St. Louis Blues: Changes to Lineup Not Good Enough

Ahead of the biggest game of the year, the St. Louis Blues have made slight changes to the lineup. These changes are not good enough.

The St. Louis Blues looked really bad in game six. They looked so bad, that it warranted a good amount of line changes. Ken Hitchcock is of course “playing it safe” in the biggest game of the season and hasn’t made one change to his top three lines for tonight’s game.

Break up STL Line

One of the biggest stories of the weekend has been Vladimir Tarasenko‘s ice time in the playoffs. Tarasenko has for some reason saw a decreased amount of ice time and defensive forwards like Paul Stastny and Troy Brouwer have seen more time than the Blues’ best forward and best goal scorer has.

One of the biggest reasons for this is because of the player who is centering him and Jaden Schwartz in Jori Lehtera. Lehtera had a 50.1% faceoff percentage in the regular season, in the playoffs, Lehtera has a 49.4% in 87 attempts. 

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Lehtera is not good at taking the draw and it is extremely evident, and this has led to Hitch holding the “STL” line back at times. Hitch is married to Lehtera centering Tarasenko and Schwartz for some stupid reason and it is ruining the team’s ability to get their best players on the ice.

The one player that needs to be centering this line is the player who hasn’t had a shot to be the player he can be since he came here last season, that is Paul Stastny. Paul Stastny in the regular season played in 15 games less than Jori Lehtera and took 1220 faceoffs, winning 684 of them for a 56.1% faceoff percentage. Lehtera only took 969 faceoffs in 15 more games than Stastny.

In the playoffs, Stastny has won 76 of 144 attempts. Nearly doubling the amount of draws that Lehtera has taken. Meaning that Stastny has been on the ice more often and has been more productive from the dots.

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Yet, somehow Ken Hitchcock thinks Paul Stastny is a grinder and not a playmaking performer who could elevate Schwartz and Tarasenko. Moving Stastny to the Tarasenko line gives that line not just someone who can win faceoffs and keep that line on the ice, but it gives the line an experienced playoff performer who has a much better stick and puck awareness than Lehtera.

Lehtera is a decent player and the chemistry between him and Tarasenko is noted, but Stastny is the better player and should be paired with the players that help him prove that he is worth the money he is being paid.

Edmundson Returns

I do however appreciate Ken Hitchcock ending the Robert Bortuzzo craziness by bring Joel Edmundson back. The rookie has played very well this season, and can be the type of player who can be an irritant as well as shoring up the defensive side of things by keeping left-handed players on the left side and right-handed players on the right side.

With Kevin Shattenkirk having a bad game in game six, this was largely due to him not playing on the side he is normally playing. He looked uncomfortable and out of place. Bringing Edmundson back into the lineup is the best move Hitchcock has made.

The Moose Will Return

I have high confidence that Brian Elliott is going to play like a man possessed in the pipes tonight. The thought of sitting him in favor of Jake Allen is absolutely ludicrous at this point. Elliott has answered the bell night in and night out during this series and has helped this team stay in games they probably shouldn’t have stayed in.

Throw the stats out the window,  I strongly feel like Ells is going to show us all why we cheer “MOOOOSE” after every big save. I won’t go as far to say that I expect a shutout from Elliott tonight, but I think that he is going to do what it takes to get the team a victory tonight. There will be no cheap goals allowed tonight.

Next: The Time is Now for this Blues Team

Tonight is the night for this team to rise up and do what nobody expects them to do. I will be cheering for this team no matter what tonight, but tonight is the night to get things done or an early exit will come yet again.