St. Louis Blues: Sammy Blais, Robert Thomas, and Jaden Schwartz

The St. Louis Blues coaching staff, in particular, Craig Berube and Steve Ott have been successful so far with the top line restructuring project even though it hasn’t been consistent.

Over the course of the few games without Vladimir Tarasenko St. Louis Blues coach Craig Berube and Steve Ott have turned to Sammy Blais to start games on that top line. However, in-game switches have shown players Robert Thomas, Alex Steen, and Blais flip flop positions in the line-up.

Now from my perspective, Blais has at times looked great on the top line, but he hasn’t seemed to start games great. At the start of games he, like the Blues as a team, has looked out of place. Is it Sammy or the team as a whole that leads to my perception of Sammy?

We’ve seen Berube remove Blais from the top line in-game and go to Thomas or Steen and inserted Blais onto the third line. This move has had some success for the third line. It hasn’t always resulted in a goal, but the third line has been nearly non-existent until this in-game switch occurs.

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Is it because of Blais? I can’t say yet. One thing that is noticeable to me is that when the move occurs Sammy Blais seems to find another gear.

Whether it’s when he is on the third line with Thomas and Tyler Bozak. Thomas and Blais seem to have some chemistry and have shown they can generate some good looks in the offensive zone with great puck control by the way.

When Blais is on the third line with Bozak and Thomas Steen moves up to the first line and the three of them seem to start to get things going. Then at other times, we see Bozak, Blais, and Steen on the third line and Thomas is up with the top unit.

What has seemed most successful to me is when Blais moves down with Thomas and Steen moves up to the top unit for a time. Am I the only one noticing this?

Berube then will move Blais back up to the top line and both lines seem to get it going later in the game. I mentioned in my last two report cards it’s like the Blues team flips a switch and starts to play better.

The Corsi for suggests as much. Is that “switch” simply Sammy Blais? Is it the time he spends with Thomas on the third line moving the puck and controlling the play with him that gets him going? Is it Blais that actually gets Thomas going?

We have on our hands, for the moment, the proverbial “chicken or the egg” situation. Regardless for now whatever it is that is indeed setting off the other is working. So why do you have Jaden Schwartz in the title of this article Joe?

Well in my opinion currently the Blues are a two-line team. Their top line is at times their second line of David Perron, Ryan O’Reilly, and Zach Sanford or their fourth line of MacKenzie MacEachern, Oskar Sundqvist, and Ivan Barbashev.

You can flip flop these two lines as one and two depending on the game, but it’s irrefutable to me that these are our only two consistent lines. So where does Jaden Schwartz fall into this? Currently, Schwartz has been solely the left-wing on the “top line” alongside Brayden Schenn.

These two have generated some offense i.e. Schenn’s 10 goals and Schwartz’s 10 assists. They’re a good duo. Can’t deny that. What I am wondering is if the switch of Sammy Blais playing with Thomas for a few minutes a game is what is igniting the third and first lines, then when will we see Schenn centering Blais and Thomas, or Thomas centering Blais and Schwartz?

I can’t say what is happening when the switch is made or why they are making the move with Blais and Thomas up and down the line-up in the middle of the game. That’s a question for the coach. I think they have put Blais on the 2nd power-play unit with Thomas to hopefully generate that same effect without having to juggle the lines in-game.

Schwartz isn’t potting goals like we all hoped as of yet. I believe it’s coming, but maybe juggling him too would be what he needs to get some puck luck or find himself in better scoring position. It seems to work for Blais and Thomas.

Next. St. Louis Blues: Top 3 Reasons Early Momentum Will Continue. dark

What does come first the chicken or the egg? There is a statistically provable cause and effect in the switch. Is it Blais that’s the cause, or is he the effect of the cause? I think as the season goes on we will find the answer to that question. In any case, the Blues Whisperer, Craig Berube, is hitting the right buttons with Sammy Blais and Robert Thomas. Maybe he can spend a little time pushing Schwartz’s buttons too.

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