The St. Louis Blues defensive core in 2017 was the strength of the team all season long and figures to be one of the strengths of the team again this season.
Led by captain Alex Pietrangelo, the St. Louis Blues will bring back the entire defensive core that they had a year ago. The Blues were sixth in the league in goals allowed and with players recovering from injuries, the Blues should be at the top of the league again this year.
The defense has been the strength of the Blues for a number of years now. When the offense has had lapses in production, the Blues defensive unit has kept them in a position to succeed in the regular season.
The Blues defensive core struggled to stay healthy during a critical set of games down the stretch at the end of the 2017 season. The team was forced to sign Mitch Reinke out of college and bring up players like Jordan Schmaltz and Nate Prosser.
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Colton Parayko was one of two Blues and the only defenseman to play all 82 games in 2018.
Parayko was second among defensemen on the team in points with 35 and averaged 22:37 time on ice.
Offensively it seems like Parayko has much more potential than what he has shown in his short career.
This has given some fans justification to want to trade him, however, it might be wise to hang on to Parayko because of the depth that was exposed toward the end of the season last year.
Pietrangelo was one of the best defensemen in the entire NHL. He was one of the biggest factors to the historic start the Blues had to their season and was one of the early favorites to win the Norris Trophy.
Appearing in 78 games, Pietrangelo netted 15 goals to lead all Blues defensemen in both categories. There isn’t much that needs to be said about the captain heading into training camp, except to tell you to expect much of the same from Pietrangelo in 2018.
Vince Dunn was one of the best surprise players the Blues had last season. The 21-year-old played in 75 games for St. Louis and was paired with Alex Pietrangelo for the majority of the season.
Dunn could and should be around for a long time in St. Louis and look for him to have another successful year with a full season under his belt.
Joel Edmundson had another solid season for the Blues after an impressive postseason performance in 2016. He, like many other Blues defensemen, had one of his best offensive seasons a year ago.
He set a career high in goals with seven and in points with 17. Edmundson has also shown that he can fill the role of enforcer if the need arises.
Look for Edmundson to have another solid season and to be paired with Parayko quite a bit. He may not have the same potent offensive season he had a year ago, but he is a big piece to the blue line.
Two players of concern for St. Louis are Carl Gunnarsson and Jay Bouwmeester who are both coming off of injuries that ended their season early.
Age is the primary concern with both of these players. Bouwmeester will be 35 on opening night and Gunnarsson will be 31. So it will be interesting to see how these two respond after missing meaningful games down the stretch.
Bouwmeester has shown in the past that he can be an all-star caliber player both internationally and in the NHL. We will see if he is paired with Pietrangelo like he has been for the majority of his career.
The defensive depth is not the team’s strength, we saw the team struggle to put NHL ready players on the ice for the final two weeks of the season. However, if everyone can stay healthy, the St. Louis Blues should have one of the best defensive units in the entire NHL.