Now that Alex Ovechkin became the all-time leader in goals scored, it would be fun to see if anyone on the St. Louis Blues could set a similar record, but at the franchise level. Yeah, it may be a downer, but there’s nobody on the Blues (or even in the league) capable at the moment of passing Ovechkin, so let’s think smaller.
Right now, Brett Hull’s leading the charge with 527 goals scored, which is a rather manageable number to beat if one high-scoring youngster keeps up his current output. Well, to be more accurate, he’d need to average 30 goals per season to make it happen, and that’s 30 goals per year for the next 17 campaigns in a Blues uniform.
Yeah, I know, it’s farfetched, but aren’t all these milestones long shots for anyone to break when they’re so young? Plus, this forward’s caught on quickly since he came to Arch City? Sure, and it’s the main reason I’m getting ambitious here and telling you why Dylan Holloway is the best candidate to break Hull’s record.
Dylan Holloway is the ‘next man up’ on the St. Louis Blues to set a record…
I considered a few players for this one, including Jordan Kyrou, Robert Thomas, and even Jake Neighbours. But Kyrou is the one player I can’t see lasting his entire career in a Blues uniform. Thomas, while a dynamic scorer, is better suited to be a playmaker, and is more likely to set a franchise record in assists. And Neighbours comes across as solid, yet unspectacular.
So, that left Holloway, who’d taken the Blues by storm right around the same time they decided to set a recent franchise record as a team and take the league by storm. Do you not see the correlations here? Hey, that tells me Holloway’s the perfect candidate to set out on this odyssey, likely adding a Stanley Cup or two to his resume.
So, if he can average 30 goals a year for the next 17 seasons, he’ll end up with 510 goals. Add the 26-plus he scored this year, and he’s got Hull’s 527 beaten. Sure, a few things must happen for Holloway to hit that mark, but he’s already off to a good start for several reasons.
What makes Holloway the perfect candidate to surpass Brett Hull?
For one, the sheer timing. General manager Doug Armstrong acquired Holloway from the Edmonton Oilers as a restricted free agent, and Holloway, in turn, helped turn the Blues into a force. That force is rather young, still retooling if you want the truth, and it’s going nowhere, but in a great way. This means more good teams, great teams in the near future, that Holloway will be part of.
He never got much of a chance in Edmonton to be the player he is in Arch City, mainly because of the amount of depth in the Oilers lineup. That made him an odd man out, but there was room for him to grow and glow in St. Louis, something he’s taken advantage of.
Still, Holloway must show the same kind of growth he displayed this season to make it happen, then consistency from then on out. If he puts two and two together, he’s making a run at Hull’s record.