St. Louis Blues Final Grades

B-. <a href=. Forward. . Jori Lehtera

Kevin Shattenkirk. C+. Kevin Shattenkirk gets a high C and I struggled with giving him that based on the eye test of his playoffs.  He deserves a high grade for his regular season.  He had a career high in goals.  He was just a point shy of tying a career high in points.  He also had two goals and 11 points in the playoffs, despite the overall perception of his postseason.  However, defensively, he took major strides backwards.  He was a -14 in the regular season, a career worst, and even worse a -8 in the playoffs.  Whether due to injury or something else, he seems to have shied away from the physical aspect of the game, especially in the postseason.  The sad thing is he has gone from a player nobody wanted to leave to someone the majority of people would be fine with including in a trade.. Defenseman.

<a href=. Defenseman. . Alex Pietrangelo. A-

A+. <a href=. Defenseman. . Colton Parayko

<a href=. Forward. . Paul Stastny. B

A-. Playoff <a href=. Forward. . Troy Brouwer

B-. <a href=. Forward. . Jaden Schwartz

David Backes. A-. <a href=. Forward.

A. People only look at regular season goals and think <a href=. Forward. . Alexander Steen

. Robby Fabbri. A. <a href=. Forward

A-. <a href=. Forward. . Vladimir Tarasenko

A. The goaltending battle continues to be a topic of much disagreement in St. Louis and it isn’t likely to be solved anytime soon.  People continually want to bash <a href=. Goaltender. . Jake Allen

Goaltender. . Brian Elliott. A+. Brian Elliott had an absolutely fantastic year.  He went into the season, primarily as the backup or 1b option.  When Jake Allen went out with injury, Elliott more than stepped up.  He led the league with a .930 save percentage and had 2.07 goals against – the second best mark in his career.  His 9-9 playoff record wasn’t quite what he would have liked, but he was the main reason the Blues even got as far as they did.  He had a fine .921 save percentage in the playoffs and kept his goals against at 2.44, which was only that high due to a few games where the Blues gave up four or more.  Even regardless of stats, he was a driving force behind the team’s success and deserved all the praise he got.

The Blues had a great season, but it can’t be seen as a success since they didn’t win it all.  That doesn’t mean it’s a failure either.  The Blues finished just behind the best team in the conference in the regular season.  They beat the defending champions and the top team in the Western conference in the playoffs.  On the flip side, they had fewer goals than recent years and relied too heavily on their goaltenders.  All things considered, it was a good year and hopefully one to build on.. . . St. Louis Blues. B+