St. Louis Blues Keeping Game 6 Lineup Options Open

The St. Louis Blues know they will be without one of their key bottom-six players for Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final. They are not letting anyone in on the secret of who will take that spot though.

If there was a living example of playing coy, it might be the St. Louis Blues as they head into Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final. The Blues know they have a lineup decision to make, but nobody has any concrete idea of who will get that spot.

What we do know is the Blues will be without the services of Ivan Barbashev. The NHL, under the guidance of its chairman of the board of governors who happens to be the Boston Bruins owner, decided to suspend a member of St. Louis for the second time this season.

The playoffs ramp up the intensity and the hitting for all teams. Even so, it seems a bit convenient that a team that had no suspensions all season suddenly have two in the very last series of the year. Also, it seems a bit convenient that of the 10 suspensions handed out during this playoff season, 7 have been players against the Bruins.

But, I digress. It does not matter now.

What matters is who is going to fill the hole left by Barbashev. Will it be someone that is a similar style and only going to fill the hole on the fourth line? Or will it be someone with a bit more talent that might push someone else further down to that fourth line spot?

The decision falls to team doctors and Craig Berube in the end. However, the choice impacts a lot in terms of what the Blues choose to do with many roster spots.

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For example, if we believe the reports that Robert Thomas could be healthy enough to be a choice, that has large ramifications. You have multiple options if you can put the future star back into the lineup.

Regardless of other players, you would assume Thomas would slot back in third line with Tyler Bozak and Pat Maroon. That line has been one of the mainstays throughout this season once the Blues turned it around. No need to rock the boat there.

It is other players that might get pushed up or down. If you want to keep things mainly the same, you just put Thomas on the third line and bump Sammy Blais down to the fourth.

That keeps Thomas in a familiar sport. It puts Blais in a role he is familiar with and that fourth line can be nothing but wrecking balls.

You could get even more creative, if Berube chose to. Another possibility is to put Thomas on the third line, move Zach Sanford down to the fourth line and then put Blais back with Ryan O’Reilly on the second line.

Sanford showed he could still fit with the fourth line in Game 4. Blais has been good with O’Reilly, taking some of the pressure off with his physical play.

Still, this all depends on a healthy Thomas, who is a game-time decision at best. The Blues are not tipping their hand, other than to say he is in the mix.

So, who else is in that mix? The most likely candidate would be Robby Fabbri.

Fabbri has seen action throughout the playoffs, coming into the series for Game 2 and staying there for Game 3. Fabbri gives you more upside potential with his speed and skill, but we have not really seen that in the playoffs. He only has one point to his name and that was a goal against Dallas back at the end of April.

Two off the radar names are Mackenzie MacEachern and Jordan Nolan. Both would be pure fill-in names on the fourth line, playing a similar style to Barbashev.

Each one has benefits and drawbacks. Nolan’s benefit is he has size, a willingness to hit and has played in a Stanley Cup Final with Los Angeles.

His drawback is he has not played in the NHL since January. Nolan has not seen game action of any kind since early April. Even with experience, that is risky to rely on a guy that has not even had a game in almost two months.

MacEachern is in a similar boat. He has not had game action in about the same amount of time. The main difference for him is he is much more familiar with this Blues squad.

Sure, the players are the same, but Nolan played with the Blues when they were still trying to turn the corner. MacEachern was part of that squad that went on a big win streak.

His last NHL game came in March, which is a lot closer to the playoffs than January. Despite not being the biggest guy out there, he throws the body like Barbashev. MacEachern had two or more hits in most of his games the entire season.

Throwing in the editorial angle, the best case scenario is Thomas coming back. Nothing against Fabbri, but he has had his shot in this playoff run and just not done enough with it.

I would leave Sanford on the second line and put Blais with the fourth. It would be a rather easy swap if you felt a need to change in game.

If Thomas cannot go, MacEachern is the better option in my mind. Nolan is not what I would call lumbering, but MacEachern is a little quicker and fits better with the Blues current style. They are both physical players, but I would rather have the guy who was with the team during their best and knows how this team ticks.

Ultimately, the Blues are fortunate to have options. If any of us had our way, we would not be talking about this and Barbashev would be in there.

All the options, including the potential for injury of Thomas, have issues. However, so many were worried about Sanford coming back in and he showed everyone.

Maybe MacEachern or Nolan is the next player to step up to the plate and come up with a big hit – no pun intended.

Either way you go, Berube has earned our trust and he will make the right decision.