Postulation Post: St. Louis Blues Forward Lines

The St. Louis Blues seem to have settled into the summer. GM Doug Armstrong made some major moves this offseason, re-signing Tarasenko to a phenomenal eight-year deal, selling Oshie off to the Capitals, re-signing defender Robert Bortuzzo and goaltender Jake Allen.

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We more-or-less have the final roster for the start of the season; if Armstrong is to make any more moves, they’ll likely only take one or two players out of contention for St. Louis, and as such, the potential lines we’re talking about will a) still remain potential and b) still retain potential. Follow that?

St. Louis Blues First line: Schwartz – Lehtera – Tarasenko

Because this is a hypothetical over which we control the outcome entirely, we’re going to scrap the idea of the gritty, hard-hitting first line that Hitchcock likes to ice so much. Backes is still a tremendous player, but he can lead the team just as well from the second line as the first, and Tarasenko has more than enough firepower to stand up to an even higher QualComp.

Schwartz might be the weak link on the first line, being only 23 (like Tarasenko) and the odd man out when it comes to the magical Tarasenko-Lehtera bond the two formed playing in Europe. If that proves to be the case, I’d propose switching him out with Backes (for that penalty minutes-eating grit Hitch so loves) or Steen, a perfectly competent first-line LW.

St. Louis Blues Second line: Backes / Steen – Stastny – Jaskin

This line has the potential to either go horribly wrong, or fantastically right.

I’ve put Backes at LW since the Blues have an overabundance of centers at the moment, and I’m very curious to see how he and Stastny do together on a line. Both have strong play-making abilities and love to score: along with Jaskin’s stickwork this could prove to be a dynamic line. I see Stastny and Backes switching off the center position periodically, but this isn’t something I’d go into the season with as a set line unless it had shown to be highly effective during training camp.

Another option is to keep Backes at center, move Robby Fabbri to LW, and Stastny to RW. All three normally play center, but, again, St. Louis is deep through the middle with some pretty incredible talent. Multiple centers will have to move, or they’ll be forced to sit out a decent number of games if Armstrong retains them for the whole of the regular season. Stastny wants more playing time; making the move to wing may be exactly what he needs to do to get it.

As for Fabbri, we talked about how he’s likely to break into the St. Louis roster on the wing; who better to pair him with than Backes, whose very physical style would allow Fabbri a little more breathing room on the ice?

Edit: Steen is a likely candidate to replace Backes on LW when this line blows up in our faces.

Next: Fabbri Faces Tough Odds

St. Louis Blues Third line: Porter/Paajarvi – Berglund – Brouwer

These three (or four, with the addition of Paajarvi) combine for a third line with a lot of potential. Brouwer is certainly capable of 20 goals a season, as he’s proven over the past two, Berglund’s true strength is maintaining possession for his line, and Porter stepped up last season with strong play. Paajarvi’s just hitting his upside, so should Porter prove to be less valuable than I’m projecting, switching Porter out for Paajarvi is a simple solution.

St. Louis Blues Fourth line: Ott – Brodziak – Reaves

Brodziak is actually pretty competent scorers, netting a total of 20 points over the past season, nine of them being goals. He’s the centerpiece of this particular line, and surrounded by Reaves and Ott, who will hit and annoy everyone else out of his way, he could boost the fourth line’s numbers.

Next up, we’ll tackle the defense.

What line combinations do you see benefiting the Blues in the upcoming season?

Next: Blues Should Sign G Prospect Ken Appleby

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