St. Louis Blues: Will The Real Jaden Schwartz Please Stand Up?
The previous season for Jaden Schwartz of the St. Louis Blues was a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde season, split between the regular season and playoffs.
The start of last season was a total disappointment for the St. Louis Blues. Jaden Schwartz was the leader of the pack when it came to the disappointing start. Schwartz was expected to be a leading scorer for the Blues in 2018-19 after scoring 59 points in 62 games the previous season.
At the turn of the year, Schwartz had three goals and 14 points in the first 25 games. A far cry from the almost point per game during the 2017-18 season. At the time, Schwartz was one of the many names being floated as trade bait.
I have always felt that Schwartz was one of the most underrated players in the NHL. Mainly because of his tenacity and never quit attitude. No matter how rough his offense was going last season, he was still a torrid puck hawk.
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You knew he was squeezing the stick on offense once he started passing the puck on odd-man rushes. In that situation, Schwartz is a scorer, not a playmaker.
Schwartz ended the regular season with 11 goals and 36 points in 69 games. This was not the season Schwartz or the Blues envisioned.
After the regular season, something strange happened. When the games mattered the most, Schwartz regained his confidence.
Without Schwartz, the Blues might not have made it out of the first round. From his game-winning goal with 15 seconds left in game five to his natural hat trick in the series-clinching game six. This was the Schwartz St. Louis and the fans expected to see all season.
Schwartz ended up with 12 goals in the first 18 games of the playoffs, with another hat trick in game five of the Western Conference Finals. In this big game moment, Schwartz helped prove the Blues had turned the corner after the hand pass controversy of game four
After his second hat trick of the playoffs another funny thing happened, Schwartz didn’t score another goal before he raised the Stanley Cup. Was this due to the way the Boston Bruins defended Schwartz or was this another Dr. Jekyll moment?
So what can we expect in the upcoming 2019-20 season from Schwartz, Dr. Jekyll or Mr. Hyde? I see Schwartz reverting back to Mr. Hyde and even setting a career-high in goals and points this upcoming season.
I am saying it here first, Schwartz will top the 30 goal mark for the first time in his career and top his career-high of 63 points. Schwartz has two years remaining on his current contract at 5.35 million per.
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That brings up a curious question, if Schwartz puts up those kinds of numbers next season, do the Blues entertain the idea of trading Schwartz? Personally, I hope they resign Schwartz with the money that should be coming off the books by then.
Then again, if someone blows the Blues away with an offer, they might have to pull the trigger. Who knows, maybe the Calgary Flames or Ottawa Senators have something to offer to make the Blues listen.