Blues Prospects Trending Up, Jan. 15, 2012

By Brian Weidler, "Game Time" Prospect Department

THE REGULARS:

With Jori Lehtera's broken leg taking him out of the picture for the rest of the 2011-12 season, we here at the "Game Time" Prospect Department have decided to promote 2011 first pick (32nd overall) Ty Rattie to "regular" status. Rattie has been at or near the top of the WHL scoring leaderboard all season long, and is making Hockey Canada management look foolish for leaving him off of Canada's 2012 World Junior Championships entry.

Vladimir Tarasenko makes his debut with SKA St. Petersburg today, facing off against Kazakhstan-based Barys Astana... which was the last team he faced as a member of Sibir Novosibirsk on Jan. 12.

Colorado College sophomore Jaden Schwartz continues to rack up points at better than a point-per-game pace, sitting 18th on the WCHA scoring leaderboard and tenth among drafted WCHA players with 24 points despite having appeared in only 16 games this year.

AFTER THE JUMP:

After the jump, your weekly look at the players in the Blues' organization who are "Trending Up." Both Peoria goaltenders turned in outstanding performances this week, leading the Rivs to three wins in four games, and two junior scorers -- and a Euro defenseman -- also showed why they figure prominently in the Blues' future plans. Stay tuned...

Ty RATTIE	Jaden SCHWARTZ	Vladimir TARASENKO
Portland (WHL)	Colorado College (WCHA)	SKA St. Petersburg (KHL)
** 3 games played this week	** 2 games played this week	** 2 games played this week
** 2 G, 2 A, plus-2	** 0 G, 3 A, plus-1	** 0 G, 2 A, plus-3
** 4 PM, 2 PP, 0 SH, 1 GW	** 0 PM, 0 PP, 0 SH, 0 GW	** 0 PM, 0 PP, 0 SH, 0 GW

THIS WEEK'S STANDOUTS:

Jake ALLEN	Ben BISHOP	Max GARDINER	Jani HAKANPÄÄ	Yannick VEILLEUX
Peoria (AHL)	Peoria (AHL)	Dubuque (USHL)	Blues Espoo (SML)	Shawinigan (QMJHL)
** 2 games played this week	** 2 games played this week	** 1 game played this week	** 3 game played this week	** 4 games played this week
** 119 mins, 4 GA, 1-1-0	** 120 mins, 1 GA, 2-0-0, SO	** 1 G, 1 A, plus-1	** 2 G, 0 A, minus-1	** 0 G, 4 A, plus-4
** 2.02 GAA, 94.4% sv pct	** 0.50 GAA, 98.6% sv pct	** 0 PM, 0 PP, 0 SH, 0 GW	** 4 PM, 1 PP, 0 SH, 0 GW	** 4 PM, 0 PP, 0 SH, 0 GW

HONORABLE MENTION:

NIKLAS LUNDSTRÖM, G, AIK Solna (J20 Superelit): 2 GP, 120 mins, 5 GA, 1-1-0, 2.50 GAA, 94.1% sv pct.

ANTHONY NIGRO, C, Peoria (AHL): 4 GP, 1 G, 2 A, plus-2, 0 PM, 1-0-0.