The St. Louis Blues are on the verge of having all their potential players healthy for the first time in 2018-19. That might be the worst thing possible for the team at this point.
Health is supposed to be a good, if not great, thing, especially in professional sports. Unfortunately, in the world of the St. Louis Blues, health might cause more problems than it will give answers.
In the past few days, we have seen reports that guys like Robby Fabbri, Carl Gunnarsson, Oskar Sundqvist and Nikita Soshnikov are all on the verge of returning to the club for active duty. The Blues just sent Fabbri and Gunnarsson to San Antonio for conditioning assignments. So, what is so wrong with any of that?
If you are a fan of any one of those individuals, nothing. If you are hoping to see a more dynamic fourth line, it throws a big wrench in everything. It is also going to cause a lot of headaches for the coaching staff, one way or the other.
The thing the Blues are going to have to decide very quickly is how they want to play and what they expect from their fourth line. While the results are not coming as we hoped at the beginning of the season, you can make things even worse if you try to mix and match the wrong kind of player.
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If you want to go back to the old school type of fourth line, you have the players to do so. If you want to go with a more dynamic fourth line with skilled players, you have to start showing some trust.
For example, the Blues played Robert Thomas in the team’s first five games or so. After that, he did not see the ice even when there were a couple injuries here or there.
With Ivan Barbashev being able to play center, the Blues could still go with the more skilled option as a fourth line. Mike Yeo just needs to start showing a little more trust in that line if you are going to go that route. If you have a skilled line, you have to have faith they made the team for a reason, not just to be used in situations where you are up by a goal or two.
On the flip side, as mentioned, the Blues still have the players to play a more traditional fourth line role. Chris Thorburn is in the AHL. You also have Jordan Nolan and Soshnikov.
If you want to play Sundqvist, that is the staff’s decision, but at this point I think he has been used to his full potential and that is to say he has no more potential with this team. He offers no offense and very little in terms of physicality, despite his size.
So, it basically boils down to Yeo and company figuring out how they want this team to play. You are going to wear out your top players if you continually go with 2.5 lines in crunch time. You are not going to develop Thomas by not playing him at all.
However, the one thing this team cannot do is try to mix and match. It does nobody any good if you play someone like Thomas with Thorburn or Sundqvist. You are not doing either the skilled guys nor the physical ones any favors by trying to force them on a line with a completely different player.
While you or I may not like it, this team could theoretically be better off with a more traditional fourth line. Unfortunately, the Robert Thomas situation clouds everything.
Everyone has already said he cannot learn any more by returning to junior hockey. However, you have to find slots for Fabbri and all the other players mentioned. So, the Blues have to determine how they want to play and if Thomas even fits in that equation.
All of that is just discussing the forwards. Gunnarsson’s return complicates the scenario with Jay Bouwmeester as well.
If it was up to me, I would go with the more skilled option and just let them work things out and trust them later in games. If the team is already taking lumps anyway, you might as well develop guys while taking them.
Thus, the Blues are in an odd predicament. When you go into a season, you are hoping for everyone to be healthy. Right now, it seems like getting more players into a jumbled mess only complicates the problems. Fortunately, we are not the ones that have to make the ultimate decision (though we would all like the paycheck).