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High hopes and excitement for Blues’ season coming from within

Andy McDonald, Matt D'Agostini, David Backes

St. Louis Blues’ Andy McDonald (10) celebrates with teammates Matt D’Agostini (36) and David Backes (42) after scoring a goal during the second period of an NHL hockey game against the Montreal Canadiens, Thursday, March 10, 2011 in St. Louis.(AP Photo/Tom Gannam)

AP

There’s been a lot of talk about how high the hopes are for the St. Louis Blues this season. They’ve made a host of veteran additions to what was a very young team with some solid talent to it already. Adding guys who have won the Stanley Cup like Jason Arnott and Jamie Langenbrunner to the likes of David Backes, Alex Steen, Patrik Berglund, and T.J. Oshie helps make the Blues strong up front. With Jaroslav Halak in goal, on paper, the Blues look pretty strong.

The hype isn’t just coming from jerks like us that see everything put together and wonder if this is a team poised to make a blitz into the playoffs and rattle some more traditional cages. Blues GM Doug Armstrong and team vice president John Davidson are right there with others thinking that this could be the start of a big thing in St. Louis. NHL.com’s Mike Morreale hears it straight from Armstrong about how things are taking shape with the Blues.

“I think the time is now to take that next step,” he said. “We have to be very competitive. You see every year how making the playoffs gives you an opportunity, but we have to be a good regular season team first and we think adding those vets to the core group returning gives us a good opportunity to have a successful season.

“We have rebuilt through the draft and developed, but we’re past that point now. We’re a team that has expectations of being competitive, making the playoffs and playing well in the playoffs and I think our fans need that, they deserve that, and that’s the mandate we’re giving our players, coaching staff and, more importantly, ourselves.”


For a team that’s dealing with ownership and franchise sale issues, the Blues are powering right along and doing things the right way. While teams like Edmonton have restocked their cupboard of prospects by finishing dead last and hitting the lottery with top five picks, the Blues haven’t quite been that bad to pull in those “sure thing” top prospects. Proper scouting, solid development, and smart trades have been their modus operandi of late and now they’re finally seeing the fruits of their labor come into play.

Take a look at the home grown guys they’ll have potentially playing for them: Oshie, Backes, Berglund. Smart trades like dealing for Kevin Shattenkirk, Jaroslav Halak, Matt D’Agostini, and Chris Stewart have helped them stay younger and build talented depth.

That said, talk is cheap and coach Davis Payne is going to have to make it all work well. He’ll also have to make sure the Blues don’t get eaten alive in the same division as Chicago, Detroit, Nashville, and an also improved Columbus team. It’s not going to be easy, but provided the Blues stay away from the injury bug and hold it together, they’ve got a chance of doing big things this year and for seasons to come.