You can probably expect the Blues to contend once again for the Western Conference title as Head Coach Ken Hitchcock will have his team ready and raring to go come opening night. They signed free agent C Paul Stastny to strengthen their team down the middle and decided to give Brian Elliott the chance to backstop the team on a full time basis. Will the subtractions and additions be enough to make it to the Cup Finals?  That's why they play the game. GOALIES There is no denying that Elliott possesses the talent to be a number 1 goaltender in the NHL, but it took a while for a team to finally give him that chance. All he has done while playing under Hitchcock is post GAA of 1.56, 2.28 and 1.96, so you can see he deserves the opportunity to carry the load.  The team has put so much faith in Elliott, that they let Jaroslav Halak walk and gave the backup role to Jake Allen. You too should put your faith in Elliott to carry your fantasy hockey team this season.  After all, he has performed consistently over the past few years. DEFENSE The Blues possess two solid offensive d-men in Alex Pietrangelo and Kevin Shattenkirk, both capable of being any team's number 1 blueliner. They are so similar that you can call them 1A and 1B and both are entering their prime years at 24 and 25 respectively.  Jay Bouwmeester has been a nice addition the over the past two years and should contribute as well as provide solid defense in front of Elliott and Allen. Jordan Leopold and Carl Gunnarsson, coming over from Toronto in June, give the Blues solid, veteran depth on the back end. FORWARDS St. Louis can drive the fantasy poolie crazy with their depth of forwards and how Hitchcock rotates his lines so they stay fresh. One line will be hot for a 2-week stretch and then it's a different line taking over the offensive responsibilities, thereby keeping other teams on their heels.  Players like David Backes, T.J. Oshie, Jaden Schwartz, Alexander Steen, and Vladimir Tarasenko would be counted on more so on other teams than they are in Hitchcock's system, but it's this system that keeps all the forwards fresh throughout the long season. The addition of Stastny reinforces that depth and makes all the forwards legitimate candidates to get 50+ points across the board.  Steen had himself a career year where he eclipsed his previous high of 51 in 2010-2011 with St. Louis by 11 points. Perhaps a pullback to the 50+ range is more appropriate.  Also factoring into that equation might be...

it's nice to finally talk about how players are performing in games, but keep mind in that statistics in exhibition contests are entirely misleaading. As a fantasy owner, you are paying attention to possible line combinations and power-play units that are clicking during the pre-season. A few notable performances to mention during the first night of live game action: Justin Schultz scored a goal and an assist for Edmonton in the 3-1 intra-squad victory over Calgary. Here is a rising defenseman who should easily build on his mini-breakout season of 33 points. With the Oiler's young guns poised to take a big step forward, Schultz will move into the top 15-20 tier of fantasy defensemen. Love his upside.. Vladimir Tarasenko is also one to watch for St. Louis, collecting a goal and an assist. Even on a balanced offense where coach Hitchcock evenly rolls out three lines, the young stud winger is easily the most talented and can make a run at 50-55 points... Keep your eye on Columbus RW Cam Atkinson (2 goals), as he should play big minutes while Nathan Horton recovers from injury. And even if he does, the oft-injured winger should miss enough games to allow Atkinson to be the top RWer for an extended period of time. Ryan Johansen gets all the love, but Atkinson is a pure goal scorer. He will bust out soon. Solid late-pick. -Bobby Ryan apparently got his "bell rung" after colliding with Kyle Turris during an Ottawa practice. Speaking to reporters after the incident, Ryan appeared to be ok and is listed as 'day-to-day' and will likely miss their exhibition opener.. Jonathan Drouin missed another scrimmage for Tampa Bay due to an upper body injury. Coach Cooper stated that the youngster should be ready to go for their exhibition games. The Lightning start Tuesday night against Nashville.. Christian Ehrhoff has been paired with Paul Martin during Pittsburgh's first few days of camp. The former Buffalo rearguard should be highly regarded in fantasy as a return to his 40-point days are coming.. Minnesota coach Mike Yeo has been pleased with the Thomas Vanek-Mikko Koivu pairing so far. The Wild are loaded at left wing, as Zach Parise should be primed for another big year. In terms of fantasy worth, regardless of where these two wingers line up, both figure to get time on the primary power-play unit.

Without Bishop you knew that the Lightning were going to struggle, but to be swept out by the Canadiens, Canada's only hope to bring home the Stanley Cup this year? The Sharks can match the Habs' effort with a sweep of their own of the LA Kings. What happened to all the Kings' men? I was saying to Steve and anyone else who cared to listen last night that the Blue Jackets could have been in control of this series if Sergei Bobrovsky was Sergei Bobrovsky. The key to that series is to let the other team grab the lead and then come from behind to win. Vladimir Tarasenko, with 4 goals, is having a tremendous series against the Chicago Blackhawks. Could you imagine the numbers he could put up if he weren't playing in Coach Hitchcock's system? Semyon Varlamov is proving that his regular season performance is here to stay. Poor Minnesota Wild. Odd thought of the morning- The Minnesota Wild goaltending situation can almost possibly go in reverse order of how the goaltending played out during the regular season. Backstrom, Harding, Kuemper, Bryzgalov during the regular season.  Bryzgalov, Kuemper, ??? during the first three games of this playoff series.  It's not going to play out that way.  Like I said, odd thought. This Anaheim-Dallas series sure looks to be a home series. That's good for the Ducks, bad for the Stars. As good as Zetterberg is, I think Boston is just too good and too deep for the Red Wings to overcome even if he does return early. Paul Martin leads all scorers with 8 points. Paul Martin.  Not Martin St. Louis.  Paul Martin. If Nathan MacKinnon hasn't won you over by now...... Can Steve Mason keep the Flyers in the series Friday night? It's a game I'm sure not going to miss, that's for sure. If you had thought Chicago was going to go away easily.....Now they have some momentum on their side. Tuukka Rask is playing phenomenally and so is Henrik Lundqvist. That would be an awesome series.

Without Bishop you knew that the Lightning were going to struggle, but to be swept out by the Canadiens, Canada's only hope to bring home the Stanley Cup this year? The Sharks can match the Habs' effort with a sweep of their own of the LA Kings. What happened to all the Kings' men? I was saying to Steve and anyone else who cared to listen last night that the Blue Jackets could have been in control of this series if Sergei Bobrovsky was Sergei Bobrovsky. The key to that series is to let the other team grabbed the lead and then come from behind to win. Vladimir Tarasenko, with 4 goals, is having a tremendous series against the Chicago Blackhawks. Could you imagine the numbers he could put up if he weren't playing in Coach Hitchcock's system? Semyon Varlamov is proving that his regular season performance is here to stay. Poor Minnesota Wild. Odd thought of the morning- The Minnesota Wild goaltending situation can almost possibly go in reverse order of how the goaltending played out during the regular season. Backstrom, Harding, Kuemper, Bryzgalov during the regular season.  Bryzgalov, Kuemper, ??? during the first three games of this playoff series.  It's not going to play out that way.  Like I said, odd thought. This Anaheim-Dallas series sure looks to be a home series. That's good for the Ducks, bad for the Stars. As good as Zetterberg is, I think Boston is just too good and too deep for the Red Wings to overcome even if he does return early. Paul Martin leads all scorers with 8 points. Paul Martin.  Not Martin St. Louis.  Paul Martin. If Nathan MacKinnon hasn't won you over by now...... Can Steve Mason keep the Flyers in the series tonight? It's a game I'm sure not going to miss, that's for sure. If you had thought Chicago was going to go away easily.....Now they have some momentum on their side. Tuukka Rask is playing phenomenally and so is Henrik Lundqvist. That would be an awesome series.

Tarasenko has been sidelined since March 15th after undergoing surgery on a broken hand. He was expected to miss six weeks, but he will be back in the lineup two weeks ahead of schedule. Tarasenko tallied 21 goals and 22 assists in 64 games this season. He will skate on the second line with Vladimir Sobotka and Jaden Schwartz.

Tarasenko has not played since suffering an injury to his right hand in the final moments of a game at Nashville on March 15. Tarasenko, who had 21 goals this season, had a cast removed on Monday and skated without that protection for the first time on Tuesday. He looked good while shooting and handling pucks. "We'll see," Tarasenko said, when asked how soon he could play. "I don't know yet. We'll see tomorrow.

Tarasenko injured his right hand against Nashville over the weekend, will undergo surgery Wednesday. Tarasenko had a goal against the Predators, giving him six points during a five-game streak. The 22-year-old right wing is tied for second on the team with 21 goals. The Blues recalled forward Dmitrij Jaskin from the AHL on an emergency basis.

A few Jets had strong fantasy numbers last night as Winnipeg demolished the Dallas Stars 7-3. Big Blake Wheeler led the way with 4 assists, but Dustin Byfuglien was easily the fantasy star of the night with 2 goals, one assist, and 7 shots on goal. His current "smoking" streak of 8 points (6G/2A) in the last 5 games has landed him at 50+ point territory once again. Ride the "big man" down the stretch as he has caught "fire" at the right time. Suddenly, it might be time to pay attention to defenseman Tobias Enstrom, who also put forth a worthy effort with a goal and two assists. The former 50+ point guy has struggled all season, but has collected 4 points in the last two. He might be worth a spot start if you are weak on defense. Before I move any forward, the news of Kris Letang set to practice for Pittsburgh today is awesome on many levels, and while his return seems imminent, the earliest fantasy owners could hope for would seem to be the weekend. Nevertheless, Letang could provide an instant dose of fantasy punch to any defensive corps. Kudos if you held onto to him. Bad news for St. Louis, as the ultra-talented Vladimir Tarasenko is done for the season after undergoing hand surgery. Less of a blow to fantasy owners, given the carousel of forwards who contribute to the Blues balanced offensive approach. So, Eric Staal extends his point streak to six games with a goal during Carolina's huge 2-1 loss to Edmonton. Ooops.. I meant Jordan. What the heck is going on? It's actually the Alex Semin effect, as Eric has been struggling ever since the Russian winger has been moved to Jordan's line. If Ottawa's newly-acquired winger Ales Hemsky is still available in your fantasy leagues, shame on all of you. How frustrating is owning Detroit's Johan Franzen? I inserted him in my starting lineup while he was blazing "hot", and he responded with 3 straight ZEROS. Thank you Johan. It's been real. VETERAN WATCH: I would consider Calgary's Mike Cammalleri for a spot-start this week, as the 31-year old has been a power-play warrior and a point-machine recently for the Flames. With 9 points in the last 8 and not much on the line for his team, I could see "Cammy" finishing the season strong. The other vet I like for completely the opposite reason is Shane Doan. The captain is raising his as game as the stakes are higher for his Phoenix Coyotes who are currently in a dogfight for a playoff spot.

A few Jets had strong fantasy numbers last night as Winnipeg demolished the Dallas Stars 7-3. Big Blake Wheeler led the way with 4 assists, but Dustin Byfuglien was easily the fantasy star of the night with 2 goals, one assist, and 7 shots on goal. His current "smoking" streak of 8 points (6G/2A) in the last 5 games has landed him at 50+ point territory once again. Ride the "big man" down the stretch as he has caught "fire" at the right time. Suddenly, it might be time to pay attention to defenseman Tobias Enstrom, who also put forth a worthy effort with a goal and two assists. The former 50+ point guy has struggled all season, but has collected 4 points in the last two. He might be worth a spot start if you are weak on defense. Before I move any forward, the news of Kris Letang set to practice for Pittsburgh today is awesome on many levels, and while his return seems imminent, the earliest fantasy owners could hope for would seem to be the weekend. Nevertheless, Letang could provide an instant dose of fantasy punch to any defensive corps. Kudos if you held onto to him. Bad news for St. Louis, as the ultra-talented Vladimir Tarasenko is done for the season after undergoing hand surgery. Less of a blow to fantasy owners, given the carousel of forwards who contribute to the Blues balanced offensive approach. So, Eric Staal extends his point streak to six games with a goal during Carolina's huge 2-1 loss to Edmonton. Ooops.. I meant Jordan. What the heck is going on? It's actually the Alex Semin effect, as Eric has been struggling ever since the Russian winger has been moved to Jordan's line. If Ottawa's newly-acquired winger Ales Hemsky is still available in your fantasy leagues, shame on all of you. How frustrating is owning Detroit's Johan Franzen? I inserted him in my starting lineup while he was blazing "hot", and he responded with 3 straight ZEROS. Thank you Johan. It's been real. VETERAN WATCH: I would consider Calgary's Mike Cammalleri for a spot-start this week, as the 31-year old has been a power-play warrior and a point-machine recently for the Flames. With 9 points in the last 8 and not much on the line for his team, I could see "Cammy" finishing the season strong. The other vet I like for completely the opposite reason is Shane Doan. The captain is raising his as game as the stakes are higher for his Phoenix Coyotes who are currently in a dogfight for a playoff spot.

Tarasenko acknowledged he was worried, disappointed to miss Thursday's game against Boston with the flu-like symptoms and fearful the illness might impact his Olympic experience. "Yeah, I was worried," said Tarasenko, who has 18 goals and 15 assists. "It happens to everybody, but I wanted to get better as soon as possible."