EJ

I agree with your thoughts about Walker, especially the part about him being rusty for missing 19 games. You have to expect him to be sluggish after that. In any case, I don't think he is in the plans as being a cornerstone of the team at any point. He is a quality depth defenseman. The kind good teams have.

Last night's game was tough to watch. It looked like the Blues only wanted to put up enough effort to barely win. Doesn't it seem like they are surprised by their own success? Anyway, this season was always supposed to be about building for the future and in that respect last night's game was awesome because Erik Johnson was the best player on the ice as a 19 year old rookie defenseman. I've never seen that before. He had three assists, made great passes, battled all around the net, and quarterbacked the power play like a veteran. Last night's game was no fluke either. He's been playing well ever since he came back from the injury. It looks like he is starting to find his groove.

Here is how he stacks up against other rookie defensemen.

Rk	Pos	Player	Team	GP	G	A	P	PIM	+/-	PPG
1	D	Tobias Enstrom	ATL	29	3	13	16	14	10	0.55
2	D	Erik Johnson	STL	16	2	9	11	10	6	0.69
3	D	Matt Niskanen	DAL	31	2	9	11	16	5	0.35
4	D	Tom Gilbert	EDM	32	5	5	10	6	4	0.31
5	D	Alexander Edler	VAN	23	2	6	8	6	9	0.35
6	D	Steve Wagner	STL	21	2	6	8	8	0	0.38
7	D	Jack Johnson	LAK	30	1	4	5	24	-3	0.17
8	D	Andy Greene	NJD	29	1	3	4	12	7	0.14
9	D	Marc Staal	NYR	30	1	3	4	12	3	0.13
10	D	Kris Russell	CBJ	26	0	4	4	4	-2	0.15

If he hadn’t missed those games with the broken foot he would be easily be at the top of that list. I figure he’ll play about 60 games or so total this year and here what his production so far projects to:

Projection:			GP	G	A	P	PIM	+/-	PPG
		Erik Johnson	60	8	34	41	38	23	0.69

In case you’re wondering, those numbers are upper echelon in the NHL regardless of age. EJ is a 19 year old rookie and is already performing like a good NHL player. That just doesn’t happen with defensemen. He is going to be an amazing player and the Blues are very lucky to have him.