Who was the last Blues player to score 40 goals?

Probably most of you can answer this question. It’s simple, right?

The answer is Scott Young (2000-01). That was a career year for Young, whose previous high had been 30 goals with the Quebec Nordiques in 1992-93.

I ask the question because with 38 goals and seven games remaining, Brad Boyes has a chance to reach the 40-goal milestone.

When I asked Boyes this morning for his guess on the last 40-goal scorer for the Blues, he took the safe route and said: “Brett Hull.”

Hull’s last 40-goal season for the Blues was in 1996-97, when he had 42. Hull had eight 40-goal seasons with the Blues and ‘96-97 was his last.

How many 40-goal scorers have the Blues had in their 40-year history? Boyes would become the 13th individual if he can score two more - some like Hull did it multiple times.

The previous 12 in Blues’ history: Scott Young (40), Brett Hull (41, 72, 86, 70, 54, 57, 43, 42) Brendan Shanahan (52, 51), Tony McKegney (40), Doug Gilmour (42), Mark Hunter (44), Joe Mullen (40, 41), Bernie Federko (41), Brian Sutter (46, 41), Wayne Babych (54), Chuck Lefley (43) and Garry Unger (41).

“Hopefully I can be the next,” Boyes said.

Boyes became a true goal-scorer this season. With 38 goals and 19 assists, this is the first time in his career (at any level) that his goals have outnumbered his assists.

Take a look:

1997-98: Mississauga (27 g, 50 a)

1998-99: Erie (24 g, 36 a)

1999-00: Erie (36g, 46 a)

2000-01: Erie (45 g, 45 a)

2001-02: Erie (36 g, 41 a)

2002-03: St. John’s/Cleveland (30 g, 34 a)

2003-04: Cleveland/Providence (31 g, 41 a)

2004-05: Providence (33 g, 42 a)

2005-06: Boston Bruins (26 g, 43 a)

2006-07: Boston Bruins/St. Louis (17 g, 29 a)

2007-08: St. Louis (38 g, 19 a)

Who thinks Boyes will reach the 40-goal plateau? Here’s how he’s fared against the Blues’ remaining opponents:

The Blues have 2 games left vs. Detroit: In 6 games this season, Boyes has one goal.

The Blues have 1 game left vs. Chicago: In 7 games this season, Boyes has one goal.

The Blues have 2 games left vs. Nashville: In 6 games this season, Boyes has six goals.

The Blues have 2 games left vs. Columbus: In 6 games this season, Boyes has three goals.

Boyes is expected to remain on his line with Keith Tkachuk and Paul Kariya tonight. The 12 forwards should be the same against Detroit, but if you watched Sunday’s game against Chicago, you perhaps noticed that Andy Murray changed two of the combinations. Here’s a look:

Kariya-Tkachuk-Boyes

King-McDonald-Backes

McClement-Johnson-Mayers

Stempniak-Perron-Janssen

“What we did . . . (Chicago) changed their combinations,” Blues coach Andy Murray said. “They were trying to get bigger guys out against McDonald. So we put King on that line. Really what we switched was Stemper and D.J. That gave David Perron another skill guy to play with. I thought David had some good puck mojo. I wanted to support him with another offensive guy, so we put Stemper with him. Both of those units had some success.”

Danny Hinote practiced today, and while he won’t be in the lineup tonight, he could return before the season is over.

The defense will stay the same tonight. Jay McKee skated hard today and said afterwards that he needed one more workout before rejoining the lineup, perhaps Friday in Detroit. At that time, Roman Polak will return to Peoria.

My guess is that Manny Legace will be in goal. I didn’t get a chance to ask anyone, but Murray said yesterday that he thought Legace would be available tonight.

Don’t forget: Erik Johnson will join me on JR Live Thursday from 3-4. You can submit your questions for EJ now.

 JR