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Will We See The “STL” Line Again For The St. Louis Blues?

By Brandon J. Griffin

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The regular season is only a few days away and with all the speculation regarding line combinations for the St. Louis Blues one question still remains; will we see the “STL” line again this season?

Last season a new line emerged as a dominant force in the NHL, a trio of young forwards. Vladimir Tarasenko, Jaden Schwartz, and Jori Lehtera made up the “STL” line. The trio was the second most dominant line in 2014-2015 season, behind only the triplets in Tampa Bay, scoring a total of 34 goals.

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As the season progressed there were different variations of the line, swapping out the “S”. Alex Steen saw some time with Tarasenko and Lehtera as line shuffling happened later in the season due to injury and a string of games that weren’t in the Blues favor. However, the line always found it’s way back to forming again and continuing to put pucks in the net.

Apr 11, 2015; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Blues center Jori Lehtera (12) is congratulated by teammates Jaden Schwartz (17) and Vladimir Tarasenko (91) and Paul Stastny (26) and Alexander Steen (20) after scoring a goal during the third period against the Minnesota Wild at Scottrade Center. The Blues won the game 4-2. Mandatory Credit: Billy Hurst-USA TODAY Sports

The projected lines for the upcoming season, and what we’ve seen in preseason so far, have not included a combination of Schwartz, Lehtera, and Tarasenko in any way. Instead the three are split up, each on a different line of the top nine. The top line for the Blues seems to be Alex Steen, Paul Stastny, and Vladimir Tarasenko. These three have been dominating in the preseason and likely won’t be split up any time soon.

It’s still early to see how players and their chemistry will develop, and if new faces will stay in their new places. A lot really depends on whether or not Backes ends up playing center or right wing, on the second or third line. If he is to shift to wing on the second line, we could see Schwartz and Lehtera play together giving us 2/3 of the “STL” line.

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It’s rare that Blues lines don’t get shuffled at some point in the year, it’s even more rare that there are no injuries within the top six. The team will go through the regular ups and downs of an NHL season, and at some point there will need to be change among the forwards.

My prediction is that despite having a strong start to the season, sometime after the All-Star break the Blues will lose a handful of games. To shake things up coach Hitchcock will go to old faithful, reuniting the “STL” line. The chemistry we saw last season between these three was too promising to ignore.

At the first sign of trouble, the line will be reunited and did St. Louis out of whatever offensive lull they find themselves in.This will put Stastny, Steen, and Backes together in what will still be a productive and exciting line. No matter how it shakes out this year, one thing is for sure; the St. Louis Blues have a ton of offense. This should be another exciting year where our boys in blue put up tons of goals, no matter the line combinations.

Next: St. Louis Blues Can't Simulate Regular Season

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