St. Louis Blues: New Blues Team Has Some Similarities To The 2015-2016 Team

The new look St. Louis Blues has some similarities to the Blues team that made it all the way to the Western Conference Finals in 2016 and could be poised to make another deep playoff run this season.

The St. Louis Blues have 13 players remaining on the roster from the 2015-2016 team that reached the conference finals three years ago. Vladamir Tarasenko was the leading scorer and point-getter from one of the most successful Blues teams in recent memory.

The key to the Blues success that year was physical play, dynamic powerplay, and four lines that were all capable of producing on any given night. A team led by captain David Backes and featured a young Robby Fabbri, with veteran leadership from players like Troy Brouwer and Steve Ott, were able to lead St. Louis to two wins shy of a Stanley Cup Final birth.

St. Louis brought in players like Tyler Bozak and David Perron who have had recent playoff success. Ryan O’Reilly was brought in to create more depth to the center position and is one of the best two-way forwards in the league.

The 2016 team had some questions in net although having two capable goalies in Jake Allen and Brian Elliot, both saw significant time in both the regular season and the playoffs. The same can be said for the 2018-2019 team.

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The Blues will need to count on Allen to be a real number one goalie this season. St. Louis will start with Chad Johnson as his backup and has been a backup goalie for the majority of his career.

Although some of the Blues fanbase has criticized the play of Jake Allen recently, Allen has had success in postseason play in years past.

The margin for error for Allen during the upcoming season may the smallest he has had during his NHL career. Outside of the backup goalie Johnson, Ville Husso who is one of the games top goalie prospects, figures to be next in line as the Blues goalie.

The powerplay for the Blues should also be greatly improved from a season ago. St. Louis finished 30th in the powerplay last year but with some key additions offensively, the man advantage could be a weapon once again.

The Blues ranked 6th on the powerplay in 2016, Tarasenko led the way with 12 goals and 12 assists. The powerplay featured big bodies like David Backes and Troy Brouwer who also contributed with eight and seven goals respectively.

The young players of the Blues in 2016 also contributed in a big way for the team, Jayden Schwartz (23), Colton Parayko (22), and Robby Fabbri (20) all played major roles for the club.

A similar situation could be said for the 2018 team as well, players like Robert Thomas (19), Jordan Kyrou (20), and Vince Dunn (21) could all make significant contributions to the Blues success this season.

Robby Fabbri had some success in 2015-2016 as well, and all reports ahead of training camp say that he is healthy and ready to contribute. He could be the biggest key to the reason why the Blues return to the playoffs.

There are many other contributors that could lead to the Blues success in 2018, but the roster seems to be set up for success. St. Louis only missed the playoffs by a single point a year ago, and with the new additions, the Blues should find their way back in the postseason.