It’s always a thrill to reminisce on some interesting facts about the previous season, and while 2023-24 didn’t end the way St. Louis Blues fans wanted to envision, they nonetheless led or found themselves near the top of the league in a few statistical categories.
The three stat lines selected below are ironic in so many ways, with the first telling us that the Blues excelled in a specific area despite facing an onslaught of shots against. St. Louis also wasn’t a great scoring team last season, but that didn’t deter them from placing themselves among the NHL’s best in two scoring categories.
Save percentage
Opponents can’t win if they can’t score, and fortunately for the Blues, that could be the case in 2024-25 if Jordan Binnington and Joel Hofer get even better next season. Here’s a hint: Hofer will, and Binnington is still in his prime, so don’t expect him to drop off any time soon.
Anyway, the Blues goaltenders collectively secured a 0.906 save percentage last season, tying them for sixth in the NHL alongside the Vancouver Canucks. And when you consider they allowed the eighth-highest number of shots against with 2,636, it makes that above number even more impressive.
Short-handed goals
St. Louis’ penalty kill unit was rather modest, but when given the chance, they were scoring goals. They ended up in a four-way tie with 11 short-handed goals scored alongside the Calgary Flames, Los Angeles Kings, and Carolina Hurricanes, and all three of them boasted units with PK percentages of 80 or better.
What’s even more interesting is that the Blues had nine players score short-handed goals last season, including defensemen Colton Parayko, Nick Leddy, and Marco Scandella. Pavel Buchnevich and Alexey Toropchenko led the team with a pair of short-handed goals apiece.
Shootout wins
The Blues tied for the league lead with five shootout wins in 2023-24 alongside the Ottawa Senators and Toronto Maple Leafs. Since Ottawa and Toronto are part of the Atlantic Division, it also means St. Louis paced the Central Division and the Western Conference, with the Dallas Stars and Vegas Golden Knights finishing behind them with four apiece as far as teams in the West go.
Overall, the Blues found themselves in seven shootouts, losing two of them in the process. Those five wins were two more than what they attained in 2022-23, and their 0.714 win percentage in shootouts was 21.4 percent higher.
(Data powered by Hockey-Reference)