In the eyes of national experts, the Blues have nowhere to go but up.

Yahoo! Sports scribe Ross McKeon has the Note dead last in his preseason power rankings. He did credit the Blues for having “top-notch management.” The problem? “Not enough talent ready for the league yet,” he wrote.

ESPN talking head John Buccigross was more optimistic, picking the Note to finish 13th in the Western Conference – ahead of Los Angeles And Vancouver. He wrote:

“St. Louis has missed the playoffs for three straight seasons for the first time in franchise history. There is little reason to believe the Blues won’t make it four straight this season. They went all out to win a championship in the pre-salary cap era with trades and free agents, and are now paying the price.”

Over at The Hockey News, Adam Proteau had the same prediction of 13th in the West. He also offered this warning:

“The Blues do have a wealth of young talent, but also have a handful of high-priced, fast-fading veterans (Keith Tkachuk, Paul Kariya, Jay McKee) taking up valuable minutes on the ice. I like Andy Murray a lot, but I fear he’ll take the fall early in the season for this team’s growing pains.”

The demise of Erik Johnson certainly hurts, but Hockey Guy loves the forward line combinations. Patrik Berglund and T.J. Oshie won’t produce at the same rookie level Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews did last year, but they should make a big impact.

They should allow the Blues to roll three effective offensive lines for the first time in a while. And it’s fair to expect bounceback years from Kariya, Andy McDonald and Lee Stempniak.

For some chit-chat on preseason injuries and their impact in fantasy hockey, check out my piece over here.

AROUND THE RINKS: The Canucks are ready to move rugged defenseman Kevin Bieksa for offensive help, but the rumor that had him heading to Boston for point-per-game center Marc Savard seemed far-fetched at best. Hockey Guy can’t see why the Bruins would sacrifice the 1-2 punch of Savard and Patrice Bergeron up the middle. Both men are critical to the first power-play unit and Bergeron is coming back from post-concussion syndrome. Moving Savard would be leave this team vulernable . . . HockeyBuzz.com reports that Mats Sundin and Peter Forsberg could be planning a joint return to Colorado for the second half of the season. The NHL needs to institute a Roger Clemens Rule to keep semi-retired players from playing partial seasons . . . Blues goaltending prospect Marek Schwarz may not be a washout just yet. He came to camp in a better frame of mind and has been impressing the bosses down at the Peoria farm team . . . Old friend Brendan Shanahan is still home, waiting for somebody to call.