ST. LOUIS — Jaden Schwartz has been both a scorer and playmaker throughout his young hockey career, but the St. Louis Blues would like to see a little more of the scoring side of that equation.
"Playmaking's always been a part of my game," said Schwartz, the former Colorado College skater and 2010 first-round pick. "When the pass is there I usually make it, but I think I can shoot the puck a little more and that's something I've been working on."
The 20-year-old Schwartz had an impressive training camp, riding the momentum from nine goals and 19 points in 33 games with the Blues' Peoria farm team.
He racked up goals in each of his first two games during a seven-game stint with the Blues late last season, including six shots. But he had just three shots in the first seven games this season and two of those came in the season opener.
Blues coach Ken Hitchcock talked about not wanting to see Schwartz "deferring" to his teammates.
"There's so many things that he does effectively," Hitchcock said. "He's a great forechecker. He turns pucks over, he creates all kinds of opportunities for others. But when it's his turn, he's trying to make the next play rather than make the play that's putting it on the net."
After sitting out two of the previous three games, Schwartz rejoined the Blues' lineup Thursday against Detroit and spent most of the night on a line with Patrik Berglund and Vladimir Tarasenko.
Fourth line reunited
Hitchcock also reunited the Blues' fourth line from earlier this season, inserting rugged right winger Ryan Reaves back into the lineup to join Scott Nichol and Vladimir Sobotka.
"In order for us to be successful, it's going to be every guy going hard on the forecheck and making sure that (the opposing) defensemen are looking over their shoulder every time the puck goes deep," Reaves said.
The Blues sat out veteran forwards Jamie Langenbrunner and Matt D'Agostini on Thursday.
It appears Hitchcock is going to be seeking an even higher standard when it comes to cracking his lineup for the remainder of the season.
"I think it's a little bit our fault, too, because we've been screwing around trying to get people into the lineup and make them part of the team," Hitchcock said. "This is the same lineup that we had the first couple games, and we stayed with and we played very well. Then we started moving around that fourth line to try to get people involved and I'm not sure it helped. It kept people involved, but I'm not sure it helped long-term."
Redden hits a milestone
Thursday marked the 1,000th NHL game for Blues veteran defenseman Wade Redden, now in his 14th season. Redden is the 31st active player in the league and 10th active defenseman to reach that total and the 11th player to do it in a Blues uniform.
The Blues will honor Redden during a ceremony Saturday when they play Anaheim.
Contact reporter Norm Sanders at 239-2454, nsanders@bnd.com or on Twitter @NormSanders
