When the St. Louis Blues acquired Connor McMichael in the blockbuster trade that sent long-time Blue, Jordan Kyrou to the Washington Capitals, the club did so with the hopes that McMichael would help provide reliable secondary scoring to their roster. With nine gams through the first 16 games of the season, it has been a respectable number for a player adjusting to his new surroundings. However, there has slowly been a concerning pattern growing to McMichael’s game.
The Blues’ 25 year old winger has not scored a goal since Oct. 8, the fourth game of the season. While he has provided offensive pressure and found his way onto the scoresheet in the assist column, the real issue has been his shot volume. For a team desperately searching for their secondary scoring again, getting McMichael back to his aggressive, shoot-first mentality has to become a high-priority for Blues head coach Jim Montgomery and the coaching staff.
The shots have disappeared
McMichael started his time with the Blues with a great first stretch of games, scoring twice in his first four games with one coming on the power play, while also managing 10 shots on goal. Since then, he has gone 12 consecutive games without finding the back of the net, and averaging one shot on goal per game, and no back-to-back games without a single shot on goal.
This has not been a matter of bad puck luck or hitting posts. McMichael has a 9.1% shooting percentage right now, just under the 9.9% he posted last season. The pucks he does manage to put on goal are going in at a normal rate for him. He just simply isn’t generating enough attempts at this point to make a difference.
Right now, McMichael is generating just 1.4 shots per game, down from his 1.8 last season with the Capitals, and well below his 2.2 pace he hit in 2024-25 when he scored 26 goals. If this trend continues for the young winger, he is pacing to hit 11 goals and 48 points over 84 games.
Finding the right balance
There has been a ripple effect with McMichael’s drop off has had a large impact at even-strength with six of his nine points coming from there alone. He is also seeing a drop off in his ice time to 15:40 each night, down from 16:54 last season, and a season-low 13:31 in Thursday’s overtime loss against New Jersey.
Still, transitioning and acclimating to a new team and system takes time. McMichael’s 0.56 point per game production is solid, and his play on the ice has been welcomed. He has not been turning many pucks over and has the potential to steal games for the club.
With the Blues at 7-7-2 and pushing to stay in the thick of the Western Conference playoff race, the Blues desperately need secondary scoring to find its way back to balance out the top line. He possesses all of the tools to be a core difference-maker for the team and will need to turn this early season slump around by trusting his shot and start driving pucks to the net.
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