Will the St. Louis Blues' Defensive Woes End Soon?
It seems like the problem for the St. Louis Blues for the longest time has been their blue line. How long will it take the club to return to a defensively above average team? I argue it is much closer than we might realize.
When assessing the struggles of the past couple seasons for the St. Louis Blues, the first thing most fans will rightfully point to has been the defense.
Since then, defense has not been the team's calling card. Losing key pieces from that team like Alex Pietrangelo and Vince Dunn has left the team searching for answers on the blue line.
This offseason, GM Doug Armstrong acquired a promising young defenseman from the Edmonton Oilers, Philip Broberg. However, Broberg has very limited NHL experience up to this point in his career, and still has a lot to prove as a young skater.
Assessing the St. Louis Blues' defenseman
The top pair going into this year will be Colton Parayko and Nick Leddy. Parayko and Leddy have manned the top pair for the past 2-3 seasons, and done a great job doing so.
In their time together, Leddy and Parayko have a combined 147 points and a plus/minus of +22. The pair is excellent defensively and responsible offensively, leading to these above average results.
Following quotes from Doug Armstrong about his newest acquisition, Philip Broberg is expected to start on the second pair with Faulk.
Faulk is an exciting playmaker with a creative offensive toolkit, but admittedly lags behind defensively. He tries to make up for it by outscoring the opponent, as many offensive defenseman often do.
Broberg is still adapting and evolving his game to fit in the NHL, but he seems like a promising two-way defenseman. He has the talent to be above average both defensively and offensively, but only time will tell what wins out. He may need to overcompensate on defense playing with Faulk therefore losing out on some offensive production, or perhaps will skew the other direction and try to compliment Faulk's offensive output with his own potential.
Behind this questionable defensive pair, the Blues third blue line pairing is perhaps an even less threatening defensive force.
It seems like Scott Perunovich is going to get some playing time with the team, but in his time with the organization, he has not exactly lived up to his hype. On the third pair, he should be fine, but it doesn't leave many Blues fans excited about what could be.
And next to Perunovich is a much bigger question mark. Specifically, who will be playing? 39-year old Ryan Suter, who has been called one of the slowest players in the NHL? 25-year old Pierre-Olivier Joseph, who so far has been mostly an NHL bust? Or a St. Louis drafted player who has seen very little ice time, like Tyler Tucker or Matthew Kessel?
You could go back and forth arguing what the best third line pair will be going into the season, but it is truly impossible to know at this point who is going to win out and earn that ice time.
So is there any hope for the defense to improve? I think there is an actually exciting prospect for this team's defensive performance, but probably not from the place you might expect.
The key to the St. Louis Blues defense: forwards
The mark of many of the best defensive teams in today's NHL is not only solid defenseman, but great defensive forwards.
Doug Armstrong and the St. Louis Blues made a number of shrewd acquisitions this offseason, but where I believe many are underestimating the value of these players is in their potential defensive contributions.
Both Radek Faksa and Mathieu Joseph have made defense the calling card of their game. They might not have the most exciting offensive production, but it is because they take such good care of the puck and do their best to not allow any rush chances to break through.
Dylan Holloway, the other player the Blues were able to steal from the Oilers, has shown promise defensively. His speed allows him to make plays that many other skaters can't.
In exchange for a fourth-round pick, the Blues acquired Alexandre Texier, who has solid ability and a chance to develop well. He had a down year last year on a really struggling Blue Jackets team, but I think he is an above average defender in the offensive zone and doesn't get beat poorly in his own zone either.
And finally, two familiar faces have had good defensive seasons before, and should have a lot more help on the bottom lines this year. Kasperi Kapanen and Oskar Sundqvist are going to have to fight for ice time, but both have shown their mettle defensively in big moments.
On top of these signings, the team already has some defensively solid forwards: Robert Thomas, Pavel Buchnevich, and Brandon Saad have all been above average defensive players for most of their careers, and provide a very nice foundation to build off of.
While I still don't think the St. Louis Blues are up there with the elite defensive teams of the NHL, I am staking my claim that I believe they will firmly end up in the tier below that. I think the defensive upside for this team is really exciting, and is something that could surprise a lot of hockey fans this year.
Blues fans, rejoice; the wait is over. I think the St. Louis Blues will be an above average defensive team in totality, which only means the ceiling for this season is climbing ever higher.