30 teams in 30 days: St. Louis Blues
Finished: 6th western conference
Playoffs: Lost in 1st round to Vancouver
Leading scorers: Brad Boyes 72, David Backes 54, David Perron 50, Keith Tkachuk 49
Who did they add?: Ty Conklin
Who did they lose?: Jeff Woywitka, Jay Mckee
Overview: The 2008-09 season saw the Blues finally make the playoffs for the first time since 2003, when Al McInnis and Chris Pronger were leading the defense. The Blues have a slightly different look now, but it was still good enough to see them go on a second half surge, and quietly slip into 6th place in the west. An up and coming team that’s solid from back to front, the Blues have a lot to look forward to. The group of forwards are led by Paul Kariya, Andy MacDonald and big surprise Brad Boyes, who has put up 43 and 33 goals in each of the last 2 seasons. Kariya only played 11 games last year due to injury, but if he can play a full season, look for the Blues to have a lot of scoring punch. Keith Tkachuk, David Backes and sophomore Patrik Berglund follow up these 3 guys, making the Blues offense quite good. The defense is led by Eric Brewer and Erik Johnson, and this year should see young star Alex Pietrangelo make the move from junior for his first full season. If the top 6 unfolds how the Blues would like it to, then Carlo Colaiacovo, Roman Polak and Barrett Jackman should round it out, making it a solid group that can do it all. Last season, the defense was limited due to injuries, with only Barrett Jackman playing a full season. If the defense can stay healthy, then the Blues should be set at the back end. The goaltending is better this season, with Chris Mason and Ty Conklin battling it out for a spot between the Blues pipes. Chris Mason had a quiet but stellar season last year, leading the Blues to the playoffs after Manny Legace stopped performing at a high enough level. Last year, the Blues had a tough time finding consistency out of other goalies besides Mason, but it should improve with Conklin backing him up. The Blues have a good team that is playoff calibre, but they will have to win consistently during the season to have a chance of making it out of the central division, which is much improved.
Winners or losers?: The Blues are winners this season, moving some of their older pieces on defense making room for talented youth to step up. It remains to be seen if this will work out though. The Blues should also be looking for a young scorer, to help spread out the offense and perhaps play with Boyes and MacDonald. Zherdev, perhaps?
