St. Louis Blues New Year Resolutions For The Defensemen

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The St. Louis Blues are a team in dire need of some changing. What better time to start than with a new year and what better unit to focus on than the defense?

When we came into the 2018-19 season, we all thought the St. Louis Blues had a sure thing when it came to defense. Nobody thought this team was going to be the second coming of the 1995 New Jersey Devils, but they did not have to be.

The defense was the mainstay. There was no need to make any big offseason adjustments to that unit since they had been the strength of the team over the past couple coaching regimes.

How wrong we were, apparently. To open the season, the unit was about as big a mess as you could have.

There were players overskating and over reaching in how much they would join the offense or when. Conversely, you would have guys that looked like they had never skated. Defenders were set in stone, regardless of whether it was the right or wrong position to begin.

It was a depressing time that has not fully erased itself as the season progressed. How could things have gone so wrong when everyone coming back was a veteran?

The only player without significant NHL experience was Vince Dunn and he was one of the team’s brighter spots in 2017-18. Instead, the defense seemed to trigger everything wrong with the team.

Their lack of scoring seemed due to the forwards having to defend too much. The goaltending was an issue because even Hall of Fame goalies in their prime would not have made saves on some of the chances the defenders gave up.

Things have progressed. The defense has tightened up and the Blues look better because of it. There are still things they must strive to do better in 2019 though.

Jay Bouwmeester

Jay Bouwmeester is one of the puzzling cases of this current St. Louis Blues team. While he has been in somewhat of a decline anyway, things were just crazy at the start of 2018-19.

However, part of Bouwmeester’s problem has been perception. When the Blues acquired him, he was still near the top of his offensive prowess. When St. Louis got him, partly by design and partly by age, he became much more of a defensive defenseman.

The problem there is his defense was nonexistent to begin 2018-19. Bouwmeester has gotten much better with health and time, but he is still currently a minus-10 even after a good rebound.

So, Bouwmeester has a couple things on his New Year Resolution list. One is within his control and another is out of it.

The first is to get out of the way. That is an easy thing to say, but a heard thing to do.

Bouwmeester had a big problem of being one of the worst offenders of blocking his own goalie. Some of it had to do with his linemate, but we will get to that.

Bouwmeester was hampered by a hip injury that too many people thought he was fully healed from. It took far too long for him to get his legs underneath him. Combining that with his age, Bouwmeester was little more than a body out on the ice.

Now that he seems to have righted the ship, his positioning has gotten a lot better. Bouwmeester has even gained a physical side too. It might be physical for Bouwmeester, but it is physical nevertheless.

That brings us to the part that is out of his control. It would be in Bouwmeester’s and the Blues’ best interest to keep him away from Alex Pietrangelo.

The two used to be the perfect pair together. Now, Pietrangelo seems to be part of the defensive problem and definitely not a good combination for Bouwmeester.

At this stage, I don’t care which one you put on the top pairing. Keep them separated though and they might play well again.

We have seen them paired together again since Petro’s injury was done and the results have been mixed at best. It would be best for all involved to let them play with others.

Colton Parayko

Colton Parayko has shown quite a bit since getting top-line minutes due to Pietrangelo’s injury. It was great to see him step up to the plate.

The problem was that it took that situation for him to step up. Parayko’s start to 2018-19 was as bleak as the team’s.

He seemed to have regressed to the point where people were questioning whether he was truly a keeper any longer. With rumors swirling of interest from teams like Toronto, plenty of fans were willing to hear what the offers were.

Joel Edmundson

Joel Edmundson is in an odd position in 2018-19. Like Parayko, he seemed to have regressed at the beginning of the season.

Some of that can be blamed on the entire team flaming out. Some of it is just due to him having a bad season.

Edmundson is not really an offensive player, so it is too much to ask for him to become more of an offensive piece. Like Parayko, he is also not an overly physical player, though he is more than willing to mix it up when needed.

Edmundson’s resolution needs to be to stay out of the penalty box. His penchant for taking a seat in the sin bin is becoming a problem.

As of January 4, with the Blues not having played half a season yet, Edmundson has taken 52 penalty minutes. For perspective, his career high is 63 penalty minutes.

Two fights and one penalty and he’s got a new career high, which is not really a good thing.

Edmundson is not nearly as bad as David Perron, who cannot stop taking offensive zone penalties. However, it’s not just the penalties that are troublesome. Edmundson keeps taking them at the wrong times.

Stick infractions and holding calls are not effort penalties. You can take the ones where he is sticking up for teammates, but the ones where it is just not keeping your feet moving or poor positioning need to be eliminated.

There is still a lot of potential in Edmundson. He needs to get it figured out though since he might be costing himself money in the offseason.

LOS ANGELES, CA – MARCH 10: Robert Bortuzzo #41 of the St. Louis Blues celebrates his goa with Carl Gunnarsson #4 to take a 1-0 lead over the Los Angeles Kings during the first period at Staples Center on March 10, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images) /

Carl Gunnarsson and Robert Bortuzzo

Carl Gunnarsson and Robert Bortuzzo are very different defenders. They play different styles and are used in different situations.

However, their resolution is basically the same. They need to stay healthy.

You can say that about a lot of players, mostly on the forward side. However, their injuries over the last couple years and definitely in 2018-19 have become troublesome.

The main reason the Blues need these guys healthy is not because they are high-end defenders. They are basically second or third-line defenders.

St. Louis needs bodies though. Their prospect defensemen in the AHL have talent, but have shown themselves to be unreliable, at best, defensively.

With Bortuzzo and Gunnarsson, you know what you are getting. They are not the greatest, but they are steady and reliable when healthy.

Bortuzzo has been the most up and down, but that is mostly because, like Edmundson, he can take penalties at the wrong time. Gunnarsson’s biggest problem is that he simply disappears. You can go multiple games without even knowing he was out there.

In spite of that, he is dependable. You know he is not going to make the game-costing mistake.

Bortuzzo gives you some physicality and also makes few mistakes.

The Blues just need them out there. They are not going to take this team to new heights, but they play their part.

Vince Dunn

In his short time with the Blues, Vince Dunn has proven a capable replacement for someone like Shattenkirk, even if it was a year too late. His offensive game is not part of the problem.

Dunn currently has three goals and 16 points. His career best is five goals and 24 points. If he keeps up the pace, he’ll set new records in his second year, though it is usually disappointing if you do not eclipse your rookie numbers.

Dunn is serviceable defensively. While he still has a lot to improve on positionally, he hasn’t been that bad. As of writing, he sits at a plus-3, which is fourth best on the team.

Dunn’s resolution has to be to take better care of the puck. While everyone on the Blues has a problem with it, Dunn’s ability to turn the puck over at the worst time has been somewhat of a deal breaker and put him in the position of becoming expendable so early in his career.

Dunn currently has 28 giveaways through 36 games played. He had 38 in 75 games in 2017-18.

Even if he cleans up his game quite a bit, he’s almost assured to set a new career mark. With a team that has been making themselves look so slow by giving so many odd-man rushes. Some of those have been due to Dunn himself.

He attempts far too many stretch passes. That seems to be the way the current NHL game is going, but Dunn is still in his infancy of development and trying too hard.

The turnovers he makes often lead to rushes the other way due to the forwards getting caught unaware. Again, this is not a problem only subject to him, but it is something he has to change.

Alex Pietrangelo

This is the hardest one to pinpoint because it is so hard to pinpoint what the heck has gone wrong with the Blues captain.

In one offseason, Alex Pietrangelo somehow went from a Norris Trophy contender to one of the biggest disappointments on this team. There has not just been regression, but a total 180.

He has gone from being a top-end defender and a reliable offensive weapon to someone that looks completely lost. He has no clue about his position, has no physicality and his offensive ability has managed to go completely off the rails.

Pietrangelo does have five goals in 27 games, but it’s not the goals that are lacking. Like Dunn, Pietrangelo just can’t seem to keep a hold of the puck.

This is nothing new, since Pietrangelo set a new record for giveaways in 2017-18.

We were constantly blaming his downturn on Bouwmeester, but Bouwmeester’s turnaround in Pietrangelo’s absence seems to indicate that this is a personal problem for Petro.

He needs to figure things out. We can blame having kids and that is a huge life change. However, this is beyond a lack of sleep. There is a pure lack of focus that you just cannot have in your captain.

Perhaps that is the most disappointing thing from Pietrangelo. He seems to have lost the locker room.

Some how, some way, he has to get that back. That might need to come before he can correct the things on the ice.

Maybe Pietrangelo was the wrong choice for the C. We will never know. However, the Blues are not really in a position where they can give him up and expect someone in the minors to fill in equally.

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So, Pietrangelo has to find his way or he may end up elsewhere. The Blues also have to make their own decisions about whether this is a blip on the screen or a problem that will only get worse.

If Petro can turn things back around, he will make the decision much easier for the Blues. If not, it might be another failed experiment on the blue line.

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