Is St. Louis Blues’ Dmitrij Jaskin Ready to be a Top-Six Player?
Though the St. Louis Blues’ 2014-15 season has gone well to date, it’s by no means gone according to plan. The team has been forced to fight through adversity as key players like Paul Stastny, Jaden Schwartz, Jori Lehtera, Kevin Shattenkirk, Carl Gunnarsson, and Brian Elliott have dealt with long-term injuries, and others have been forced to step up.
Fortunately, a rather unexpected contributor has met the challenge and far exceeded expectations, as 21-year-old forward Dmitrij Jaskin has become one of the team’s top scoring forwards. The thought during the offseason was that Jaskin would be eased into an NHL role this season and perhaps make the team as an extra forward, but the offseason signing of Stastny changed things, and Jaskin was sent back to AHL Chicago to start the season.
He earned a call-up following an early-season injury to Stastny and showed some nice skills, but he was quickly sent down. After being recalled a second time following an injury to Schwartz in late December, though, Jaskin has taken full advantage of his opportunity and has registered 11 of his 12 points on the season during that 23-game span.
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He’s really gotten into his element since returning from the All-Star break. Since January 29, Jaskin has four goals and an assist in 10 games. Two of the goals in that span have been game-winners, and now four of the eight goals he’s scored in 29 games this season have clinched the game for the Blues.
Now the question looms of whether Jaskin is capable of being a top-six forward, or at least one who gets about equal time to the second line, at this stage of his career. The Blues certainly would like to get the most that they can out of their investment in Stastny, and if Jaskin’s improvement allows for that, it would be a definite plus.
Things have been trending in that direction over the past several games. He earned more than 14 minutes of ice time in four straight games before seeing his time drop a bit on Sunday. Jaskin (16:22) and Stastny (17:01) saw time that was roughly comparable to Jaden Schwartz (16:04) and Vladimir Tarasenko (15:29) in Thursday’s game against Tampa Bay. Though Jaskin’s time leveled off against Florida on Sunday—he was on the ice for 11:41, while guys like Stastny, Berglund, Tarasenko, Schwartz, and Lehtera each saw more than 14:00—the coaching staff did signify their faith in the young scorer by allowing him to participate in his first NHL shootout.
If Jaskin can continue producing at this pace, he will surely be one of the team’s key contributors once they get into the postseason. As there is with any young player, there’s the risk of a late-season burnout as the player begins to exceed their career-high in games played (Jaskin’s is the 69 he played last season, split between St. Louis and Chicago), but if they can keep him going, he should be a formidable addition to the offensive attack that the Blues will be using to try to get past pesky potential postseason opponents like the Blackhawks, Predators, and Ducks.