The St. Louis Blues have had good luck with a plug-and-play roster in recent years. However, the emergence of a young defender is exciting because of the options it gives the team.
The St. Louis Blues have had to go with a next man up mentality for awhile now. Every team deals with injury throughout even the best of seasons, but it has challenged St. Louis quite a bit in 2019-20.
Of course, we all know about the loss of the team’s leading goal scorer when Vladimir Tarasenko went down. The forward group has been hit fairly hard beyond that injury, but the team has been fairly fortunate on the defensive ranks.
Colton Parayko just recently picked up an injury and has missed five games. Carl Gunnarsson is really the only other defender dealing with injury issues. Robert Bortuzzo has missed some games, but that has been more due to suspension and the team going with other options for that position.
You’re going pretty good when four of your top six defenders have played every single game. Even former iron man Jay Bouwmeester, who fans suddenly think of as injury prone after a couple unlucky seasons, has played every game.
It is the emergence of Niko Mikkola as a viable player that is quite exciting though. While only a handful of games into his career, Mikkola has quickly earned the trust of the coaches and even been given time on the penalty kill during key times of the game.
It should be said that once the team gets fully healthy along the blue line, Mikkola will likely be sent back to the AHL. It can be frustrating for the player and the fans, but it makes sense given the fact he has the contract to make that available without penalty.
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However, Mikkola does not just give the team options right now with their injury situation. He gives them off-season options, which might be even more beneficial.
The Blues have an interesting off-season coming up for the blue liners. Their main free agents will be captain Alex Pietrangelo and Bouwmeester.
Pietrangelo might be gone simply because he might expect too much money, which would handcuff the Blues even if they had the funds at the moment. Bouwmeester’s future is up in the air because of his age and not knowing how much longer he wants to play, if at all.
But, the Blues were forced to re-sign defenders recently because their defensive prospects were too much of an unknown. Many thought Bouwmeester or Gunnarsson would be allowed to walk at the end of their previous contracts. Instead, they were both re-upped – Gunnarsson’s contract runs through 2021 and Bouwmeester is up this spring – because the team did not believe Mikkola or Jake Walman were ready yet.
That might change now. Mikkola and Walman are both still young, but both showed quite well in their brief stints in the NHL this season. Mikkola seems much readier for the big league, but even Walman might be a viable option should the Blues wish to free up some cap space.
Maybe the Blues sign Bouwmeester to another one-year deal. Maybe they even bring back Pietrangelo on a “team-friendly” deal – he’s going to get paid, but this would involve an AAV that would not cripple the team’s cap situation.
If Mikkola keeps playing at the steady pace he has shown thus far, he gives the Blues the option to not do those deals or, at the very least, not feel like they HAVE to do those deals. That gives the team a lot more freedom when exploring their roster options for 2020-21.
Additionally, Mikkola gives the team more balance. When St. Louis acquired Justin Faulk for Joel Edmundson, the team suddenly became overloaded with right-handed shots. For a team that has been borderline obsessed with always having a righty-lefty defensive combination, that forced players into uncomfortable situations.
Thankfully Faulk found some comfort playing on the left with Pietrangelo. But, with Mikkola being a left-handed player, that could even the ranks a bit more. At the very least, they could replace a lefty with a lefty, should the Blues allow Bouwmeester to walk or he decides to retire.
You don’t want to put pressure on any player and stunt their development too soon. So, nobody is suggesting Mikkola is ready for a top-six role after only four NHL games.
However, he has quickly shown he can handle himself. All he really needs to do is put on a little more weight. He already has the height at 6’4 and has a reach only dwarfed by that of Parayko.
He already has the confidence of the coaching staff too. He is averaging over 15:30 minutes of ice time.
Even though he did not play poorly, Walman barely got 11 minutes in his one game. Four-plus minutes might not sound like much, but if every other defender is playing around 16 minutes or so, that’s a lot of extra shifts to be picked up. Mikkola’s usage has kept the double shifting to a minimum.
The other option the Finnish defender gives the team is having a more defensive player, while not sacrificing their transition game. Bortuzzo is a good player when it comes to positioning, physicality and grit, but he doesn’t have the footwork or puck handling to fully keep up in today’s game. What we have seen in the brief time Mikkola has been with the Blues is he does have the footwork, can skate pretty well and can move the puck, even if offense is not the main part of his game.
Again, the team might re-up with everyone and go status quo for a team that has won a championship, has a chance for a second and has been near the top of the standings for years. Still, this new wrinkle is definitely a welcome one.
The Blues now do not have to go with the status quo. They can go with that next man up mentality within free agency instead of just injury. As with any situation, it is good to have options and Mikkola has given them that.