Three Landing Spots For St. Louis Blues UFA Barret Jackman

The St. Louis Blues declined to re-sign unrestricted free agent Barret Jackman for the upcoming season, telling him instead that they wished to go in a “different direction.” While this generally means “younger and cheaper” in hockey, Jackman still has a lot to offer the right team.

In examining his stats, it becomes clear that while Jackman isn’t your offensive defenseman, nor does he have a slapshot from the blue line to rival Shea Weber or Brent Seabrook, he brings different strengths to the table.

His shot-blocking and shot-suppression stats are still strong, as you can see in the table below.

Relative Shot Rate for STL With and Without Jackman. Credit to War on Ice.

Jackman is good at suppressing attempts high in the defensive zone and to the outside, so much so that when he’s on the ice they disappear entirely. In addition to the white areas indicating no shots at all, the darker areas, which appear on the left-handed chart (With Jackman), show strong shot suppression. His best work is done when preventing shots entirely, as in-close shots are actually scored more frequently once the opposing forwards make it past him. A large part of that is Jackman’s lack of footspeed, likely one of the reasons the St. Louis Blues bid him goodbye last week.

While Jackman had the worst CF% on his defensive squad during the postseason at a miserable 49.54, he posted strong numbers throughout the regular season and is more than capable of doing so through the entire season, both regular and post.  His regular-season possession numbers came through at a decent 52.79, leading one to assume exhaustion was likely a factor in the series against Minnesota. During the regular season, Jackman posted CF% of 36.11 in November, 88 and 55.88 in March, and 62.07 in April, all against Minnesota. His collective 49.54 in late April indicated not only a failure on his part, possession-wise, but that the majority of his time was spent on the backcheck, playing desperate defense.

Suffice to say, Jackman isn’t solely to blame for his lowered possession numbers, and, in fact, any team that is looking at him would see them as a boon.

But who would benefit from having Jackman on their side? We take a look at some of the potential partners that might make the former Blues defender an offer.

Next: Buffalo