4 Big Questions for the St. Louis Blues in 2020-21
Even a team as exciting as the St. Louis Blues has questions about their future.
The St. Louis Blues are entering an incredibly exciting – and consequential – period in their franchise’s history.
After saying goodbye to some fan favorites, signing some big-name free agents, and winning a Stanley Cup not two years ago, the franchise is looking to perform a re-tool on the fly under experienced head coach Craig Berube without having to take too big of a step backward before pushing forward into a bright future.
Now saddled into the new West Division – arguably the weakest of the league’s four new divisions for the 2020-21 season – the Blues are borderline locks to make it to the playoffs for the ninth time in 10 seasons, but can they punch their way through the likes of the Vegas Golden Knights, Minnesota Wild, and the Colorado Avalanche to earn a spot in the Conference Finals, or will they falter to a collection of new foes while trying to figure out how their roster exists in a post-Alex Pietrangelo world?
Will it work? Is this the year the Blues return to the NHL Finals and potentially bring another Stanley Cup home to St. Louis? Or will this be a step back year a la 2017-18 before the franchise can jump forward to greater successes when the world – and league – returns to normal in 2021-22?
Needless to say, the Blues have quite a few questions to answer moving forward – but for now, let’s focus on four, shall we?
4. Can Ryan O’Reilly galvanize the troops as a captain?
For the first time since 2016, the St. Louis Blues will enter a regular season without their fearless leader – and long-time captain – Alex Pietrangelo.
Now Pietrangelo’s departure is, was, and will continue to be the *spoiler alert* biggest story surrounding St. Louis moving forward, but an underrated aspect of the move is how his replacement, Ryan O’Reilly, will serve as the 23rd captain in the Blues’ storied history.
Originally drafted by the Colorado Avalanche in the second round of the 2009 NHL Entry Draft, O’Reilly made his way to St. Louis in 2018 after a successful three-season stint with the Buffalo Sabres. While there are surely longer-tenured players on the Blues who could have been given the captorial nod – heck, even Vince Dunn has more season under his belt – few players on the roster have been as successful in the NHL as O’Reilly, and fewer still command the same level of respect.
The winner of both the Smythe and the Selke Trophy in his first season with the Blues, O’Reilly has unquestionably shored up Craig Berube’s top-six while giving the team a reliable 1b to Brayden Schenn in the middle of the ice.
If O’Reilly can provide that same level of stability in the locker room, it’ll go a long way to keep the St. Louis Blues in the Stanley Cup conversation, even if they’ll still need to make defensive adjustments to *spoiler alerts, again* account for the loss of their best player.
3. Where does Vince Dunn fit on the depth chart?
Going into the 2020-21 NHL offseason, the St. Louis Blues had a pretty big question mark on their books in the form of restricted free agent defenseman Vince Dunn.
Dunn, a homegrown second-round pick in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft, broke into the Blues’ defensive rotation in 2017-18 and remained a steady presence on the left side of the blue line for each of the next three seasons. He’s averaged roughly 17 minutes of action a night, recorded 20-plus points in each of his professional seasons, and holds the rare distinction of having never recorded a negative +/- over a full NHL season.
Theoretically, Dunn is the exact kind of player any team would like to keep around for a very long time, but after locking up Torey Krug and Marco Scandella on long-term deals, that became far less clear.
Factor in a brutal cap situation that saw the team allow long-time captain Alex Pietrangelo walk in free agency, and suddenly the Blues being able to secure Dunn’s services for one year on a $1.875 million deal looked like a bargain.
With a chip on his shoulder and a dedicated desire to earn a long-term deal, Dunn is surely going to come out with his pants on fire for all 56 of the team’s games. But what will his role be? Though he’ll surely spend the majority of his time as a third banana behind Krug and Scandella, could Dunn see his playing time inch closer to the 20-minute mark? And what about power plays? Dunn is unquestionably one of the more intriguing third-line offensive defensemen in the NHL and could see his playing time increase when his team needs a little extra firepower up 5-4.
Certainly file this one under the “things to watch” tab moving forward.
2. How will Mike Hoffman fit on offense?
Mike Hoffman is now a member of the St. Louis Blues.
Boy, even now, that feels weird to say.
While some have called foul on general manager Doug Armstrong for taking advantage of the PTO to secure Hoffman’s rights when his team couldn’t afford his eventual contract before placing players on long-term IR, I personally can’t knock a savvy wheeler and dealer for taking advantage of the system in place to make his team better.
Because make no mistake about it, Hoffman clearly makes the Blues better and opted to sign with the team over other, presumably more (initially) lucrative offers because he loved what Craig Berube has going on.
He actually said as much to reporters on Tuesday, telling the gathered media (as per NHL.com),
“They’re very structured. It’s pretty straightforward. It takes little bit obviously to get used to and knowing your routes so you’re not thinking on the ice, you’re just reacting, but it’s coming. It’s starting to feel good. I really like the group here. We’re extremely deep, got a good back end and obviously good goaltending. You add all those things together and you should end up being pretty successful.”
So, clearly, the Blues wanted Hoffman to play a top-six triggerman role next to either Brayden Schenn or Ryan O’Reilly, and Hoffman wanted to play next to do the very same after a successful two-year tenure with the Florida Panthers, but will it actually work?
Will the Blues appreciate Hoffman’s free-shooting style, or will he initially struggle to fit into the Blues’ scheme in a season without a massive runway to get things right with the live bullets flying?
Needless to say, but I’ll do it anyway; this is the (second) biggest question the Blues have to answer heading into 2020-21. But what, you may ask, is the first? Come on; I think we both know the answer to that one.
1. Can anyone replace Alex Pietrangelo?
Yup, just like a perfectly crafted pop song, this was always going to come back to a huge, thunderous chorus to close things out: How the &%@# are the St. Louis Blues going to replace Alex Pietrangelo?
Pietrangelo was the team’s captain for the better part of half a decade, was their best player for even longer, and played a crucial role in bringing the first Stanley Cup back to ‘The Gateway to the West’ four years removed from the city’s football team heading west for the bright lights and temperate climate of Los Angeles.
Per Hockey-Reference, Pietrangelo is the second-best player in franchise history behind only Brett Hull, and it’s really hard to argue with that assessment.
No matter how the Blues play this season, Pietrangelo’s absence will be felt for a very long time off the ice, and his abilities on it will be hard to replace one-for-one.
Despite having a noticeable hole on the right side of their blue-line, the Blues opted to sign a pair of left defensemen to new contracts while instead giving homegrown prospect Colton Parayko – a third-round pick in 2012 – a chance to prove his worth as a top-liner. Like Pietrangelo, Parayko is a two-way defenseman who had scored 10 goals in each of the last two seasons and was on pace for a career year before the 2019-20 season was cut short due to the league’s stoppage of play.
Next. 4 Big Questions for the Nashville Predators in 2020-21. dark
Can Colton Parayko give the Blues 50 percent of what Pietrangelo brought to the table over the last decade? Or will the number fall closer to 90 percent? That swing could ultimately define the St. Louis Blues’ season, as how well they are able to replace Alex Pietrangelo’s production could be the difference between semi-finals out and another trip to the NHL Finals.