St. Louis Blues preview: Vladimir Tarasenko leads rebuilt forward core
Weaknesses
Special Teams
The St. Louis Blues were below average on both ends of special teams last season. They ranked 18th while shorthanded (79.65 percent) and 30th on the power play (15.45 percent). Adding O’Reilly should help the former. Meanwhile, adding Bozak and Perron should help the latter. But still, the Blues have some questions to answer on both ends of special teams.
Goaltending
Alright, it’s time to address the pink elephant in the room that Blues fans don’t want to talk about – the goaltending. Jake Allen was a mess last season, posting just a .906 save percentage. The Blues felt comfortable having him as their number one goalie when they traded Brian Elliott after Allen posted a .920 save percentage in 47 games in 2015-16. However, he has seen a significant decline in each of the past two seasons.
More. 3 Blues To Watch Next Season. light
During all situations, Allen and new backup goalie Chad Johnson were both in the bottom five as far as goals saved above average (minimum 1,000 minutes). The duo had a combined -34.24 GSAA, which is worth quite a few wins.
If you’re looking for some optimism, at least most of Allen’s struggles came while shorthanded, where he was the second-worst goalie. Last season, the Blues season was ended due to horrible goaltending (among other things). They’ll need Allen and Johnson to be much better.