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”.