St. Louis Blues report card following an encouraging season

Defensive zone play was bad, but goaltending kept this team in games

With a negative goals for to goals allowed ratio, you may be wondering how the Blues stuck around in the playoff race for so long. You can thank their incredible goaltending for that, as Jordan Binnington and Joel Hofer were one of the better tandems in the league. 

Together, the duo logged a near-0.600 quality start percentage, a 2.78 GAA, and a 0.913 save percentage, complete with just 11 ‘really bad starts.’ If Binnington and Hofer give the Blues the same performance next season and they improve in the offensive zone, their chances of playing hockey 365 days from now are much, much better. 

But it will take a better effort overall in the defensive zone as the Blues finished with the eighth-highest shots against with 2,636, or 32.14 per game. Their overall inability to retrieve pucks and disrupt plays limited the team’s time in the offensive zone, which likely contributed to St. Louis’ less-than-stellar scoring. 

We know this because the Blues were the third-worst team in the NHL in Corsi For at 5-on-5, which sat at just 45.9, ahead of only the San Jose Sharks and Chicago Blackhawks. Once again, we’re looking at high marks for the goaltending and low marks for the team’s overall defensive zone play, leading to yet another C-plus. The defensive rotation must step up, and perhaps another defense-first forward will also help this offseason.