The St. Louis Blues have something in forward Dylan Holloway. He’s been phenomenal in his first season wearing the Blue Note, especially over the past couple of weeks.
The club signed him to an offer sheet from the Edmonton Oilers and officially received him after they decided to not match the two-year deal. Let’s get into just how good he’s been in his first season as a Blue.
Holloway’s Hot Streak Began Under Montgomery
Before the Blues hired Jim Montgomery as head coach a couple of weeks ago, Holloway had just four goals and eight points in 22 games under former head coach Drew Bannister. It’s tough to blame the previous head coach, but he’s clearly found something since the change was made by general manager Doug Armstrong.
Dylan Holloway, St. Louis Blues (Jess Starr/The Hockey Writers)
Holloway is riding a seven-game point streak under Montgomery and the Blues are 5-1-1 in this stretch. He has six goals and five assists across seven games. For the season, he has 10 goals and nine assists for 19 points in 29 games. His best game in the stretch was the most recent.
In the win over the Vancouver Canucks, he netted the game-winning goal, had two points, and was a force in all three zones across just over 17 minutes of ice time. His rise in just seven games under Montgomery has been impressive to watch.
Holloway Has 30-Goal Potential This Season
Holloway had six goals in 38 regular season games with the Oilers last season. He’s already outperformed that total by four goals in nine fewer games and I don’t anticipate him stopping there. He’s got over 50 games remaining to net 20 more goals and reach 30 for the season. With the way he’s been playing, there’s a legitimate possibility he gets there with ease. He gets power-play minutes and his ice time is slowly rising in each game under Montgomery. They’ve identified him as a huge key to the offense right now and it’s resulted in winning games. Their only regulation loss since the coaching change was on the road against a talented Oilers team, while their overtime loss came against the scrappy Philadelphia Flyers.
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He could become the third Blue not named Vladimir Tarasenko in the past 10 seasons to score 30 goals in a season. Alexander Steen did it in 2013-14, but outside of him and Tarasenko, Pavel Buchnevich and Jordan Kyrou have both done it in recent seasons. Maybe I’m getting ahead of myself, but the current version of Holloway is capable of scoring a lot.
He’s on the third line right now, but he’s worthy of a promotion soon. I wouldn’t be surprised to see more of him and Robert Thomas playing together in the coming weeks under a creative-thinking head coach like Montgomery.
Armstrong’s Offer Sheet Power Move Looks Wise
I wasn’t sure how the offer sheet power move of adding Holloway and defenseman Philip Broberg by Armstrong in the summer would work out, but it looks great so far. For Holloway, he’s been the Blues’ best forward under Montgomery and has been good overall. As for Broberg, he’s been arguably the club’s best defenseman this season with 12 points in 17 games and a plus-6. Both players look like quality NHLers at this stage and that’s a great sign for the franchise. It took guts for Armstrong to make this move and he looks smart so far.
Overall, I have been thrilled with the play of Holloway through nearly 30 games. The Blues should be ecstatic with what they’ve seen as well. All is well in St. Louis right now with a new head coach and a couple of bright young stars from Alberta.
