St. Louis Blues Pushing Wrong Buttons Defensively

By Todd Panula | Oct 10, 2018

ST. LOUIS, MO - OCTOBER 4: Vince Dunn #29 of the St. Louis Blues scores a goal against the Winnipeg Jets at Enterprise Center on October 4, 2018 in St. Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Joe Puetz/NHLI via Getty Images) /

The St. Louis Blues have not started the 2018-19 season very well defensively. Despite this, the team might have looked in the wrong direction.

Whenever things do not start the way you anticipated, the reaction to that adversity can tell you a lot about people. Right now, it is not really the reaction the St. Louis Blues need from their head coach, Mike Yeo.

While nothing is set in stone, Yeo appears set to bench Vince Dunn. If that occurs, it seems as though recently acquired Jakub Jerabek would take his spot in the lineup.

Before we launch into this, I realize that a player getting benched is not the end of the world. If handled properly, it can be a good thing. If not, it can backfire. That has just as much to do with the player as it does the person benching them.

With that out of the way, I’m not a big fan of this move. Dunn is not the be-all, end-all for the Blues but he’s a very talented player. While I have not been able to watch every single minute of every single game, he seems like one of the last players you need to point a finger at in this early part of the season.

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Dunn scored the team’s only goal against Winnipeg in the season opener. While it did come in garbage time when the Jets let their guard down, it was still a nice goal.

On top of that, he is not afraid to shoot. The blue-liners for the Blues are a mixed bag when it comes to actually letting loose from the point and Dunn is one of the few that does it regularly.

One could argue that Dunn is not physical enough. He has no hits in two games, but that is not his game. He only had 29 hits in 75 games played in 2017-18. It seems unfair to suddenly expect him to be a basher when he was not asked to in his rookie campaign.

And if that is the excuse, then the finger needs to be pointed at every defender on the Blues. Nobody has wanted to put a body on anyone. I’m not even talking straight up hits. Guys have not wanted to even box anyone out. There has been far too much leaning, stick work and hoping they are in the right spot instead of moving your feet and bodying your man off.

What are we honestly expecting from Jerabek? He’s played in 36 NHL games and has eight points to his name. He was not exactly a physical force either, with 42 hits last year. Additionally, he was on the brink of going back to the Czech Republic to play. So, you wonder if his heart is fully in playing in North America or not.

If Jerabek is decent or good, then great. I just hope this is not the Oskar Sundqvist situation all over where the team feels it has to justify making a trade instead of having a player earn their time.

Also of issue is how Dunn is reported to have responded. According to the Post-Dispatch Dunn was visibly upset after his discussion in the coach’s office. While that is completely understandable, you just hope he has the mental fortitude to shrug it off and come back stronger when he gets his way back into the lineup.

Yeo is the coach and these are his decisions to make – assuming this even comes to pass. It is just puzzling since there are so many other players you could single out. I suppose, in the end, Dunn is simply the most expendable given the situation. Heaven forbid you sit down your captain or a veteran like Jay Bouwmeester who are just as much, if not more to blame for the current defensive lapses.

dark. Next. It's Early, But There Is Reason To Worry

This is not the first time that fans have been left in the dark or clueless as to why a coach sees something the fans are missing. It will not be the last either. Hopefully, for the Blues sake, this works out and is just one of those blips on the screen of a long season.

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