St. Louis Blues Defense Dominates Chicago

While we know the St. Louis Blues forwards can handle the Blackhawks top-six come October, the defense is still up in the air. Today, we answer that question.

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In this series, we work together with fellow FanSided editors to project our top two forward lines and top two defensive pairings, pitting them against each other to figure out who will come out on top.

How do the St. Louis Blues top-four measure up against Chicago? After Chicago’s defense slowly headed downhill over the last season (or last handful of seasons, beginning with the Nick Leddy trade), it’s looking darn good for St. Louis.

Colin Likas from sister site Blackhawk Up projected Chicago’s top two defensive pairings, which the Blues can match with ease.

Duncan Keith-David Rundblad

Keith: The most recent Conn Smythe winner is also one of the league’s top overall defensemen. He knows how to stay at home and lay down in front of the puck, and he also knows how to get involved in the rush and slam home a game-winning goal. As Keith goes, Chicago’s offense goes. But he’s also good enough to “babysit” younger defensemen. He’s an obvious choice for a top-line D spot.

Rundblad: This one requires some explanation. If the defensive corps stays the same between today and Opening Night, it will be a requirement for Keith to be paired with either Rundblad or Trevor van Riemsdyk. Reason being, Keith and Brent Seabrook can’t be paired together when you still have young and, currently, more mistake-prone defensemen in Rundblad and van Riemsdyk also on the roster. Daley is also a little shotgunny at the blue line and shouldn’t necessarily be trusted to watch over another defenseman, so Keith needs to “babysit” a younger player at this point. Rundblad has plenty of room for development, and Keith is the perfect partner to aid that.

St. Louis Blues: First Pairing

Jay Bouwmeester – Kevin Shattenkirk

Bouwmeester and Shattenkirk HERO charts courtesy of ownthepuck

The first two I’d stack up against Keith and Rundblad are Bouwmeester and Shattenkirk. Bouw is a strong counterpoint to Shattenkirk, whose ability to improve his forwards’ offensive output is top-notch. His own points production isn’t shabby, either. He led the Blues in points during the 2014-2015 postseason. Shattenkirk’s shot isn’t a Howitzer, like Weber’s, but it finds its way through traffic to the back of the net on a regular basis. His offensive momentum is oftentimes due to his hockey sense, making him a tremendous transition player. He doesn’t stack up to Keith on size, but on fearlessness? He’s right there with him.

Bouwmeester’s at-home defensive style, strong positioning and skating ability mean neither Allen nor Elliott will be left alone against the Blackhawks. His stamina, while waning slightly at 31 years of age, is strong, and his years of experience are a plus when comparing him to someone as young as the Blackhawks’ Rundblad.

Likas’ second defensive pairing is as follows:

Niklas Hjalmarsson-Trevor Daley

Hjalmarsson: The only guy not mentioned above, Hjalmarsson is the defensive defenseman to end all defensive defensemen. He puts his entire body on the line night in and night out (you can check out videos of him getting hit with a puck pretty much anywhere). He typically has solid positioning on opponents and uses his stick on the ice to near perfection. He’ll be relied on for extra-strong shutdown defense with Johnny Oduya gone, but there’s little doubt he can step up to the task.

Daley: Since Seabrook is needed in a “babysit” type role with van Riemsdyk, Daley steps into the Oduya role for the Blackhawks. Daley provides more offense than Oduya and is coming off a career year in terms of scoring (16 goals, 22 assists). As was said above, he is prone to getting stuck in the offensive zone trying to make something happen, so he’ll need to work on his defensive awareness and backchecking moving forward. Still, he’s the best option to play alongside Hjalmarsson at this time.

St. Louis Blues: Second Pairing

Robert Bortuzzo – Alex Pietrangelo

Bortuzzo and Pietrangelo HERO charts via ownthepuck

Yes, there is a problem with this pairing: both Bortuzzo and Pietrangelo are right-handed defenders. However, since we’re not looking at the power play or penalty kill necessarily, I’m willing to risk it.

Bortuzzo’s the best option the Blues have for a stay-at-home defender behind Bouwmeester, and combined with Pietrangelo’s output, this combination could be lethal for Chicago.

Pietrangelo plays a shut-down role on the Blues but his offensive talent and points production comes in right behind Shattenkirk’s. His two-way game is incredibly important in this pairing, meaning he’d work well with Bortuzzo’s defensive-defenseman mindset. His physicality complements that of Bortuzzo’s, and he has the added advantage of being a strong quarterback on the ice.

Bortuzzo’s physicality and impact on his linemate’s possession numbers is what makes him so valuable to this pairing, and why I’m willing to go out on a limb for him here. He played very little for the Blues, but the chart above encompasses his play from 2013-2015, including his time on the Penguins. Those numbers still stand, even with different teammates. If he can boost Petro’s possession numbers even higher, we’d see another couple of points out of Pietrangelo per season, and the Blackhawks, a possession-strong team, are just the ones we’d want to do it against.

Next up, we’ll take on the Winnipeg Jets!

Next: Make Or Break Year For Blues GM

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