St. Louis Blues: Grading Every Player At The All-Star Break

Forwards

Barbashev: B+

Ivan Barbashev has had a very good year to this point. Really, the only reason his grade is not higher is more because of his role.

Barbashev is often used as a center, though he switches to the wing every now and then. Despite this, his faceoff percentage is not great at 47.1% and his possession metrics are pedestrian.

Despite this, his offensive numbers are solid in a fourth line role. He has only missed two games so far and already has 20 points.

He is on pace for another career year, given that he had 26 points in 2018-19. He has already set a career best for assists with 13, topping 12 last season.

Bozak: A-

Tyler Bozak has been one of the Blues best players this season. That sounds weird to say of someone with 11 goals and 24 points, but he’s been solid in all three zones.

Bozak has chipped in on the offensive end with more regularity than 11 goals would suggest. He has one power play goal and also a shorthanded goal too.

Bozak could and should have more goals than he does. He was playing just as well earlier in the season as he was just before the break, but was totally snake-bitten. Bozak had so many chances that stayed out for whatever reason that it became a running joke that anyone else on the Blues would have scored, but he could not.

Despite moving to the wing, Bozak is still winning more than 50% of his faceoffs. His chemistry with Robert Thomas is palpable too, which has helped the young star settle in even further.

Brouwer: C

Troy Brouwer‘s grade is not so much about his play, but more his use. He has only featured in 10 games for the Blues and not since December 18.

Brouwer did score a goal during his brief time with the Blues this season. He also stepped up during a difficult time.

The Blues were beset by injuries and not having some of their prospects ready yet. So, he got a second chance at NHL life after being waived by the Florida Panthers prior to the season.

However, despite his steadiness and physicality, Brouwer has not been able to re-crack the lineup. Maybe that has more to do with the players jumping over him, but it also reflects on his current value.

de la Rose: C+

Jacob de La Rose is in a similar spot to Brouwer. He has not been bad, but having been traded for fan-favorite Robby Fabbri, he has not quite lived up to what fans hoped for.

The reality was the player de la Rose is was exactly what the Blues wanted. He fills his role and does what the team asks of him.

That is not at all flashy and produces little offensively. His career high is 12 points in 60 games and he has one goal and five points in only 28 games with the Blues.

Additionally he has been a decent penalty killer when used in that role. He also has 66 hits, which is actually fifth on the team despite having played half the games with the Blues.

Kyrou: B

Jordan Kyrou seems to have the opposite problem of some of the previous names. He is getting fewer minutes and games, but has impressed enough to earn a higher grade.

Kyrou only has two goals and four points, which does not seem that impressive. He has only featured in 12 games however.

The issue for Kyrou is something the coaching staff sees or does not see that fans don’t. Fans see the speed, tenacity, skill and scoring ability.

Despite that Kyrou has gotten benched several times and has not returned to the lineup since January 9. With players close to returning to health, the Blues will have to decide whether Kyrou will stay in the NHL or return to San Antonio.

MacEachern: B-

Mackenzie MacEachern is never going to be an offensive power house. Like his fellow fourth line players, he has a role to fill and he does a good job of it.

Offensively, he’s nothing to write home about. He has six goals and nine points in 42 games.

The Blues try to keep things simple though. They want MacEachern and his linemates to get the puck deep and forecheck like crazy. He does that well despite averaging under nine minutes per game.

O’Reilly: A-

Ryan O’Reilly has shown that 2018-19 was no fluke. Playing in St. Louis is just the right fit for him, at least with this current team.

The only reason his grade gets the minus is because of the lack of goals. Fans don’t mind so much since other players have stepped up, but even O’Reilly has not been happy with his nine goals through the break.

Outside of that, he continues to shine by example. He leads the team in assists and is second on the Blues in points.

He plays a full rink game too, leading the team with 52 takeaways. His faceoff percentage is tops on the Blues and he also has 29 blocked shots, which is tied for the most out of any of the team’s forwards.

Perron: A+

Needless to say, most people had to know this grade was coming. The guy has been just short of amazing this season.

He has 50 points in 50 games and 21 goals. For a long time, he was scoring just about every other game.

David Perron needs just eight goals and 17 more points to set new career highs. He also got voted into his very first NHL All-Star Game by the fans because of his superb production.

The chemistry he has with O’Reilly has really shined through, but it isn’t just goals set up by O’Ry. Perron has done plenty of things by himself, which he showcased with his lone All-Star goal. His Blues teammates did get assists, but it was all Perron’s doing.

Perron is no longer scoring in garbage time. He’s got eight game-winning goals so far and plenty of those came in overtime, when it matters most.

Sanford: C

Call this a personal bias if you want, but I just have not been impressed with Zach Sanford. The guy is given opportunity after opportunity and seems to do nothing with it.

He has scored a goal in the first game after the break, but he has five goals and 15 points. Not everyone can be or is expected to be a goal scorer, but when you’re playing on the team’s second line, there should be more.

Obviously the coaches see intangibles that fans do not because he keeps playing and keeps playing with O’Reilly and Perron. However, the frustrating thing is his ice time often gets limited later in games because he’s not doing something the staff wants. The juxtaposition between those two things just doesn’t register with your average viewer.

Schenn: A

If not for Perron’s incredible season thus far and Brayden Schenn having cooled off a bit lately, he’d be talked about a lot more. Schenn had a fantastic start to the season and, at the time, was the team’s most consistent scorer.

At the start of the year, combined with the goaltending, he was single-handedly leading the team to wins. His power play numbers rebounded, scoring seven of his 17 goals on the man advantage.

Schenn has cooled, but career goal numbers are still in reach. He just needs 12 goals over the team’s last 32 games to hit that mark.

The only disappointing thing about Schenn’s game now is the inconsistency of production. While he was red-hot at the start, he will go games without registering a goal and sometimes even a point. Still, it is hard to argue with his numbers and he also plays important minutes in just about every phase of the game.

Schwartz: B+

Fans love Jaden Schwartz and they should. However, he does everything so quietly that it is hard to remember that he is actually fourth on the team in points.

At the break, Schwartz had 16 goals and 40 points. If I had not checked the stats, I would not have believed he only had one fewer point and goal than Schenn because it just does not feel he has accomplished as much.

Schwartz is tied with Schenn with seven power play goals. He also has more goals this season than he scored all of 2018-19 in the regular season.

There’s just something off about his game at times that brings his grade down.

Steen: B-

Alex Steen‘s grade, honestly, is based more on current production numbers than anything. Perhaps that is not fair since he missed a good chunk of the season to this point because of injury.

Still, it is hard to judge Steen’s production anyway. On one hand, you can say four goals and 14 points in 34 games is pretty good considering not playing for over a month.

On the other hand, you can look at last year’s totals of 10 goals and 27 points in 60-plus games and wonder if these numbers would be normal no matter how many he had played. The offensive numbers have been in decline for awhile.

Still, what is impressive is Steen’s drive. Starting with last year’s acceptance of a lesser role, he has become almost rejuvinated by not being expected to produce offensively. He has refocused on the defensive end and become a key addition to any line he is on. His versatility has allowed the team to play him on the fourth line, the third line or the second line, depending on other player’s availability due to injury or performance.

Sundqvist: A

Hey, when you’re wrong, you’re wrong. I am not too prideful to admit it regarding Oskar Sundqvist.

I am not the only fan that thought he was a waste of a roster space for quite some time. He proved that wrong during last year’s playoff run and in the Stanley Cup Final. He continues to prove it wrong this season.

Sundqvist was always a decent physical player and solid defensively, but he’s improved so much skill-wise and with his confidence offensively. His 11 goals is just four shy of a new career best and he’s also got one of the team’s few shorthanded goals this year.

He is not quite as physical, with 49 hits but he has 31 takeaways with only 11 giveaways.

Thomas: A-

Robert Thomas is finally blossoming into the player Blues fans knew and hoped he would be. While he was solid throughout 2018-19, you could tell he was still a rookie.

In 2019-20, his confidence has grown leaps and bounds. He can stop on a dime and his edge work on his reversals leaves so many good defenders in the dust, it is hard to believe.

Detractors will say his point totals are not high enough, but he is still sixth on the team playing in a third line role. Two more goals will also set a new career best that will likely just continue going up over the years.

Thomas has proven to be more consistent as he has gotten more comfortable too. He struggled in the first 16 games, but scored 23 points in 28 games after that, as pointed out by Jeff Gordon.