually came midway through last season, when broadcaster-turned-team-president John Davidson turfed then-coach Mike Kitchen in favor of veteran bench boss Andy Murray, who almost immediately turned the Blues' fortunes around.
St. Louis put together a 19-game stretch last season where they went 13-2-4 under Murray, something that turned heads around the league and really set the team up nicely to at least entertain thoughts of the playoffs this season. Given the Blues finished dead last in the NHL with 57 points about 18 months ago, that's quite a leap.
Other major changes will see Paul Kariya take on top-line duties alongside Keith Tkachuk, and having a bona fide NHL sharpshooter should help St. Louis bump their offensive production up from last season, when the team was 26th in goals scored. Other room for growth up front will come from the likes of Brad Boyes, Lee Stempniak and David Backes, all young and all headed for decent offensive careers. Boyes, in particular, could rebound on the top line after struggling in his sophomore season.
The blue line remains relatively intact, with the notable exceptions being the presence of a (hopefully) healthy Jay McKee, who missed all but 23 games last season, and rookie Erik Johnson, the franchise-saving first-rounder from the 2006 entry draft.
Who's on the Hook? It's more of a pressure-on-a-committee type situation here, but if there's any one player who the Blues absolutely must have a big year from, it's Barret Jackman. Jackman, 26, finally got in a somewhat healthy campaign last season, and his presence went a long way toward stabilizing a back end that's been in disarray since Al MacInnis's retirement three years ago.
Jackman led the Blues in plus-minus last season (+20), and he's going to have to have an all-star calibre campaign for St. Louis to contend for the postseason. He really does.
Others they'll need desperately include Kariya, Eric Brewer, Manny Legace and a far better showing on the power-play by Doug Weight.
Where They'll Finish: Some will tell you they're headed for the postseason, but I don't think so. St. Louis has separated themselves from Chicago and Columbus in the Central Division, but they were awful on special teams last season and have had health issues for years now. A lot is also expected of players who are already on the decline (Martin Rucinsky, Weight and Tkachuk come to mind) and while I like the top four cast on defence, there's little depth if injuries strike again.
Then again, Johnson might be better than I think he'll be as a 19-year-old.
That's my long-winded way of putting them third in their Division and anywhere from 9th to 11th in the Western Conference.
Blogs to Watch: The Checking Line, St. Louis Game Time.
Gratuitous YouTube Embed: Gino Odjick beats up the Blues... for some reason:
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
9-24-2007 @ 10:38AM
Greg Wyshynski said...
OK, I'll admit it: The fact that Tkachuk is on the same team as a guy named Weight makes me giggle.
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9-26-2007 @ 1:09PM
Kevin said...
Greg, that joke was funny 2 years ago. Time to move on.
Otherwise, I'd say James' projection is pretty accurate. With Colorado also improving, it will be hard for the Blues to crack the top 8 unless a couple players have WAY better years than I expect. Or a couple teams ahead of them falter (Dallas or Calgary perhaps)? I think there will be a lot of close, low scoring games for the Blues. The defense is pretty solid 1-6 and the depth at forward is pretty good, with the possibility of 3 scoring lines. Goaltending was good last year post-Kitchen, but Legace is coming off an injury, which is always a concern.
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