Prospective Look at St. Louis

I was going to start the Blues' column off saying that there was a lot of expectations going into this past season to do much better than the few season previous, but then I looked back at a couple posts and realized that there wasn't any greater expecatation on this team, despite some of their returning talent. What can be said, however, is that there was some very pleasant surprises in their line-up, in lieu of the lack of expectations and they are highlighted here.

Up front, the 43-goal season from Brad Boyes was the most pleasant of surprises. The Blues brass were so impressed with his progress, they rewarded him with a 4-year, $16 million extension to do that every season with the Blues.

A pair of rookies also shone brightly for the Blues. Both David Perron and Erik Johnson were regular fixtures in the Blues line-up during the year. Perron finished with 27 points in 62 games, while Johnson had 33 points in 69 games. An off-season worth of NHL-type conditioning and both players should be ready for the full 82-game schedule next year.

So, looking forward towards next season, the team has some gaps they would like to fill, likely with some younger talent, but I would imagine they will dip their toes into the free agent pool once or twice to snag some established help. The 14 players listed below are all signed on for next season and played quite regularly for the team. They are worth a whopping $41.3 million, which doesn't leave them a ton of cap space for 9 more regulars, but they have some talent coming through the ranks, who may ease the burden financially, if they wanted to push the cap limits and get one more decent free agent.

Forwards	Defense	Goaltenders
Brad Boyes	Erik Johnson	Manny Legace
Paul Kariya	Eric Brewer
Keith Tkachuk	Barret Jackman
Andy McDonald	Jay McKee
Lee Stempniak
David Perron
Jamal Mayers
Dan Hinote
D.J. King

There are a few players that the Blues may want to look after, who are becoming free agents in July, to fill in the gaps. Players like David Backes, Jay McClement, Hannu Toivonen and Jeff Woywitka are all candidates for re-signing with the team, as they are all restricted free agents.

There is also a couple prospects who will look to make the jump to the big club in training camp this Fall. Both Patrick Berglund and Ben Bishop have signed deals in the past 12 months that could see them make the jump. Berglund a crafty centre from Sweden and Bishop is a goalie who could make a push for Legace's back-up job, in front of Toivonen and Marek Schwarz.

The Blues currently sit with the fourth overall pick in this summer's Entry Draft, which should land them one of the blue-chip defensemen tabbed for the Top 5. This could fare well for the Blues, as they already have four of the tougher defensemen signed on for next season and the prospect of getting another that could jump into the league right away only makes Manny Legace's job all that much easier.