St. Louis Blues Power Play Improved, Too Early To Say How Much

The St. Louis Blues ended the 2017-18 season with one of the worst power plays in the league. They have clearly improved it on paper, but how well will that translate?

When it came time for the St. Louis Blues to make some roster changes for the 2018-19 season, we knew they had special teams in mind. They made the necessary changes on paper, but how much is it going to actually improve the team?

Well, so far, early in the preseason, we have seen a quite different Blues power play unit. They are definitely better than what we saw at the end of the season, but it is still far too early to say how much they are improved.

The difference was quite evident in the team’s third preseason game, playing against Columbus. While the quality of the opponent was less than what you will see come October, the Blues themselves still managed to look like a different squad.

Their passing was quick, decisive and into open space. The same could not be said of the special teams unit in 2017-18.

The main problem with St. Louis’ power play in past seasons has been a lack of execution and speed, and I do not mean skating speed. The Blues would struggle to even enter the zone on many attacks. When they did get into the zone, they were often too predictable.

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Even with teams that had suspect defenses, they would openly challenge the Blues’ attackers. I have seen some of the top penalty kills not challenge the blue lines as much as some teams push out against St. Louis.

Hopefully that will become a thing of the past. The new additions are going to want to see to that.

St. Louis has scored five power play goals through three preseason games. While they have missed on some opportunities as well, the only teams with more goals have either played more preseason games or had better power play units last season.

Regardless of the stats, the unit just looked better to the eye as well. The puck moves quicker and guys are actually taking some shots.

What is encouraging is that we have not even seen the true power play unit yet, either. This is currently a mishmash of roster hopefuls and some veterans. If they can keep the same quickness with the puck with the regulars, the team should be in good shape.

Of course, as with anything, it’s not all roses. The Blues were still struggling to even enter the zone in their three second period power plays against Columbus on September 21. They also still need to shoot a bit more from the point.

If that continues to be a problem, then we might be in for a very mixed bag of results in the regular season. It’s good to have a potent attack, but if you cannot even enter the zone then you are still going to have a fairly low percentage.

At this point in time, we can only grab onto the positives we have seen and hope it is not fool’s gold. Mike Yeo absolutely had to make changes to his system that saw the Blues go from a top-10 unit to a bottom-five.

If he has put his ego aside, this team has the talent to put some goals in the net and make teams pay for taking penalties.