St. Louis Blues: Best American Players In The Note

Defensive pairs

Joe Micheletti
Rik Wilson

I’ll be honest. Defense was hard to pick. There were some good players, but not quite the quality of the forwards.

Even so, that should take no shine off players like Joe Micheletti and Rik Wilson or any of the other blue liners.

Unfortunately, Micheletti’s career was cut short. He only had six years in professional hockey and only three years were in the NHL. His first three years were with Calgary and Edmonton in the WHA before they were merged.

Still, Micheletti brought a more energetic style for the day. The Blues brought him in hoping for the 14 goals he had scored with Edmonton, but he struggled with the transition to the NHL. In his second season with the Blues, he fared better with four goals and 31 points.

His defense shined better that season too. He was a plus-13 that season. It doesn’t hurt Micheletti’s case that he still remains one of the team’s best color commentators too.

Like Micheletti, Wilson was not an offensive dynamo, but he was consistent. In four full seasons, he averaged five goals with the Blues and 19 points. Not mouth watering stats, but very solid and something you could count on from a defensive player.

Gordie Roberts
Kevin Shattenkirk

When Gordie Roberts came into the league, he was a pretty big player. 6’1, 195 lbs doesn’t sound big, but it was for the 1970’s. Roberts was another player that flourished offensively in the WHA and didn’t get that offense to move to the NHL.

Still, he was a pretty good player for the Blues. Like Wilson, he was consistent, even if he did not put up big numbers.

His role on this particular team would be more defensive oriented anyway. Kevin Shattenkirk is your offense.

Shattenkirk’s offense was something the team came to count on. When healthy, and playing non-labor shortened seasons, he regularly scored double-digit goals and 40-plus points. Shattenkirk’s years in St. Louis remain the most productive of his career finishing with 58 goals and 258 points in parts of seven seasons.

Rick Zombo
Dwight Schofield

Rick Zombo is not a player you bring in for offense, but that’s why he fits so well on this third pairing. He was a bruiser that would pin you up in the corners.

Zombo could help with the offense with an assist here or there, but those were more from zone exits and then the forwards scoring on the rush. Nevertheless, his defense contributed to the team.

With the Blues, Zombo had really good defensive point share numbers. That basically means his team was able to generate offense based on him stopping the other team’s offense. Like Garth Butcher, Zombo was one that became somewhat of a favorite with Blues fans based on his effort more than actual ability.

As far as Dwight Schofield goes, I’ll be honest that I thought about putting Bret Hedican in this spot. Hedican was a better player overall, but upon reflection, we didn’t really get to see it with the Blues.

Schofield did a little more with less, so he gets the nod. Interestingly, they both had similar points with the Blues, but Schofield had 19 in two seasons and had five goals to go along with it. Hedican had one goal and 19 assists in parts of three seasons and then found his stride in Vancouver.

Schofield’s time in St. Louis was short, but still reasonably productive. He had career highs in goals, points and penalty minutes.