St. Louis Blues Might Be Better Without Paul Stastny

The St. Louis Blues are in an interesting position with each game that goes forward. Do you keep the status quo since you’ve won or tinker with the lineup?

The St. Louis Blues might have a conundrum in the not too distant future. They have some players getting healthy, but should they really tinker with what has brought them to this point?

While everyone is about the hot take these days, there really is not a good answer. There are positives to bringing back players that helped the Blues surge into a guaranteed divisional playoff spot. There are positives to just going with the guys that got you a 3-0 series lead too.

The main name behind all this talk is Paul Stastny. The Blues main center, regardless of which line he is on, is approaching health after sustaining a broken foot back on March 21.

Stastny skated with the team for the first time since the injury on Tuesday, April 18. It seems unlikely that he will be good to go for Game 4 against Minnesota, but nothing is out of the question.

For right now, the Blues are playing it coy.

“Same as what he was the other day-to-days,” Mike Yeo said. “Well, every day is a new day. I’m running out of things to say.”

If Stastny is skating now, he’s actually right about on schedule. Now, nobody thought the Blues would even be in a position to end the series in four games, so perhaps it’s a little early.

Nevertheless, it was on the six week schedule for healing that would have put Stastny available for the second round. So, it seems like that is a very good possibility.

If the second round does come for the Blues, that seems like the best time to make lineup decisions. What happens if the Blues don’t win Game 4 or Stastny is medically cleared for Game 4?

Do they insert him in there? Do they tempt fate by putting an untested foot in a high pressure situation with a lot on the line?

I like Stastny. I think he’s better than a lot of Blues fans give him credit for and better than his stats have shown.

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His biggest downfall has been his contract. If he was getting paid $6 million or under, his numbers might not seem so bad, but it’s hard for any non-scorer to live up to a $7 million deal.

However, the Blues just don’t have a good history when tinkering with a good thing. Just look at all those good teams in the 90’s that had the rug pulled out from under them when Ron Caron made his annual trade.

The trades usually brought in a pretty good return, but the team chemistry suffered for it. Both trades, one to acquire and one to send away, Garth Butcher were prime examples.

However, this situation is slightly different. The Blues have been winning, but with the exception of Game 3, it was not exactly convincing.

Game 1 was more luck than anything. Game 2 was better, but still too much reliance on Jake Allen and then the third game was actual Blues hockey.

There’s just a lot of questions to be answered. How much, if at all, would Stastny have made a difference in any of those games?

He’s a great playmaker, but with the Blues chances somewhat limited, would he really free up any ice? If the answer is no, then what advantage do the Blues get by brining him back for this series.

The one thing that the Blues do need desperately that Stastny brings is faceoff wins. The Blues have averaged 20% fewer wins at the dot than Minnesota.

“Obviously that’s one of the bigger parts,” Alex Pietrangelo said. “On the left side, he wins a lot of draws. It would take pressure off other guys, too. I think their team is really good, their four centermen, they even have a couple of guys on the wing that can win draws. It’s tough on our guys right now but they’re doing their best.”

While St. Louis has managed to win, it gets a lot more difficult when you aren’t winning pucks on restarts. You’re putting a lot of pressure on your defense and goaltending that way.

Even so, how much can one man do? If he wins three or four more faceoffs, the Blues percentage only goes up a few points.

On top of that, Stastny would almost surely replace Ivan Barbashev on the top line. While you can’t expect the rookie to be a top line center from here on out, he seems to have developed some good chemistry with Vladimir Tarasenko and Jaden Schwartz.

However, there is always the Jori Lehtera affect. How much can you rely on “chemistry” if Barbashev is not getting points?

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Still, it seems too early to make any changes. If the Blues start looking like a different team and you have a healthy Stastny, then you make the switch.

If nothing changes though, I say stick the the lineup that got you a 3-0 lead. If he is good to go in the next round, so much the better. No need to rush it if the team is doing well though.

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