St. Louis Blues: Reaction to Alex Pietrangelo injury

The St. Louis Blues will be without their best defensemen for at least three weeks. What will this mean to the team?

Right when you thought the St. Louis Blues were going to be finally healthy and ready to put their pedal to the metal, another Blue goes down. On the surface it seems as if Pietrangelo is going to be a big loss, he’s going to out three weeks at probably the worst time possible. The Blues have 27 games left until the playoffs start and Pietrangelo is likely to miss about 10 of those games.

The Good

As I mentioned earlier, the St. Louis Blues will likely utilize Colton Parayko on the top line with Jay Bouwmeester. This will be an interesting move for the top defensive pairing, as it may add a little offensive punch for the Blues. Before you get all frustrated at me and start throwing things at me, let me explain. We will be using statistics from the guys at Puckalytics to base the opinion.

In three less games, Colton Parayko is averaging 2.86 Goals For per 60 minutes (GF/60), putting him fifth best in the league among defensemen with over 50 games played. Pietrangelo on the other hand is averaging 1.68, that’s over one goal that Parayko is averaging above Pietrangelo. Defensively, Parayko is also averaging 1.50 Goals Against per 60 minutes (GA/60), putting him 7th in the league among defensemen and fifth best Fenwick Against per 60 minutes (FF/60).

While he has played in significantly less minutes Parayko is also among the league’s best in terms of Shots Against and Shots Against Per 60. This will make Parayko’s jump to top line quite interesting, as he will consistently be playing against other team’s top forwards. He will consistently be tested and his stats during this time will be interesting to see when all is said and done.

The Bad

This team will see some bad things during Pietrangelo’s absence no doubt. The most glaring thing is from above, Parayko has been consistent playing on the third line along with Joel Edmundson night in and night out. Pietrangelo’s absence means the Blues will likely be trusting in the services of Robert Bortuzzo. While Bortuzzo will bring an added physical presence, he’s simply not the level of Pietrangelo or Parayko.

Pietrangelo’s absence means the team will be without their best penalty killing defenseman. While Pietrangelo has allowed 17 goals, he has had the second most time on the PK, with 176:56 minutes. This gives him the second lowest total among defensemen with over 149 minutes of PK time. This is while Pietrangelo has allowed the most shots and the 6th best SA/60 among the same qualifying defensemen.

This will without a doubt hurt the PK. The Blues will likely have a lot of inexperience and lack of depth here, and it could hurt them, especially if the Blues take bad penalties during this time.

Summation

This will be an interesting time for the Blues. Everything points to Parayko providing more shots and more offensive production, both on the power play and even strength. However, the Blues will miss Pietrangelo on the defensive side, no matter how good Parayko has been playing. The Blues PK has been pretty stout this season, but without Pietrangelo it could be tested a lot more and it could spell danger.

Next: Reactions from Blues drudging of the Wild

This stretch will be important for the Blues to get through. The positive side points to getting Schwartz back soon, which should help the offense during this time, but Schwartz is likely going to take some time to get up to speed. I do like that this will get the Blues TOI leader and most important defenseman some rest before the playoffs get started.

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