Andy McDonald may still be the team scoring leader, but we're seeing a younger generation taking over in St. Louis. Paul Kariya and Keith Tkachuk have moved on, and its time for new Blue Blood. Early on in the preseason, Steen (26-years-old) and David Perron (22) have looked sharp -- albeit in easy back-to-back wins over the Wild. Each player scored three goals in the two games and had tallies on the power play, an area of concern for St. Louis last season. Steen, in particular, looked very good running the power play from the point. Whether getting in position for a shot on goal or setting up others. After a slow start, St. Louis has scored on eight of its 25 power plays, with the unit featuring Perron, Steen, Brad Boyes and David Backes especially proficient. Erik Johnson, 22, is getting more comfortable as an offensive threat from the blue line and he'll join the first power play now that rosters have trimmed. In addition to Steen, Perron and Johnson, I'm liking the potential of 23-year-old T.J. Oshie this year. Night-to-night, he's been the most consistent young forward that came on the scene in the playoff year of 2008-09. He'll get power-play minutes as well.
Scoring will be the key for St. Louis in 2010-11. The Blues didn't like what it might cost them in free agency to add a scorer and the sense within the organization is that improvement can come from within. The young guys mentioned above will have a full season working for head coach Davis Payne, under whom this team went 23-15-4 after taking over from Andy Murray. And there's room for improvement elsewhere: Boyes dropped to 7.1 percent shooting last year; Backes scored 14 less goals; and Patrik Berglund, 22, was the most disappointing of all. He didn't play well regardless of who was coaching. The Blues will need guys like Boyes and Backes to rebound from poor seasons, and guys like Perron, Oshie and Berglund to hit the accelerator on their development.
In goal, we'll get a good look at Jaroslav Halak this week. The 25-year-old Czech was the boldest offseason move by the Blues, and maybe the most-surprising in the NHL. It's in net, instead of at forward, where St. Louis opted to spend their money. The move has been hailed as a smart one, and it very well could turn out to be, but I thought it was a little rash. Halak's had exactly one good half season -- and an incredible playoff run. I'm not hatin', I just want to see more. He wasn't very good in a preseason-opening loss to Colorado (three goals allowed in 18 shots), but very few played well in that game. Halak will steal more games than last year's starter, Chris Mason, did, but ultimately, it's all about putting pucks in the other guy's net. That will dictate success in St. Louis this year.