The St. Louis Blues are 2-1-0 in the New Year and their schedule has been brutally tough, so their results have been solid so far.
In this edition of Blues’ 3 Up, 3 Down, I will discuss the recent play of the captain, struggles on the third line, the Blues’ All-Star, and more.
Plus One: Brayden Schenn
It’s been a struggle in season one as captain for Brayden Schenn. He went the entire month of December without scoring a goal. In the 5-1 loss to the Florida Panthers on Tuesday, Jan. 9, he finally broke that streak and scored the lone goal in a loss. Before this game, he scored the shootout winner on Saturday, Jan. 6 against the Carolina Hurricanes. He’s looked better in the past two games and hopefully, it’s a sign of things to come. He has just nine goals in 39 games and a team-worst plus/minus of minus-15. His leadership is still important, but improving his on-ice play would be great for the club.
Minus One: The Third Line
The Blues’ third line in their loss against the Panthers was a disaster. Interim head coach Drew Bannister put Jakub Vrana and Kasperi Kapanen on the wings of center Kevin Hayes. On the surface, it seems like a line that could work well given the speed of Vrana and Kapanen combined with the size and strength of Hayes. In the loss, Hayes and Vrana were both minus-3, while Kapanen was a minus-2.
Based on the practice lines going into their matchup against the New York Rangers, Vrana is out of the lineup and Kapanen was moved down to the fourth line. It just seems like it’s never going to work in St. Louis for Vrana. As for Kapanen, I don’t see a benefit to him playing on the fourth line. It’ll be interesting to see how things progress for them over the next few weeks as the trade deadline gets closer.
Plus Two: Robert Thomas is an All-Star
Included in the initial selections for the NHL 2024 All-Star Game in Toronto, Blues center Robert Thomas is set to make his first appearance. He’s earned this selection in every way with his performance this season. It’s especially great for him with the event being in Toronto as he grew up in Ontario and played junior hockey for the London Knights of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL).
Related: Blues’ Robert Thomas Named 2024 NHL All-Star
Thomas has 41 points in 39 games this season, including 16 goals and 25 assists. He’s also a plus-13 and has won 53 percent of faceoffs, which is currently a career-best. It’s been impressive to watch him grow this season. His career high in goals is 20, which he scored in 2021-22. He should blow that out of the water this season.
Minus Two: Lack of Goal Scoring
A lack of goal-scoring has become a trend over the past few weeks for the Blues. They are 28th in goals scored right now with 110 goals. Since their 7-5 comeback win over the Chicago Blackhawks on Dec. 23, the Blues have scored just 10 goals in their last six games. With solid defense and goaltending, they have survived the drought with a 3-3-0 record in those six games.
The Blues have too many solid players to be this poor in the goal-scoring department. With the low goal-scoring total, the club has a minus-15 goal differential, so it’s hard to compete with that number. They have to figure out how to score more goals and a better power play could go a long way.
Plus Three: Nathan Walker Signs Extension
The Blues announced on Tuesday, Jan. 9 that the club signed forward Nathan Walker to a two-year extension with an annual average value (AAV) of $775,000.
Walker has only played in three games for the Blues this season but has made an impact with one goal and a plus-1. He is a terrific depth forward and the club is smart to extend him for a couple more seasons. There’s value in a spark plug player like Walker who will give the team a boost every time he’s brought up from the American Hockey League (AHL). This is a sensible and great move by Blues general manager Doug Armstrong.
Minus Three: Power Play Creates Disadvantage
The Blues power play has been a detriment to the team all season. They are a whopping 12-for-113 on the man advantage, which is good for 10.6 percent and 32nd in the league. With the struggles, Bannister has made changes to the power play units and those will be on display in the Thursday night matchup on Jan. 11 against the Rangers.
Bannister has moved Jake Neighbours to the top unit and would like him to be a net-front presence. They’ve also added Colton Parayko to the top unit with the hopes that his heavy shot will make an impact. I would be surprised if Thomas wasn’t the main puck distributor on this top unit with Torey Krug going down the second unit. Bannister also noted that Krug played some flank on the power play when he was with the Boston Bruins, so they are trying to do that by placing him on the same unit as Scott Perunovich. I hope these changes work, but either way, significant changes like this had to be made.
The Blues have three difficult games over the next week with the Rangers, Bruins, and Philadelphia Flyers on the schedule. They need to figure out a way to generate more offense or else they will sink further out of the Wild Card race. This will be a big test of who and what they are.
