St. Louis Blues: Is Petteri Lindbohm in the Doghouse?

The St. Louis Blues went from having one of the older defensive corps in the league to one of the younger ones in the matter of one or two seasons. If youth seems to be the way the team is going, why has Petteri Lindbohm been passed over? Is he in the doghouse?

Not at all. It’s just unforseen circumstances have changed his position with the team. The Blues seemed very high on Lindbohm last season and coming into the 2015-16 season. Lindbohm played 23 games with the Blues last season and had a goal and an assist in that time. While those aren’t overly impressive numbers it must be known that it was his first season in North American hockey.

Lindbohm also spent 53 games in the AHL with the Chicago Wolves. He amassed 18 points (6G, 12A) in that time. Still not impressed? Nobody can blame you, but it is still impressive because that’s the most points he’s ever scored in his career and he was not only getting accustomed to another league but another country.

The most games Lindbohm had played with one team was 35, back when he was 19 playing for Jokerit Helsinki in Finland. After that he split time between Finnish teams and tournament teams, but never became too offensive.

Lindbohm still brought a toughness and physicality to the Blues last year that they were sorely lacking on a defensive group that had begun to focus too much on offense in the last few years. At 22 and standing 6’3 and 198lbs, with plenty of room to get bigger, he can be a force on the blueline.

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So, given all this and the fact that he was pretty much penciled into the lineup before preseason camp started, what happened? The problem Lindbohm now faces is he got passed up by two players that are almost carbon copies of him and what he brings to the table.

Joel Edmundson is 6’4 and 200lbs and Colton Parayko is 6’5 and 224lbs. Both play a physical style that helps clear out the front of the net and both boast blistering shots from the point. Those are all the attributes that Lindbohm was poised to bring to the Blues.

So, he has to stay in Chicago. Could he be used as trade bait? Possibly. He has a lot of the things teams are looking for in a young defenseman. The problem is that he hasn’t done too much in the NHL. Unless teams have been scouting him specifically, which is always a possibility, he hasn’t done enough to wow anyone outside of the Blues’ fanbase or oganization. The other drawback of using him in a deal is that unless he’s part of a package, it’s unlikely he would bring back much other than another prospect on his own.

Lindbohm’s time will come. There is no guarantee that Carl Gunnarsson will return next season. The Blues seem to be a bit injury prone the last couple seasons, especially on the blueline. Ken Hitchcock seems to the public to blow with the wind, but I think the passing over of Lindbohm has nothing to do with the player himself. He’ll get his chance and I still think he’ll be a valuable addition to the Blues.

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For now, he can’t look too much into players like Peter Harrold or Jordan Schmaltz getting called up to the big club. Some might question why Schmaltz got the call instead, but I believe he will not see the ice. As the season winds down for the Wolves, the team only feels it would be beneficial for Schmaltz to get practice time with the big club to see what he’s got. Plus, it’s always a big deal for any player to get his first call up.

Lindbohm need not focus on that. He simply needs to focus on his game and keep getting as many games as he can with the Wolves. Rosters can change at any moment.

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