Paul Kariya

Where did the St. Louis Blues go?

At the end of the 08-09 NHL season the Blues were one of the two best teams in the second half of the season. Working their way back to the #6 seed in the Western Conference bracket. They are swept by Vancouver in the first round. They make few changes in the off season. They replace one player via free agency and the rest are internal additions.

Enter the 09-10 NHL season. The roster is basically the same. The coaching staff is the same. The fans are the same. The only problem is, the team isn’t playing the same. There is little to no consistent effort, desire, and heart being displayed by this team. Last night’s game versus Tampa Bay was much the same that we’ve already seen. A consistently inconsistent effort by the bulk of the roster. Yes, there are for or five, maybe six players really showing effort and desire all season, but then what happens to the other twenty or so guys?

What happens is last night’s performance.You have some players working hard for a period, then their laying back. The only consistent effort came from TJ Oshie, David Backes, Paul Kariya, Andy McDonald, Roman Polak and Cam Janssen. Yes Polak was at fault for a goal and Janssen saw minimal ice time, but they played liked they cared. Everyone else, I am not to sure about. You would see a good shift and then a bad one. I think you can roll Tkachuk and McClement in to that group as well. The rest?

Three times last night Tampa had an answer goal. Two came less than a minute after the Blues score. The third was less than two minutes later. Where is the effort right after a goal? Tampa Bay has been bad and is completely desperate to win.  So why would you sit back after the goal? The Blues were caught flat footed on all thee answer goals. It’s inexcusable.

Where is this teams dedication to getting the puck forward? The forwards are too far up ice to support the puck carrier trying to exit the zone. On controlled break outs the play is already slowed down at the Blues blue line by smart, effective forechecking. The Blues defensemen made bad pass after bad pass last night. This team had a chance to field a more forward moving defensive unit. They signed Breden Bell and had Alex Pietrangelo coming from Juniors. One is a mid 20’s “veteran” who had about 150 games of NHL experience. The second was the 4th overall pick in 2008 NHL Draft. Instead the team retains Mike Weaver and brings in Daryl Sydor. Two of the same player. Defensibly stable veterans who have average at best transition ability. Didn’t the Blues have that on the roster already? Barrett Jackman, Eric Brewer, Roman Polak, Tyson Strachan?

The lack of transition last night prevented the Blues from cleanly breaking Tampas forward pressure. It also greatly hurt their ability to control the offensive zone. They lacked so much speed getting through center ice that Tampa always had three or four defensemen overloaded to cover the area the puck was in. It left the Blues no room to work. Mind you that no speed through the zone also meant the Blues struggled retrieving the puck all night. One play sticks out. The Blues work up ice and get it in. three players go off to change after a long time in their own zone. David Perron goes in one on four to retrieve and Tampa takes teh puck and goes back up ice. That is the Blues forecheck in a nut shell when they aren’t trying.

Since they couldn’t get up ice and then retrieve the puck, they couldn’t sustain pressure either. I will give the Blues credit for setting up 3 goals basically in transition (and many more chances) but in the NHL today, it snot about getting 20 scoring chances. Its about getting 10-15 with good offensive zone control. Which is exactly what Tampa did. The layers of support and work ethic to make forward pressure literally function wasn’t there. I can only recall two times all game that forward pressure was established and the puck really held in the zone at even strength. Both by the Kariya-Backes-Oshie line.

The Backes line was the only one really showing effort and enthusiasm in their play. I would say the McClement line did, but not all three of them at any given time.

Kariya created many chances in transition (as did McDonald), but they ended up as dead plays. Tampa really did do a good job of keeping the Blues speed from pushing in to the middle. Yes, they did break down three times for goals and did allow two or three other big slot chances off transition. However, the Blues had 10 to 15 breaks down the ice with speed from the forwards that were kept outside and/or easily pushed out of the middle.  The Blues have forwards who can skate very well, but have little room to operate. Either the transition needs to improve to get them behind the defense faster or we need more size with our speed so that they can take it to the net.

Kudos to Brad Winchester for improving some lately and getting his first goal of the season last night. Big body driving to the net? Yeah, sounds good to me too.  TJ Oshie worked hard all night and was rewarded by getting to clean up the trash and bang in a garbage goal in front. Tkachuk’s goal was very pretty as the Blues streaked in on the power play and got the puck through to Walt in the slot. He banged it in for the Blues third goal.

Brad Boyes got his bell run on a (relatively clean) hit from Blair Jones. Maybe this will knock some sense in to him. Personally, I like Carlo Colaiacovo’s response. Right or wrong, so few in this line up show that they care. At that time and place, it was the right thing to do. No one went after Lecavalier after he came back after Backes, you cannot let your “best scorer” get run down. Props to Carlo even if he gets in trouble. You stick up for your teammates, they need to know you got their back.

Chris Mason is looking like Manny Legace lately. Grant it, the team is playing horrible in front of him, but he just can’t stop anything that is heading for the net. You need your goalie to help you steal games. Goaltending is the great equalizer on hockey and right now the Blues aren’t working to make it happen and neither is Chris apparently. Mason knows he has better performances in him, but at some point the team has to step it up and give him a chance to give him a chance at holding the line. Mason stopped 18 of 25 shots last night.

Tampa had points from eight different players, seven of which had multiple point nights. The Malone-Stamkos-St. Louis line really lead the way for Tampa. Those three combined for 3 goals, 4 assists with a Plus-10 rating. They also had the best offensive zone pressure. Sine this group did so well, what happened to Polak and Jackman. After three or four really good games the last 2 weeks, their last three to four have been bad. Just no ability to shut teams down. Jackman was also caught up ice and in poor position many times last night. Polak was also burned trying to break up a stretch pass at center ice, leading to the first Tampa goal. If this team cannot play defense, its lottery pick bound. Defense was the only part of the Blues game that was working.

Where do we go from here? No its not just a lyric in a Filter song, its a question posed by Blues fans. I don’t usually get overly critical, but the Blues Front Office seems to have its head in the sand. I understand the reluctance to make a deal or fire a coach. Especially a coach just extended. However, what is on the ice is not working…at all. There comes a time for tweaking. Can younger plays bring skill and effort to the table over players past their prime? Is it worth reducing experience levels if the experienced players aren’t cutting it? This team cannot call it quits yet, but it needs a major course correction to get this team competitive again.

Next up? Monday night the Blues face Vancouver at the start of a road trip though western Canada. Vancouver is coming back and the Sedin’s are as dangerous as ever.