2023/24 proved to be a bit of a breakout year for one Blues youngster who may have superstar potential in the following seasons. 25-year-old Jordan Kyrou reached 30+ goals for the third straight season, going back to the 2020/21 campaign, while also leading the Blues in goals scored with 31 this season.
Kyrou isn't the only Blues youngster who had a breakout campaign in 2023/24. Some of his other similarly aged teammates did in their own rights, but there's more on that later. Right now, it's all about the fastest skater on the team, in addition to their leading goalscorer.
Kyrou, a Toronto native, managed 31 goals and 36 assists for 67 points this season, leading the team in the first category as mentioned above and placing 2nd in the latter two, both behind All-Star and fellow youngster Robert Thomas. He also picked up 2 hat tricks this season, on January 11 in a 5-2 home win against the Eastern power and eventual President's Trophy-winning New York Rangers, and on March 23rd in Minnesota, a 5-4 overtime win for the Blues thanks to Brandon Saad. Overall, that gives him 4 career hat tricks in his 6 year NHL career, where he's logged a total of 334 games with 111 goals, 148 assists, and 262 points, with all 6 of those years spent in St. Louis.
Now, one could argue that some of Kyrou's teammates had breakout years of their own, from Jake Neighbours to All-Star Robert Thomas. And while Thomas may have arguably been the best of the bunch, Kyrou is no slouch either. In fact, the two of them are more than likely the building blocks for an eventual deep playoff run, with Neighbours acting as a kind of third wheel for the Blues. And if you added one more to truly complete the Blues' young core 4, 24-year-old Alexey Toropchenko also had a good year, especially on the defensive side, landing in the top 5 of the team in shots blocked with 55 pucks prevented from reaching the net. That's the most of any forward for the Blues, and while technically Torp finished behind 4 defenseman, that's still very impressive for how young he still is.
The St. Louis Blues have a deep youngster roster heading into the 2024/25 season. The only question is, can they avoid a catastrophic collapse next March and April like what befell them and so many other playoff-missing teams this season?