When it comes to your depth players, their overall impact is less "how much good did they do" and more "how much bad did they prevent." Some teams have luxuries on their third pair (the Carolina Hurricanes come to mind), and others have guys that you hope don't kill your team's momentum and can chip in a whisper of offense from time to time. The St. Louis Blues fall into the second category, and Matthew Kessel did what replacement level defensemen tend to do: very little good, but nothing outright bad, either.
Expectations for 2025-26
Kessel will be turning 26 years old this summer and, across four NHL seasons, has yet to hit 100 games. The fact he played as much as he did exceeds expectations in its own way, though he was frequently in and out of the lineup as head coach Jim Montgomery tried to find a pairing--any pairing--that could be effective. For a 5th-round pick, playing in the NHL at all is a success story.
Grade: C-
By the numbers, Kessel wasn't particularly impressive: two goals and one assist while averaging 12:32 of ice time. He didn't get much time on either special team, and his underlying stats were also underwhelming--Kessel's 45.06 xGF% was the lowest of any regular Blues defenseman. You can live with that sort of performance from a third-pair defenseman.
Where does he go from here?
That remains to be seen. Kessel is a pending restricted free agent, so the Blues do have some leverage, even though he's arbitration eligible. A lot will hinge on the direction the organization takes. The Blues' backend is pretty full as it is, with prospects like Adam Jiricek on the way and Theo Lindstein possibly prepared to make the jump full time--but a trade of Colton Parayko could open a roster spot for someone like Kessel. We'll have to wait and see what the roster looks like on opening night of the 2026-27 season.
Add us as a preferred source on Google