5. St. Louis Blues: Pavel Buchnevich — Robert Thomas — Vladimir Tarasenko
Here is where we get into the lines that are clearly the best in the division, and there are truly a number of ways that the top five can be ranked. The Blues ranked at five, and there are still some questions about whether they will be as good as they were last year.
Tarasenko is coming off of a career year, and even though he is getting older, he is still one of the best talents in the game and will hardly drop off if at all.
Buchnevich is coming off of a career year as well, and he is likely to be as good if not better this year given his young age and career progression thus far.
The big question is Thomas, who had a very sudden career year, most of which was due to 57 assists. He is young and still figures to be an important player to their top six for many more years, but he has to back up his performance from last year, and those who have been primarily assist machines have a tendency to be a bit more inconsistent than more complete forwards.
Do not expect this line to see a stark drop off, and they could still be better, but they might drop off just a bit.