3 St. Louis Blues players who surprised fans this season
The St. Louis Blues spent most of 2023-24 as a bubble team mired in inconsistencies, but they also had quite a few players more than exceeded expectations.
Inconsistencies have kept the St. Louis Blues from contending for anything other than a wild card spot in 2023-24, but it’s not all doom and gloom in Gateway City. No, the lineup isn’t what it was even two seasons ago, but this new influx of players has put the beginnings of new life into what should be a better team in 2024-25, or at the latest, 2025-26.
You can even say many cornerstones on this team were disappointing, having put up fewer points than they had in the past, and it reflected in the team’s scoring prowess. Despite the likes of Robert Thomas, Pavel Buchnevich, and Jordan Kyrou all hitting the 60-plus-point mark - and in Thomas’ case, the 85-point mark - either inconsistencies or a small step back helped contribute to another year that the playoffs seemed unlikely.
By no means am I saying that Thomas, Buchnevich, and Kyrou struggled, as they are all also reasons the Blues managed to at least stick around the postseason race for so long. But if they - especially Thomas and Buchnevich - continued scoring consistently, the Vegas Golden Knights may have been the team playing catch up.
Despite no playoffs, the St. Louis Blues gave us some awesome surprises
Thomas, Buchnevich, and Kyrou may finish in the top three in points scored when the regular season ends within the week, but they also had help keeping this team afloat. One of the most surprising players on this team became a goal-scoring machine, and while they aren’t leading the team in goals scored, their performance could foreshadow an incredible breakout year in 2024-25…if you aren’t counting 2023-24 as such.
Another is an older player who also enjoyed a resurgent campaign in the goal-scoring realm, and he doesn’t look to be slowing down any time soon. The third player is not a forward, and they could also figure to be a future franchise cornerstone if they keep playing a sound game.
Few saw Jake Neighbours threatening to hit the 30-goal mark
It’s too late for Jake Neighbours to hit 30 goals this season, but you can’t help but credit him for getting close when few, if any of us, saw it happening. Just last year, Neighbours played in 43 contests, but scored 10 points and six goals, not even remotely foreshadowing what he’d accomplish in 2023-24.
While he has just 38 points in 77 contests here in the final week of this season, he’s also scored 27 goals. If you’re keeping track, it means Neighbours increased his goal total by 21 in April 2024, and you can only wonder what the future holds.
While there is a chance he could revert into the low-scoring player he was, Neighbours is just 22, and he’s got a lot of hockey to go in Gateway City. If he keeps up his strong play next season, especially down the stretch, an extension is inevitable, and rightfully earned.
We also need to mention that his increased goal-scoring total has not come with a dip in his defensive play. Neighbours crossed the century mark in hits with 138, and he recorded 39 takeaways. He is a brewing three-zone player who fans will look forward to watching from now and throughout the decade.
Joel Hofer is already looking like a future 1A
Just for a disclaimer, Jordan Binnington will and should be the 1A next season, but note the keyword - IA. In 2023-24, Binnington played in 56 contests at the time of this writing, making him more of an overall starter as opposed to a 1A, and Joel Hofer, the backup, even if the latter saw more time in the crease than the average No. 2 goaltender.
Given Hofer’s performance this season, fans should be comfortable if the organization gives him at least 35 (or more) starts, cutting more into Binnington’s time between the pipes. Though his sample size was far smaller with just 30 appearances and 27 starts, Hofer logged a 0.913 save percentage, a 2.65 GAA and he earned his first of what should be quite a few shutouts.
Like Neighbours, few of us probably saw Hofer performing so well so early, given the way he played in his first eight games in the NHL. Between the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons, Hofer finished 4-2-1, but he also ended up with a 0.900 save percentage and a 3.18 GAA, a substantial difference from what he showed us this season.
His quality starts percentage during those years sat at just 0.375, but this season, it was a much-improved 0.593. Next year, we should see an even greater version of Joel Hofer, and he will do his part in perhaps helping the Blues return to the playoffs.
Brandon Saad showed us he’s still got an edge
While he was another player who helped the Blues keep things interesting, Brandon Saad is another player who didn’t impress with a large number of points, hitting just 42 in 81 games as of April 15th, but he still reminded us that he’s still one of the NHL’s better scorers. With a game remaining on the schedule, Saad had 26 goals and an incredible 18.7 shooting percentage. And with another two seasons on his deal, he’s another one Blues fans should have fun watching.
The Blues never found the net consistently in 2023-24, so it makes Saad’s presence this season more valuable overall. And if you look closely at his basic numbers, Saad only saw 15:30 of average total ice time, marking just the second occurrence since 2012-13 that he dipped under the 16-minute mark.
Saad was a good asset on the power play, but his forte was at 5-on-5, where he was on the ice for 47 goals this season. When you look at his numbers for even strength, he was out there for 53 of the team’s 238 goals or 22.2 percent.
Although Saad is one of the oldest forwards on the team, there is a good chance he will still produce at a respectable level next season. Whether he hits 26 goals again isn’t relevant so long as he’s contributing to the team’s scoring.
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(Statistics provided by Hockey-Reference as of April 15th)