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St. Louis Blues’ most frustrating player

Brad Boyes, Mathieu Garon

Columbus Blue Jackets goalie Mathieu Garon, right, blocks a shot from St. Louis Blues’ Brad Boyes during the second period of an NHL hockey game Monday, April 5, 2010, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

AP

Every now and then, Pro Hockey Talk will ask for insight from some of the best team bloggers out there. For this feature, we asked a simple question: “Who is your team’s most frustrating player?” Just for fun, I decided to throw my guess in the hat, too. First, here is my guess for the St. Louis Blues.

Paul Kariya - I wrote a piece about him being an “under the radar underachiever” because he’s an unproductive player making $6 million per year. Sure, he probably won’t be a member of the Blues next year, but for now he’s their most frustrating player.

For the St. Louis Blues perspective, I asked Brad Lee from St. Louis Game Time. Make sure to check them out for all your Erik Johnson loving needs.

Brad Boyes was a 40-goal scorer two seasons ago. Brad Boyes was a 30-goal scorer one season ago. Brad Boyes is now a 13-goal scorer this season. His shooting percentage has fallen from 20 percent to 15 percent to seven percent, but that doesn’t tell the full story. Because of his penchant for shooting high and wide this year, Boyes has over-compensated with trying to increase his accuracy. To do that, he’s taken velocity off his shot and instead of a hard effort that’s hard to control, he’s got a softer shot that goalies are seeing much easier.

Boyes has a history of showing potential and then not totally realizing it. That’s how Toronto gave up on him after drafting him 24th overall. Then he went to Boston and had a great rookie year but struggled in his second campaign and got traded on deadline day for a young European center with an eye injury in defenseman Dennis Wideman. We used to think the Blues got the best of that deal. That was, until Boyes became a 13-goal scorer.