Halak introduced by Blues, looking to succeed

Jaroslav Halak brings his a 56 career wins to St. Louis as he will for the first time in his career look to hold a starting goalie position in the NHL.  Yahoo! ranks him at a modest 45 which is 11th amongst fellow goaltenders and between old man Miikka Kiprusoff and Mr. Wins-are-all-I-am-good for Marc-Andre Fleury.  Last season, he ranked 10th overall in netminders despite playing less games than any of his competitors.

A quick look at the St. Louis Blues team indicates they should be better than they were last year.  They upgraded in goal and hold a very solid top four of underrated players.  Their top core of young forwards looks like it will bounce back as well.  David Backes, TJ Oshie, Patrik Berglund and David Perron all struggled with inconsistency last year but should be able to find their groove when all is said and done.  Surprisingly only Backes makes the cut as a consensus draft pick which screams buy-low.  How many teams have top six forwards going undrafted?

Despite the Blues’ trouble finding the back of the net they still managed to outscore the Montreal Canadiens, which is relevant considering how well Halak did on an offensively challenged team.  Expect big things from him this season, Scott Pianowski is already starting to ruin it for everyone else.