St. Louis Blues on the Rise?

The buzz in the Lou is growing as management and media have embraced the young, offensive-minded players who will be with the team next year. Patrik Berglund, TJ Oshie, Lars Eller, David Perron, and Erik Johnson have been the central focus of this city's buzz since midseason of last year. Even as early, "Stamkos" chants began to resonate through the Scottrade from fans demanding a youth movement. Of course, the Blue Note did not get Stevie S, but all of St. Louis is excited to see Alex "Petro" Pietrangelo team up with Erik Johnson to form a dominate blueline once had with Prongs and Mac. There is no doubt about it this years Blues will have a following like no other and we all should be excited to see what this team can do....

The one concern is the Blues third and fourth lines. The Blues keep filling there roster with border-line 3rd and/or top of the road fourth line grinders... Recently Matt Foy and Brad Winchester have been put into a mix of an already crowded group of roll players. Matt Foy, Dan Hinote, Cam Janssen, DJ King, Jay McClement, Yan Stastny, and Brad Winchester will all compete for roles with prospects Nick Drazenovic, Nikolai Lemtyugov, Chris Porter, Ryan Reaves, Brett Sonne, and Julian Talbot. I ask you STL management how many of these guys can you put on the team?

Outside the Note...

Watching the MLB All Star got me thinking... Would the NHL benefit from a similar structure? Could the East vs. West All Star games be precedent once again? Would more viewers tune into the annual NHL midseason spectacular if it meant something, if it meant home ice?

Think about it....