St. Louis Blues preview: Vladimir Tarasenko leads rebuilt forward core

Strengths

The Right Side

Edmundson and Dunn are perfectly capable top four defensemen. But the Blues real strength lies in the right side of their blueline. Pietrangelo and Parayko stand out as top pairing caliber defensemen.

The former gets more credit. Pietrangelo has been a recent staple on Team Canada internationally. He put up a career-high 15 goals and 54 points last season. Without Bouwmeester, he broke even as far as shot attempts. And the Blues have consistently outscored their opponents with him on the ice.

Parayko might be even better than Pietrangelo. Only Dunn posted better relative shot attempt numbers than him last season among Blues defensemen (minimum 1,000 minutes). Poor goaltending and bad puck luck caused him to have a negative relative goals for percentage.

Down The Middle

Last year, the Blues didn’t have very good center depth. Especially after they traded Paul Stastny to the Winnipeg Jets. The Blues addressed this during the summer, adding O’Reilly and Bozak to an already talented group.

Additionally, they refused to part ways with top prospect Robert Thomas, who should have a full-time role this season. He’s a bit of an odd fit as a fourth line center, but it could let the Blues ice four skilled lines. So even though the Blues lost Stastny and Brodziak, they’re in darn good shape down the middle.