Jake Neighbours' Hot Streak Continues

Ever since the St. Louis Blues returned from the 2023 NHL All-Star weekend, one player in particular has stood out - a young forward named Jake Neighbours. With a total of 19 goals, tying him with All-Star Robert Thomas for the team lead and 7 assists for 26 points, good for 6th best on the team behind defenseman Torey Krug, the 21-year-old from Calgary is having a stellar first full professional campaign compared to last year where he split time between St. Louis and their AHL affiliate in Springfield.

Not only has Neighbours now played in more NHL games this season than last, with considerably more scoring efforts to boot, but he's also proving himself as a member of the Blues' core. Just like names such as Robert Thomas and Jordan Kyrou, fellow youngsters that are still very young NHL careers, he is making his mark. Neighbours' most recent scoring effort saw him pick up 3 points, a goal and 2 assists against the Edmonton Oilers this past Thursday, spurring an impressive 6-3 home win against one of the NHL's premier Western Conference teams.

Now, before the All-Star break, Neighbours did hit a scoring skid with a 4-game dry spell, but since all 32 teams have come back from Toronto, he's re-fired his playing style, with points in three out of five games. Now would be a great time to really get a long streak going, especially with just 2-ish months left in the regular season.

Roughly 30 games remain for the Blues this season, and given their spot in the standings right now (29-22-2, 4th in the Central, 4 points above the playoffs cut line), they might wanna step things up a little. They do have a very impressive 8-3-0 record in their last 11 games, so they're doing all the right things there. It just may be a matter of keeping such a record intact without a collapse coming into the home stretch in late March to early April.

Elite Prospects currently has Neighbours on pace with a total of 29 goals and 11 assists for 40 points. That would just about put him on par with the same projections for Brayden Schenn, Thomas, and of course, Kyrou. If one could add another puzzle piece to the Blues' core makeup, Neighbours will be like a State Farm agent - he'll be there!