Mason has been solid, but unspectacular as he has not had to steal any games for STL. To his credit, he rarely gave up soft goals and made the saves he needed to make. Team defense was strength of the Blues in the 2nd half of the year as Mason did not see a lot of rubber. Will fatigue catch up to him with the long travel back and forth to Vancouver? Mason is a solid goalie, but I would not even consider him one of the top 15 goalies in the NHL. Ben Bishop backs him up.
I haven't researched it, but I would suspect the Blues defensive group is the worst group as far as offense goes. The 6 d-men combined for only 12 goals! They don't move the puck that well either, but their strength is defensive zone positioning. Jackman and Polak are their top pair and will get to know the Sedin sisters well. Jackman plays with an edge even though he is undersized, while Polak has great speed and is very strong, but he has very little offensive instincts. McKee had a very good 2nd half of the year and Mason is on record as saying he prefers to have McKee on the ice more than other d-men. Woywitka has stayed with the team all year mainly due to injuries to first Johnson and then Brewer. He'll flash the occasional offensive flair, but is lucky to be playing in the NHL. Leaf reject Colaiacovo has been OK and gets some PP time. I thought he would bring more offense to STL than he has shown. Weaver has been steady, but is another guy that brings nothing offensively. Strachan is the 7th d-man.
Disecting the forwards gets fun as coach Murray loves bigger centers and doesn't mind moving guys out of position.
The Blues 1st line features two 30 goals scorers. McDonald missed half the year and when he came back Murray decided to put him on LW instead of center. His ankle is still sore, but he has been playing with the pain. Backes has blossomed this year and in particular in the 2nd half when he was moved to center (hadn't played there since college). When he played wing he would run anything that got in his way, but playing center has kept him away from the boards and he shown some nice hands as he has roofed many of his goals. Boyes led the team in scoring but seemed out of sorts for most of the year. He doesn't battle for the puck that hard along the boards, but has nifty hands even though this year he has struggled with his shot finding the net. Many good chances were wasted as hie shot wide or high. He missed Kariya (more on him later).
The Blues 2nd line is their Kid Line. Perron had a decent 2nd year, but still finds the glass with many of his good scoring chances in the slot. He does however draw a ton of penalties with his shiftinest. Berglund had a very good 1st half of the year, but hit the wall big time in the 2nd half as he had never played the long season in N. America before. IMO he is the key for the Blues to succeed offensively. Oshie is the energy guy for the Blues with a great pair of hands. He will run you over or simply go around you. He scored a highlight goal earlier this year vs the Nucks.
The Blues 3rd line features 2 guys they picked up early in the year. Steen has been a solid foot soldier, but frustrates you with his lack of production. McClement had a solid year and is an excellent penalty killer. Crombeen was a waiver wire pickup and added some goals and grit.
The Blues 4th line can score the odd goal as Winchester has provided some goals with his underrated wrist shot. Big Walt in the middle is the leader of this team now and hasn't complained playing on the 4th line out of position. Tkachuk is still a force in front of the net especially on the PP. Hinote brings experience and grit, but no offense at all.
The wildcard for the Blues and possibly the series will be Paul Kariya. He has received medical clearance, but will coach Murray insert him in the lineup? He doesn't score nearly as much as he used to, but he really makes Boyes go. He would give the Blues 3 lines that can score instead of 2. I'll be mildly surprised if Murray inserts him in the lineup for game one. I think Murray will wait until the Blues fall behind in the series before Kariya plays. Coaches are notorious for using the same lineup when things are going well. I don't think the Blues can beat the Nucks without 3 lines that are a threat to score.
STL has very good special teams and in reality is the reason why they have come this far. Their PP has been in the top 10 all year and their PK was excellent all year and finished in the top 5.
I'm concerned about the Blues offensive production and their inexperince as far as playoff hockey goes. This will be the first time for Backes, Boyes, Steen, McClement, Perron, Berglund, Oshie, Polak, Woywitka, and Colaiacovo.
I'm also concerned about fatigue in general. They have played their balls off for the last 2 months. I wonder how much is left in the tank. Are they satisfied by just making the playoffs?...or do they keep it going and surprise the Nucks. The Blues won a lot of games by simply playing harder than their opponents. Teams taking a day off in the playoffs is very rare so that nullifies one of the Blues best assetes.
I think Vancouver will take this series mainly because of Luongo and their very underrated defensive corp. That group is a lot better than the Blues d-men. The Canucks recieve offensive support from their blue line and they also have excellent size on the back end. I think the forwards for both teams are near equal, but obviously Luongo is a better goalie than Mason and the huge edge on the blue line will be the diffference. The only edge the Blues have on the Nucks is special teams.
If STL can take one at GM place I think we have the perfect formula for a minor upset in this series. I'm going with STL in 6 or 7 
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