St. Louis Blues rookie Dalibor Dvorsky continues to impress in the Olympics, and in an elimination game against the German team in Milan he set a new record: the most points scored by an NHL rookie in an Olympic tournament with six (three goals and three assists). It's a breakout performance from a Blues prospect that the franchise hopes can live up to his top-ten draft spot.
And when he returns to St. Louis, head coach Jim Montgomery better be utilizing him like the future star he could be. We wrote earlier during the Olympics that his emergence has a high-end player could make a Robert Thomas trade more palatable, and the 6-2 victory over Germany really puts an exclamation point on that idea.
Dvorsky hasn't been lighting up the scoresheet in the NHL, with only nine goals, six assists, and 15 points through 47 games--but much of that has been in a reduced role, as he's averaged 14:30 of ice time on the season. That's pretty standard third-line usage.
The injury to Thomas, however, has seen his ice time tick up incrementally. Since Thomas was placed on Injured Reserve, Dvorsky is averaging 16:45 per game--over two minutes more than his season average. In those ten games, he's scored five points and is getting prime power play opportunities.
Even when Thomas returns to the lineup (hopefully soon after the Olympic break), Dvorsky's earned a chance to hang onto a top-six role, be it second-line center or on the wing of the top line. Montgomery would be foolish to demote him back to a bottom-six spot after this Olympic performance.