The St. Louis Blues thought defense was going to be a strength going into 2018-19. There is plenty of time to turn things around, but frailties of certain players are going to cause issues.
The St. Louis Blues have a rather big issue at the beginning of the 2018-19 season. Quite frankly, their defense has been awful.
While that statement is true across the board, Jay Bouwmeester has become the face of the problem for St. Louis. Bouwmeester had a really rough start to the season, having extreme highs and lows, but looking like he had lost another step after a hip injury toward the end of 2017-18.
The issues Bouwmeester had became even more evident when he got benched. In a slightly surprising move, the Blues sat Bouwmeester down in their game in Toronto and the Blues won.
So, as tends to happen in the professional sports world, everyone jumps to the conclusion that Bouwmeester might/should be held out for more games. The funny thing is that debate was barely put on the burner before the gas went out.
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Bouwmeester got reinserted into the Blues lineup due to an injury to Robert Bortuzzo. So, now the Blues are presented with problems no matter the scenario.
With Bouwmeester in the lineup, the Blues have built in problems. While I do not subscribe to the theory that he is the root of all the team’s defensive issues, he has not looked good this season. He has had a good game or two, but overall, he has looked a step or two off. He has taken penalties that involve the stick, which means he is not moving his skates enough to keep up yet, which could still be a result of the hip issue.
On the flip side, the Blues are caught in a sticky situation. You can justify keeping Bouwmeester out for the random game here or there. It is harder to justify keeping him out for extended periods of time.
Even though he is in the final year of his contract, Bouwmeester is making over $5 million. Even though some fans would be perfectly fine eating that money, it does not make a ton of financial sense. To have that large a chunk of your salary cap sitting in the press box is a lot to eat.
Also, there is always the possibility of Bouwmeester rounding out his form. His days as a top pairing defenseman are likely done, but he can still play a valuable role on this team. Though he has made some early season mistakes, Bouwmeester does a lot of the little things that go unnoticed.
In a perfect world, the Blues would be able to put him on the third defensive pairing. That way, you limit his minutes both for health and performance. In that scenario you still have a quality defenseman playing but not forcing him to go up against your opponent’s top lines any more.
The bad thing is that none of the other defenders have stepped up to take his place. The Blues clearly missed Joel Edmundson’s presence and toughness when he was out. However, he can’t seem to develop any chemistry with Alex Pietrangelo. None of the other defenders have looked very good playing with Pietrangelo.
That is why the Blues are almost forced to continually use Bouwmeester on the top pairing, because he has chemistry with the captain. They might not be the best duo any longer, but they seem to play better with the other than anyone else on the roster.
If someone can step up and fill that left defenseman role, the team will be so much better off. We saw how well the team can play without Bouwmeester, but they have given us no reason to think anyone can sustain that partnership yet.
Thus, the Blues have a Bouwmeester problem. If you play him, the rest of the team gives you little other option than to pair him with Pietrangelo. If you do not play him, then you have a lot of money not playing and a decent defender not being used.
For now the team has no option but to use him if there are injuries. When everyone is healthy, it’s going to be more of a question mark.