Neighbours Proving to Be a Fan Favorite in St. Louis

Among the many young talents the St. Louis Blues currently possess, one notable player stands out more than seemingly the rest combined. In a recently conducted The Athletic poll, Blues fans were asked which young Blues player they were most excited about. 71%, nearly 3/4 of them, said 22-year-old LW Jake Neighbours.

The Calgary native notched 27 goals and 11 assists for 38 points last season in 77 games played, all career numbers for just his third season in the league. Neighbours also ranked fourth on the team in total hits, delivering an additional career high 138 checks to opponents during the 2023/24 campaign.

Neighbours did miss the last five games of the regular season due to an upper-body injury, but for a guy who initially started the season on the Blues' 4th line only to make it to the top line, a minor setback like that isn't really an issue. Neighbours has the potential to be a breakout young superstar among many other under-30 Blues players that have similar scoring prowess.

Neighbours enters the 2024/25 season on his final year in his rookie contract, eligible to become a restricted free agent next summer. There's virtually no chance of that happening however, given that his fan status and scoring ability are two things the Blues desperately want to hang onto for the foreseeable future.

Neighbours' high point of the season came last November, when he had a pair of multi-goal games, no thanks in part to his father, Ed Neighbours. In one game, Jake actually scored on live television while the Blues' TV staff was interviewing Ed, making Jake join a rather unique and exclusive club of scoring while one's parents are also on the air at virtually the same time.

Jake Neighbours could be the St. Louis Blues most intriguing player in 2024-25

One more note is that Neighbours was actually drafted in 2020, but spent most of his playing time with the Blues' AHL affiliate in Springfield and only made a select few appearances during what would be his first two seasons in the NHL before making the full time jump.

Neighbours has also paid close attention to the Blues' offseason moves, liking the pickups of Radek Faksa from Dallas, the Joseph brothers from Ottawa and Pittsburgh respectively, and Alex Texier from Columbus alongside veteran NHL D Ryan Suter. He's also had praise for the Blues' current head coach, Drew Bannister, before and after he went from interim bench boss to full time head coach.

Neighbours was even teammates with Pierre Oliver Joseph with Team Canada at this year's World Hockey Championships. Their nation finished 4th after falling in the bronze medal game to Sweden.

The future looks bright for another budding superstar on the St. Louis Blues' roster. There shouldn't be any reason why the 22-year-old can reach the magic 30 goals in a season mark in just his fourth career professional season. And for a guy born in Calgary but played his junior hockey 300 km (186 miles) north in Edmonton, it'd just be the latest accomplishment in a still very young career.