What kind of year will the Blues have?

Question

I'm a diehard St. Louis Blues fan, and I'm really excited about all the youth that's going to be featured this year, not the least of which include: T.J. Oshie, Patrick Berglund, David Perron, and David Backes, along with Erik Johnson and many others on the front burner. Even if it isn't seasoned, the Blues will FINALLY have scoring talent on all the lines this year. My only concern is that it will take all that young talent a year or two to start contributing at a high level, which may mean another year without the playoffs. Keep in mind that the Blues were one of the best teams in the league for the first half of last season with only a few legitimate offensive threats. With that in mind, do you think that the Blues are a playoff team this year?

Answer 1

They have one or the best organization in the NHL. According to Hockey futures they are currently ranked number one with their prospects. Here is what they have to say about them.

Strengths: Going into the 2007-08 season, the best prospect in the NHL in Erik Johnson broke training camp firmly established on the NHL roster. But the defensive pool does not stop with Johnson as Ian Cole headlines the second tier of defensive prospects, each with legitimate NHL potential. Even with the graduation of Hannu Toivonen, the Blues can look to Marek Schwarz as a future NHL starter who could eventually surpass Toivonen in net. The forward corps contains both high-end talent, in skilled centers T.J. Oshie and Patrik Berglund and play-making wingers David Perron and Lars Eller, and depth as their second tier is packed with forwards of second line potential that, if only a couple out of the pack reach their full potential, the Blues will have a mostly homegrown second and third line in addition to their top stars.

Weaknesses: Weaknesses are difficult to come by when you are at the top of the list. While the forwards are skilled and deep, they lack that one true franchise forward.

Top five prospects:

1. Erik Johnson (D)

2. T.J. Oshie (C)

3. Marek Schwarz (G)

4. Patrik Berglund (C)

5. Lars Eller (LW)

Key graduates: David Backes and Hannu Toivonen.

The Blues have 4 prosepcts that are ranked in the top 50

#2 Erik Johnson

#13 T.J. Oshie

#31 Patrik Berglund

#50 Lars Eller

I think the blues will miss the playoffs again, but they will continue to build with the draft picks they make.

Answer 2

They have made the division tough, Detroit is going to be dominant, Chicago will also have a youth movement, and they improved their goaltending and defensive situation.  Nashville might be good, not sure if Ellis will have a good season again.  So it will be competitive, which will only help the youngsters, if not this year, then next year

Answer 3

The blues are going too do great this year and will make the playoffs

Answer 4

Growing pains.. they are young in a TOUGH division now! Chic and DET are locks for the playoffs and NASH will compete for a spot also.

Look for them to compete for the TAVARES sweepstakes! Sorry, you asked for my opinion.

Answer 5

i see good things for the blues. just like the coyotes we have young players from last year and we did better than any year we had for a long time. so i see the same happening to the blues