St. Louis Blues: What Have You Done With The Real Oskar Sundqvist?
By Jason Martin
Oskar Sundqvist has been the surprise player for the St. Louis Blues so far this season and questions need to be raised, where did the real Sundqvist go?
If this is the real version of Oskar Sundqvist, then both the St. Louis Blues and its fans should be ecstatic. The trade for Sundqvist in June of 2017 was one of the best trades of Doug Armstrong’s tenure.
Acquired from the Pittsburgh Penguins for Ryan Reaves and a second round pick, the Blues also received a first-round pick in the deal, which they then used to draft top prospect Klim Kostin.
To say that Sundqvist has taken his time developing would be a gross understatement. He has played three professional seasons in the NHL prior to the current season and has a combined total of nine points.
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Sundqvist is a former 20 goal scorer in the AHL, yet that has still not translated to the NHL.
That is, until the 2018-2019 season with the St. Louis Blues. Although Sundqvist’s scoring threat has not been consistent all year, he has played at least one aspect of the game exceptionally well every single night.
The influx of goals for the Swede has come just recently, however, his ability to perform in other areas of the ice has not been a recent revelation for the Blues.
From day one, Sundqvist has been one of the team’s best penalty killers and has played especially well with Ivan Barbashev next to him on the same line. The idea of having two fourth liners on the same penalty kill unit frightened me at first, but that fear was quickly abolished after seeing what the two were capable of.
The goal scoring is new and quite frankly has come out of absolute nowhere but is a more than welcome addition to Sundqvist’s skill set.
He somehow sits fifth on the team in goals with eight, while seven of those goals have come at even strength which is how many goals Vladimir Tarasenko has at even strength.
Overall, he is tenth on the team in points with 14, ahead of names like Colton Parayko, Pat Maroon, and Robby Fabbri.
In the absence of key injured players all season long, the Blues needed someone to step up, and if Sundqvist can continue the offensive success, St. Louis may get back into the race after all.
Next. Klim Kostin Makes Headlines At Worlds. dark
If this is the version of Sundqvist that we see for the foreseeable future, then the Blues are much closer to competing than many people anticipated. His offensive turnaround has been great to see, and it will be interesting to see if he can maintain it.