2014-15 St. Louis Blues Preview

Losing to Chicago is understandable considering the Blackhawks entered the 2014 playoffs as defending Stanley Cup champions, but that’s probably of little consolation to Blues fans. After all, St. Louis has only won one playoff series since Ken Hitchcock took over as coach early in the 2011-12 season despite the team’s regular-season success during his tenure behind the bench.

It seems the 2014-15 campaign will be a do-or-die year for Hitchcock. The club picked up a mutual option for this season, but the coach’s status beyond that is uncertain. In light of the club’s recent postseason failures it’s conceivable a slow start this season could cost Hitch his job.

Since adding star goaltender Ryan Miller to the mix at the trade deadline didn’t work, Blues general manager Doug Armstrong decided to pick up offensive help this summer with the signing of centerman Paul Stastny to a four-year, $28 million deal. Miller, meanwhile, was allowed to walk via free agency as the team decided to give Brian Elliott a shot at being the undisputed No. 1 goalie in St. Louis.

Despite the sinking feeling of it all going wrong in the playoffs, there are plenty of reasons for the Blues to be hopeful for this season and beyond. The club is loaded with burgeoning stars at both ends of the ice and maybe this will be the year St. Louis finally turns the corner in the playoffs.

The biggest impediment standing in the way of a breakthrough season, however, is the stiff competition for supremacy in the Western Conference. The Blackhawks and last year’s champion Los Angeles Kings have combined to win four of the last five Stanley Cup titles and neither team seems to be going anywhere. Add the rising Colorado Avalanche, who like the Blackhawks play alongside St. Louis in the stacked Central Division, to the mix and it could prove difficult for the Blues to get over the postseason hump in 2014-15.

FORWARDS – The Blues finished the 2013-14 regular season on an 0-6-0 slide, a losing streak which not only cost St. Louis a shot at the Presidents’ Trophy but also dropped Hitchcock’s boys into second place in the Central.

A division title would’ve set up a likely first-round matchup with Minnesota, but Colorado earned the Central crown instead, leaving the Blues to face the powerful Blackhawks.

The ill-timed skid also gave us a glimpse at the scoring woes that ultimately were St. Louis’ undoing in the postseason.

The Blues scored a total of five goals in their final six tests of the regular season. Then, after scoring a total of eight times to take Games 1 and 2 against Chicago, the club only managed to hit the net six more times in losing four straight to the Blackhawks. St. Louis also was let down by its power play in the postseason, scoring just two goals on 29 chances with the man advantage.

Although St. Louis ranked seventh in the league with an average of 2.92 goals per game during the regular season, the club added Stastny to help prevent the offense from going cold like it did last spring. Stastny figures to step in as the pivot on one of St. Louis’ top two lines, taking some scoring pressure off fellow centerman David Backes, who had 27 goals last season but is at his best when used as a shutdown forward.

This marks a homecoming of sorts for Stastny, who was partly raised in the St. Louis area after his father Peter joined the Blues as a player in 1993. Peter Stastny finished his Hockey Hall of Fame playing career in St. Louis before serving as a scout for the club.

Stastny recorded 25 goals and 60 points for Colorado last season. He has notched 20 or more goals six times in his career and only missed the mark in 2008-09 (11 goals in 45 games) and again during the lockout-shortened season of 2013 (9 goals in 40 games).

The 28-year-old Stastny also recorded five goals and five assists in Colorado’s seven-game loss to Minnesota in the playoffs. He has 18 points (8 goals, 10 assists) over 22 career playoff games.

Stastny joins a St. Louis offense which produced five 20-plus goal-scorers in 2013-14. Alexander Steen led the way with a career-best 33 markers and the veteran winger was rewarded with a three-year, $17.4 million extension midway through his marquee season.

Jaden Schwartz, 22, took a big step forward in his development last season, as the young winger notched 25 goals and added 31 assists over 80 games. Schwartz did miss the opening of training camp this year due to a contract dispute, but was signed in time to join the club for the start of the season.

T.J. Oshie also enjoyed his most productive NHL season in 2013-14, with the 27-year-old recording career marks in goals (21) and assists (39) while finishing second on the team to Steen with 60 points.

Vladimir Tarasenko is another St. Louis forward who figures to be on the rise. Although injuries caused him to miss a sizeable chunk of the season, the 22- year-old Russian tallied 21 goals and 22 assists in 64 regular season games and added four goals in six postseason contests.

Backes figures to rejoin Steen and Oshie this season, while Stastny could center Schwartz and Tarasenko. Jori Lehtera also could break into the top-two lines after finally deciding to make the jump from Europe to the NHL.

Lehtera, a third-round pick by St. Louis in 2008, committed to the Blues with a two-year, $5.5 million contract this summer after playing the last four seasons in Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League. The 26-year-old Finnish centerman could play on the third line or possibly one of the top-two lines if Hitchcock decides to move the versatile Backes to the wing.

Hitchcock also may put Lehtera and Tarasenko on the same line as the players have a connection having skated together for Sibir Novosibirsk in 2010-11 and 2011-12. However, if Lehtera struggles to fit in at first he could skate on the third line with the Magnus Paajarvi and Dmitrij Jaskin as potential linemates.

The additions of Lehtera and Stastny could dramatically improve the depth up front for the Blues and hopefully prevent another costly offensive cold spell in the postseason.

Elsewhere, the Blues have Patrik Berglund (14G, 18A in 2013-14) and Steve Ott to eat up minutes at the bottom of the rotation along with grinding forwards Maxim Lapierre and Ryan Reaves.

DEFENSE – One of the reasons St. Louis finished fourth in scoring during the regular season is the club boasts some serious offensive punch from the blue line thanks to the presence of Alex Pietrangelo, Kevin Shattenkirk and Jay Bouwmeester, who record 51, 45 and 37 points, respectively, during the 2013-14 campaign.

That trio combined to post 11 points in six playoff games against the Blackhawks but clearly St. Louis’ top defensemen failed against Chicago in other ways as the Blues yielded 20 goals in the series, including 12 in the final three games of the set.

Perhaps the problem was overuse by Hitchcock, who deployed each of his top three blueliners for an average of 25-plus minutes in the postseason while the rest of his defensive corps logged under 20 minutes a night.

Armstrong tried to add some depth with an offseason trade that shipped defenseman Roman Polak to Toronto in exchange for blueliner Carl Gunnarsson and a fourth-round pick. The 27-year-old Gunnarsson had 17 points (3G, 14A) in 80 games for the Maple Leafs last season and finished the campaign with a plus-12 rating.

Gunnarsson is recovering from hip surgery but could be ready for the Blues’ regular-season opener on Oct. 9. Whenever he’s ready to go he could supplant Barret Jackman as the fourth man in St. Louis’ top two defensive pairings. It could work out for St. Louis, as the 33-year-old Jackman seems better suited to a depth role at this stage of his career.

Ian Cole or Jordan Leopold could complete the third pairing with Jackman.

GOALTENDING – For a few weeks last spring it seemed like Armstrong’s decision to trade for Miller was a stroke of genius.

The longtime Buffalo Sabres netminder came to St. Louis before the trade deadline in a deal that shipped the Blues’ former No. 1 goaltender Jaroslav Halak to Western New York. Miller went 7-0-1 over his first eight games with St. Louis before things ultimately went sour in the playoffs.

The failed experiment led St. Louis to sign Elliott to a three-year, $7.5 million extension and Hitchcock has said the No. 1 goalie spot is his to lose. Elliott formed a stingy goaltending tandem with Halak over the last few seasons, but 2014-15 should provide the 29-year-old with a sizeable increase in playing time.

Elliott went 18-6-2 with a 1.96 goals against average and .922 save percentage in 31 regular-season games last season. He boasts a 1.86 GAA and .927 save percentage since joining the Blues in 2011-12.

Jake Allen will serve primarily as Elliott’s backup this season unless the veteran netminder stumbles. The 24-year-old Allen was a second-round pick by St. Louis in 2008 and is 9-4-0 with a 2.46 GAA in 15 career games — all of which came in the lockout season of 2013.

WHEN ALL IS SAID AND DONE – Even though the Blues play in the extremely difficult Western Conference it seems like a foregone conclusion the team will return to the playoffs in 2015. Of course, the club will have plenty to prove once it gets to the postseason as it attempts once again to make it deep into the playoffs. The Blues would like to believe they’re following a path similar to one blazed by the recent L.A. Kings championship teams. Like St. Louis, the Kings went through a long rebuilding process which resulted in tons of high draft picks and after some playoff struggles L.A. was able to break through with its first Cup title in 2012 before lifting the chalice again last spring. St. Louis could find its postseason groove at some point and emulate the Kings’ title runs, but after the last few springs even a trip to the Western Conference finals would be a huge step forward for these talented but frustrating Blues.

Categorized in: NHL