The St. Louis Blues play should worry some fans who expected more this season, but when you look at one winger's performance so far, the alarm bells have got to start ringing. No, I'm not talking about Jordan Kyrou for a change, but instead, Jake Neighbours.
What in the world of hockey is going on wiht Neighbours right now, who has just four points in the past 16 games and two goals? Heading into tonight's game vs. the Seattle Kraken, Neighbours is currently riding a seven-game pointless streak, and he has just one in his last 10.
It seems like Neighbours has had consistency issues all season, evidenced by his 25 points and 13 goals in 58 contests, and minus-8 rating. While the latter is an improvement over last season, Neighbours should be producing points at a higher rate, as he's seen more ice time so far with 16:04, 22 more seconds, on average, than he received per game last season.
Jake Neighbours lack of improvement is troublesome for the St. Louis Blues
Here, you have a retooling team, and one that needs to find a way to see continual improvement from its new core, which includes players like Jake Neighbours, Robert Thomas, Jordan Kyrou, Dylan Holloway, and Philip Broberg. Thomas is the pinnacle while Holloways has made leaps and bounds since the season began. Kyrou and Broberg have both had their moments, but we've seen nothing but stagnation so far from Neighbours.
If there's one place he's excelled, it's with his physical play, as Neighbours has 130 hits in those 58 games, and I'll give him more credit defensively as he's only seen 39 goals go into the net when at even strength. That said, he's only been on the ice in that same situation for 33 goals, and worse yet, his entire on-ice shooting percentage is a meager 9.1 percent.
Overall, this isn't what fans had in mind for Neighbours at this point in the season, when you'd think he'd be picking up his stride after snagging 27 goals and an 18.6 shooting percentage. Yeah, he's in a newer system with head coach Jim Montgomery, but you'd also have thought he'd have figured it out at this point.
Neighbours has time to turn around his season and so do the Blues
The good news, overall, is that the season is still far from over, even if there are technically about seven weeks to go. Neighbours has time to turn around what has been up and down, but mostly down, play this season, and if he picks up the pace at this time, he could also build much-needed momentum heading into 2025-26 when the Blues should at least be on the verge of contending again.
Still, he needs to find a way to break through this slump, contribute to some points production even if it's a helper here and there, and gain some much-needed confidence. It's been a disappointing campaign, but it doesn't need to end that way. Remember, just last season, Neighbours finsihed the year with 10 points and seven goals in the final 12 games, so it's not like he hasn't rallied in the past.