St Louis Blues - Forward Scoring Next Season

[robmyatt]

I'm a big fan of this St Louis Blues team. Lots of talent, great coaching, great goaltending, top end prospects, etc. However, I find myself drafting and/or picking up lots of STL players in my various leagues and I'm starting to worry about placing all my proverbial eggs in one basket. As you can see by my sig, I own and intend to keep Perron and Oshie in one league.

My question is how do you see the scoring shaking down over the next few years. Do you see it continuing to be "scoring by committee"? Do you see guys like Oshie & Perron taking another step in production and becoming 70pt players?

Maybe it best if readers could do a quick rank on:

Perron
Oshie
Backes
Berglund
Schwartz
Tarasenko
McDonald
Stewart (Phew nearly forgot about that guy)

As you can see, more than enough of top 6 talent there.
There is some fantasy gold to mine on this team, but if one player slips, the competition is so high that they could lose their top 6 minutes. thoughts?

[SeaDawg]

with Hitchcock especially, this team will continue to score by committee. I wouldn't expect any of them to be 80 pt players anytime soon. Talent-wise, Schwartz, Berglund, and Tarasenko have the most potential, but I don't see any of them being PPG players over the next few years.

[Pengwin7]

Whenever I buy a fantasy hockey magazine... I always skip past the Predators section because I know there won't be a predicted scorer above 60pts.

With St.Louis, it will be the same.
I'd put a cap at 65pts.
I don't think any STL Blue will go above 65pts next year.

[Laendarian]

Whenever I buy a fantasy hockey magazine... I always skip past the Predators section because I know there won't be a predicted scorer above 60pts.

With St.Louis, it will be the same.
I'd put a cap at 65pts.
I don't think any STL Blue will go above 65pts next year.

pretty much my thoughts here, with the possible exception being McDonald if he could actually stay healthy for a season.

[27Blue]

i agree with the sentiments above. it has nothing to do with Hitch though, this team just doesn't have any top end offensive forwards... a few blue-chip prospects could change things down the road and if ownership issues are ever resolved, this is a team with enough cap space to lure a big fish to town.

[pretsel27]

Not exactly promising for the Blues fwd when your leading point getter might end up being Pietrangelo.

Agree. It will be a balanced scoring ....
with Pietrangelo hitting 60pts!!

[Fast Tony DeNiro]

For the near-term I agree I think it will be more of a scoring-by-committee team. Down the road though, when Schwartz and Tarasenko get their game going those two should lead the team and put up big numbers.

[blayze]

Whenever I buy a fantasy hockey magazine...

People actually buy those?

Whenever I look at one of those guides I can't help but feel other than the top 10, the rest is all generated by a computer algorithm based on prior year stats.

[Pengwin7]

People actually buy those?

Washroom reading material.
And I like the washroom.

[SeaDawg]

People actually buy those?

Whenever I look at one of those guides I can't help but feel other than the top 10, the rest is all generated by a computer algorithm based on prior year stats.

I buy THN (not very good), The Forecaster (a bit better), and McKeens (the best of the bunch) each year. I also buy Dobber's guide, which is a unique guide and, quite frankly, not much better than any of the others at predicting point totals. ALL the guides fail miserably at predicting point totals. I don't read them for that. I read them for "potential" and to know what the so-called "experts" think about a player. This helps me guage player value and either reinforce my own opinion or force me to reconsider my opinion to ensure I am confident with my thoughts on said player.

Not to make this about Dobber's guides vs the others, but what sets his guides apart is that he provides a lot more written material about the players and doesn't just provide a point projection (which as I already mentioned is no more or less accurate than any of the other guides). In fact, what I often do with the guides, if I truly am interested in the point projections for a particular player, is add the point projections in each guide together and divide by 4 to come up with the average projection. Again, it isn't terribly accurate, but if anything it gives me an idea of the player's potential and perceived value.

To me, the guides are merely that: guides. I have my own opinion and use the guides to help fill in some of the gaps and perhaps educate me on some players or details I was unaware of.

[Clinkers]

For the near-term I agree I think it will be more of a scoring-by-committee team. Down the road though, when Schwartz and Tarasenko get their game going those two should lead the team and put up big numbers.

I remember the same comments were made a couple of years ago about Oshie & Berglund. I tend not to overhype rookies. They have potential, I must admit.

[SeaDawg]

I remember the same comments were made a couple of years ago about Oshie & Berglund. I tend not to overhype rookies. They have potential, I must admit.

I never believed Oshie would be a big-time point producer, partly because he is too reckless. However, there are others who certainly felt he had that potential.

As for Berglund, I haven't ruled him out, but I must admit I had high hopes for him and he has disappointed me so far. He oozes talent and goes on these PPG spurts where you can't help but think he has the potential to be a star player. I do feel, however, that he needs a scorer to play with. He is foremost a playmaker and when Stewart was scoring, Berglund was gets all kinds of points. Perhaps if he lines up with Tarasenko (who can score), he might reach his potential. Some centres can create on their own, but Berglund needs a solid, scoring winger to excel.

As for Schwartz and Tarasenko, they are elite, but you are right to be cautious with rookies. Still, these are two to be very excited about. Again, though, I think it is scoring by committee for the near future (next 2-3 years).

[ovi42]

Ive been thinkingn about Stewart and the possibility od a buy-low in the offseason but maybe im way off here? Any thoughts?

[Rrabbit]

Ive been thinkingn about Stewart and the possibility od a buy-low in the offseason but maybe im way off here? Any thoughts?

I'd stay away from Stewart as long as he's in STL. He's just not the kind of player that will do well under Hitchcock and will get 4th line minutes just as much as top6 minutes. I'm willing to put money on the line that he won't score 50 points next season if he stays in St Louis.

[ovi42]

I'd stay away from Stewart as long as he's in STL. He's just not the kind of player that will do well under Hitchcock and will get 4th line minutes just as much as top6 minutes. I'm willing to put money on the line that he won't score 50 points next season if he stays in St Louis.

cool, thanks! you're probably right here. I'm hoping he'll get traded again. I had so much hope after the spirts of beautiness he showed with the Avs and immediatley after being aquired by the Blues.