The St. Louis Blues are a team with several questions to answer as they try to get back into the playoffs this season. Even without wholesale changes in the summer, the Blues should still be improved from last season, because it would be hard for them not to improve from 81 points in 2022-23. There are plenty of questions to come up with, but I’ll cover three big ones in this article. Let’s get into three burning questions for the 2023-24 Blues.
Will Their 2022-23 Goal Scoring Production Return?
The Blues were amongst the league’s best in goals scored throughout the 2021-22 season, finishing fourth in goals scored with 311. Those numbers slipped last season as the Blues finished 16th in goals scored in the NHL. There are a multitude of reasons for that, including the struggles of Vladimir Tarasenko and other key contributors from 2021-22 like Brandon Saad, Robert Thomas, and Ryan O’Reilly. Despite those struggles, stars like Jordan Kyrou and Pavel Buchnevich were in form with 25 plus goals each, including a 37-goal effort from Kyrou.
With the addition of Kevin Hayes over the summer and full seasons from both Jakub Vrana and Kasperi Kapanen, the Blues should have more goal-scoring threats. The Blues won’t reach nine 20-plus goal scorers like they did in 2021-22, but they should get to five or six. They had just three 20-plus goal scorers last season with Saad trailing just behind at 19.
My prediction for the Blues’ goal-scoring prowess this season is to improve from last season and be near the top 10 of the NHL. It wouldn’t surprise me to see Kapanen, Vrana, and Thomas reach 20 goals or more this season. With the questions surrounding the Blues’ defense and goaltending, they’ll need their goal-scoring production to rise overall.
Can Jordan Binnington Find His Form?
This might be the most asked question of all for the Blues this season. Goaltender Jordan Binnington has struggled mightily over the last two seasons after bursting onto the scene in 2018-19, helping lead the Blues to their first Stanley Cup in franchise history over the Boston Bruins. He signed a six-year extension prior to the 2021-22 season but has not been great for the Blues since. He’s performed well under the $6 million cap hit that he’ll carry until the end of the 2026-27 season.
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Unfortunately, there is no reason to believe that he will find his form. The last two seasons have been telling and the defensive play in front of him has not improved on paper. One thing that would help Binnington is 23-year-old backup goaltender Joel Hofer pushing him in the same way that Ville Husso did in 2021-22. However, that’s a lot that needs to happen for him to find his form, so I don’t think it will happen. Binnington has a save percentage (SV%) of .897 in a sample size of 98 games over the past two seasons. At some point, it’s more of a goaltending issue as opposed to a defensive issue, but both issues can be real at the same time. I don’t expect Binnington to suddenly regain his elite form from a few seasons ago, but it would be welcomed.
Does Defense Improve With Mike Weber Hire?
This is a big season for head coach Craig Berube. He’s entering his fifth full season as the Blues head coach after taking over for Mike Yeo in 2018. After the disappointing finish last season, Berube’s staff was shaken up with the firings of Mike Van Ryn and Craig MacTavish, and the hirings of Mike Weber and Michael Babcock.
Weber was brought in to run the defensive unit after struggles over the past few seasons with Van Ryn doing the job. Weber played in 351 NHL games and spent three seasons as an assistant coach for the Rochester Americans in the American Hockey League (AHL). He has never coached in the NHL, but the Blues are confident in his ability to do the job. The Blues needed to shake things up and it was easier to alter the coaching staff than offload their brutal defensive contracts. I don’t know how the Blues’ defense will play this season, but I think they’ll look different in more ways than one, despite similar personnel.
The answers to these three burning questions are complex, but each one of them will be a determining factor in how the Blues perform this season.
