The St. Louis Blues made a couple of moves this offseason that have really had an impact on the young season. Both of the “McDouble” trades have flourished, and one of them might already have a clear winner.
Connor McMichael is off to a great start this season, as he was the big return in moving Jordan Kyrou to Washington. Both players have been impactful for their new teams, just one more than the other.
Let’s break it down.
Kyrou is off to a slow start in Washington
Looking at what the Blues lost to Washington, Kyrou has gotten off to a slower start. He currently has two goals and two assists for four points inside of seven games. He has been bounced around the first, second, and third lines, and he is averaging just over 13 minutes of ice time per game.
Kyrou was one of two big-time goal scorers to join the Capitals, with Alex Tuch of Buffalo being the other. At the time of writing, No. 25 had his best game of the season in the Capitals' most recent game against the Montreal Canadiens. He had a goal and an assist for his first multi-point game of the season.
The Caps were expecting him to get back to his old self, scoring over 30 times a season. He is on his way, but it is at a crawling pace.
McMichael is flourishing in St. Louis
On the other hand, McMichael has found himself right at home in St. Louis. It was like he was meant to be here. The immediate impact was not by accident, folks, the General Manager swap from Doug Armstrong to Alexander Steen knew this was a great idea in bringing in No. 77.
In seven games, he has been a driving force on that second line, which has finally come to life after years of trying to get secondary scoring. You can also thank Jonatan Berggren and Mason McTavish as well.
McMichael is behind McTavish in points, 8-6, and is tied with surprise contributor Pius Suter from the fourth line. No. 77 has one even-strength goal, as well as a tally on the power play. He has been a big help with his speed up the ice, and there is a chance that he can be a 70-point getter alongside McTavish to really push the narrative of solid secondary scoring.
There has been some chatter of McTavish moving on up to the first line, but why not give McMichael a shot alongside Thomas and whichever winger he does not replace?
Blues have won the trade... for now
The points are similar between McMichael and Kyrou, with the Blues being declared the winner for now. We will circle back around and see if anything changes in a few months.
If McMichael finishes the season with more goals, assists, and obviously, points than Kyrou, this was a masterful trade. If not, it still was a better alternative with a free-falling Kyrou in St. Louis.
Add us as a preferred source on Google