Thursday, October 09, 2008

Blues Hurting to Start

The St. Louis Blues will dominate in the Infirmary Hockey League to start this season, as they have five players on their team roster who are hurt and will start the season on the IR. All of which are listed in red below.

The Blues will be a very young group on the blueline, which may hurt the fantasy value of Manny Legace, who should be the number one to start. Veteran leadership will be key to the Blues success, not to mention some of the youth's scoring savvy.

St. Louis also has some very high profile rookies starting with the club this season. Patrik Berglund, T.J. Oshie and Alex Pietrangelo will all get to have a look at the regular season action in October, while players sit on the sidelines with injury. There is a good chance that two of the three will stick all season, which makes them fantasy sleepers.

ForwardsDefenseGoaltenders
Brad BoyesErik JohnsonManny Legace
Paul KariyaEric BrewerChris Mason
Keith TkachukBarret Jackman
Andy McDonaldJay McKee
Lee StempniakJeff Woywitka
David BackesSteve Wagner
David PerronMike Weaver
Jay McClementRoman Polak
Dan HinoteAlex Pietrangelo
D.J. KingJonas Junland
Yan Statsny
Cam Janssen
Patrik Berglund
T.J. Oshie

With all their players sitting on the IR to start the year, the Blues only seem to have 21 players active to start the season. With the five players on the injured list, the team's salary cap number is only $45 million, which is about right for the level of their winning expectations. The Blues should be competitive, but it doesn't seem too likely that they'll jump out to any roaring success or have much hope of a playoff spot this year. 'Working towards the future,' should be the team's motto this season.

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