Three St. Louis Blues Who Can Surprise In the 2020 Playoffs
The St. Louis Blues had some unexpected players step up big time in the 2019 playoffs. Who might be the ones to come up big in 2020?
The St. Louis Blues won the 2019 Stanley Cup as a collective. While they got huge contributions from their big names, they were a whole as opposed to the sum of their parts.
The Blues had 11 goals from Vladimir Tarasenko, 12 from Jaden Schwartz and 23 points from Conn Smythe winner Ryan O’Reilly. They also four goals, including one game winner, from Oskar Sundqvist and five goals from Tyler Bozak.
Those guys filled roles during the regular season. They expanded upon those roles in the playoffs and were key pieces in a championship run.
So, if the Blues are to make another run in 2020, who might be the names to step up this season? You could very well get similar players to come up big.
Sundqvist could very well have another solid playoff run. He had a solid season before the shutdown.
However, at this point, he has proven his worth already. It would not necessarily be a surprise in and of itself.
So, with that in mind, who are the players that might surprise us and have really good playoff performances in 2020? Let’s take a look.
Sammy Blais
Sammy Blais was used mainly in an energy role during the 2019 NHL Playoffs. He only saw action in 15 of the team’s 26 games.
In that time, he was productive enough. He scored a goal and had three points.
Blais also had 10 penalty minutes. You can look at that as good or bad, but he was engaged and agitating.
However, he can do even better than that. I believe he will.
What we saw to start the 2019-20 season is more of what I expect to see from Blais in the playoffs. He is not going to forget his “roots” and give up the physical side of the game.
He is going to be able to help on the offensive end though. When this season began, Blais was a house of fire.
Blais had three goals in his first five game. He had five goals in his first 15 games. That might not sound like a ton, but it is solid numbers for a guy typically playing third or fourth-line minutes. Blais was on enough of a roll at the start of the season, there were mild rumblings that he could be an All-Star candidate.
If Blais could give the Blues five goals or more in a playoff run, that’s more production than most would expect. That is just the sort of bump you need from “role players”.
Marco Scandella
Some people might be scratching their heads about this one. Marco Scandella doesn’t play the type of game to where he will be a big time playoff producer.
That is true, from an offensive standpoint. Scandella is not a goal scorer, having hit double digits once in his 10 year career.
He is going to do things elsewhere that free up other teammates to do the offensive work though. Scandella is going to be the steady presence the Blues need to solidify the back end and let the offensive players focus on that side of the ice.
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Jay Bouwmeester got a lot of flack from Blues fans in recent years. However, without his goal line stop against the Dallas Stars in Game 7, there would have been no hometown hero and there would have been no Stanley Cup down Market Street.
I expect something similar from Scandella during this playoff run. That is not to say he will make a specific play we can all point to that saved the entire thing. You don’t always need something so eye catching.
He is going to make plays, make stops and just be a solid, defensive presence. His immediate connection with Colton Parayko is going to benefit the team in immense ways.
Parayko has become a defense-first player. If Scandella can take any bit of that pressure off of him, Parayko becomes freer to unleash on the offensive end.
Additionally, since he is not expected to do much offensively, any contribution on the offensive end will be a welcome one from Scandella. It’s not as though he is incapable either.
When with the Minnesota Wild, Scandella scored two goals in each of the team’s longest playoff runs. Four goals is not a lot, but four goals in 23 games from a defensive defenseman is welcome production.
Justin Faulk
The irrational hate Justin Faulk has received since arriving in St. Louis is kind of sad, really. The guy has not had a great year, there is little debate there.
However, one off season does not make him a bad player. It does not mean he is not a top two or top four defenseman.
There is a reason he was on the top pairing with the Carolina Hurricanes and served as co-captain of their team for a time. That reason is not that the Hurricanes were a bad team with no other options either.
Faulk is a good player. He lacks the defensive skill that others on this team possess, but there have been plenty of Blues players in the past that were not great defenders and yet they were fan favorites.
No offense, but I find it odd that there were a large number of fans that would have been more than willing to give Kevin Shattenkirk a similar deal to what the Blues gave Faulk. Yet only one player has the contract held over his head.
Regardless, I believe Faulk’s true talents will come out in this playoff run. Accept it or not, Faulk clearly had a difficult time adjusting to a new team and city.
He had only ever played for the Hurricanes, so it likely came as a complete shock to be dealt away. The Blues put him in a different role, took responsibility away and gave him a revolving door of teammates to play alongside.
Faulk succeeding in the playoffs will depend slightly on having a steady linemate. The staff has to do what they feel best, but if Faulk can play with one player the vast majority of the playoffs, he is going to have success.
Faulk is not just an offensive player either, evidence to the contrary. Over the last five seasons, he has averaged 120 hits.
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We might not have seen as much of that with the Blues, but he has an edge to his game when necessary. His one playoff season in Carolina, he had 43 hits in just 15 games. He will take the body when he needs to.
I believe he is going to find his offensive game too. If put in the right situations, I could easily see Faulk scoring four or five goals during this playoff run.