Preface: Starting off the Central division, we'll be looking at the St Louis Blues—a strange team, to say the least.
Not strange in the way that they've accomplished their rebuilding process, or where it's headed, or even the fact that they his a wall a few years ago and started to struggle.
It was just weird to see it all happen to them.
Needless to say, I can't wait until they're competitive again—there's just something about a competitive Blues-Red Wings rivalry.
The past few seasons, St Louis has struggled. But in sports, there's always a bright side to struggling—high draft picks.
Over the past two seasons, the St Louis Blues have benefited from those draft picks, and from the opportunity to let their youth mature.
Throughout that process, they've been able to build something that no one else in the conference can really sport—two young defensemen capable of being All Stars. We'll get to them in a minute, though.
Roster Additions: Yan Statsny-F (F.A.), Mike Weaver-D (F.A.), Matt Foy-F (F.A.), Brad Winchester-F (Free Agent), Andy Wozniewski-D (F.A.), Chris Mason-G (Trade) (F.A.),
Roster Subtractions: Martin Rucinsky-F (F.A.), Mike Johnson-F (F.A.), Micki Dupont-D (F.A.), Petr Cajanek-F (F.A.), Jamal Mayers-F (Trade)
How did 2007-08 go? 33-36-13, 79 points, 14th in conference, fifth in division
2008-09 Goal: Finish in the top twelve of the conference
Let's Break'er down...
It’s amazing when you think back to the days of dominance for the St. Louis Blues.
They had produced a stoud defense, featuring Al MacInnis and Chris Pronger, while Keith Tkachuk and Doug Weight were the basis of a strong, reliable, and productive scoring attack, along with Pavel Demitra.
And can you remember the days when Roman Turek was actually an NHL goalie? Yup, that was in St Louis.
After that, the Blues went a fair ways downhill. Now they’re looking up, but it could still take them a couple of years to get there.
Get out of the (C)Eller(s) and put on your Berglunds…
In the future, the St. Louis Blues will be a force to be reckoned with, as their top lines will be home to the likes of Lars Ellers and Patrik Berglund. Both are quality scoring forwards that the Blues hope to build around. However, the speed at which they acclimatize to the North American style of hockey will be determine how fast they ascend to the NHL, and how effective they can be early on in their careers.
Also bringing a look into St Louis' future this season will be T.J. Oshie. There’s no doubt that Oshie will be the Blues' big-time energy forward with the propensity to put up some good offensive totals, but the Blues have to ensure that Oshie remains immersed in the hockey environment.
We're going to send you the most entertaining St Louis Blues articles, videos, and podcasts from around the web.
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