It’s a new season in St. Louis, with a lot of changes made in the offseason, is this the year the Blues make the jump back into Playoff contention? With the moves made in the offseason, and the development of the young potential stars, GM Dave Semyck is hopeful enough was done to make a push into one of the playoff spots in the Western Conference.
Gone from last year’s team are starting goalie Kevin Poulin, Luke Schenn, Ben Maxwell, Shea Weber, Nick Suzuki and a host of others.
New additions include young and future star defenseman Ty Smith, the 16th overall pick in last year’s draft, Philip Larsen, Filip Forsberg, Gunnar Stahl, Stefan Legein and the 5th overall pick in this past draft, Bowen Byram.
The St. Louis defense is dramatically different than last seasons. Larsen is the only player on the defense that is over the age of 22, and he is only 27. The rest of the defense include Byram, Quinn Hughes (4th overall selection in the 2025 draft), Trevor Van Reimsdyk and Ville Pokka.
This group of young, talented D is being counted on to limit the barrage of shots new starting goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic will see this season. Last season the Blue’s goalies saw an astounding 2500+ shots over the 82-game season, averaging over 30 shots against a game. If the Blues have any chance of making the playoffs, they need to help the goaltenders out and limit the number of pucks flying at them.
On offense it is a mixture of young, up and coming forwards and veteran players. At Center, 22-year-old German Rubstov and 19-year-old Rasmus Kupari are being tasked with leading the top two lines. Ryan Stromme, Nikita Scherbak, and Filip Forsberg are being counted on the add some scoring punch. While Gunnar Stahl and Stefan Legein are the veteran presence to help guide this young team.
There is a lot of excitement in St. Louis as this season begins, were these off season moves enough for this Blues organization to take the next step and be in the hunt for a playoff spot. It will be an exciting young team to watch, and only time will tell if this young team is ready to take that next step.
10/20/2020 - 380 words
