Alexander Steen is on fire and we finally acknowledged it

We’ve been neglecting Alexander Steen and the St. Louis Blues for far too long, but no more! The man is on fire and the Blues have been one of the West’s best teams.

by Matt Brigidi

Nov 8, 2013, 4:42 PM UTC

Richard Wolowicz

So, I owe Alexander Steen, the St. Louis Blues and their fans an apology. It's taken far too long for me to write anything solely devoted to what he's doing this season and it took me far longer than I'd like to admit to realize that he has owned the NHL through the opening weeks of the 2013-14 season.

More: Will Steen finish the year with the league lead in goals?

With the Blues entering the year as a chic pick to win the Stanley Cup, the team responded with an impressive 10-2-2 record to open the season. Of course, given the amount of talent in the fully stocked West, that's only good enough for third place in the Central Division. But the future looks bright as the Blues claim ownership to a top-10 offense, a top-five defense and a top-five power play.

And of course, Alexander Steen.

Steen has played in all 14 games this season and has a goal for each occasion. There have been only two nights this season that the St. Louis Blues have played a game and Steen has not scored a goal. Beyond his finishing abilities, Steen has recorded at least one point in all but one contest and claims ownership to 20 points this season, which ranks him third in the NHL behind Steven Stamkos and Sidney Crosby (both players have played at least one more game than Steen).

All-in-all, Oct. 15's game against the San Jose Sharks is the only game where Steen was held pointless. Considering that was when San Jose was at their most dominant this season, that's a pretty good team to be shutdown by. Sustainability is a dirty word in this scenario because the pace is impossible to keep up (can't wait for him to score 96 goals and have someone tweet a screenshot of this to me). More likely than not, the bottom will fallout and production will return to some sphere that isn't this otherworldly performance through the first 14 games of the season.

But regardless, Steen is on fire and now I have a clear conscious because I acknowledged it. He shoots for 15 in 15 against Crosby and the Penguins on Saturday.