Return of the Zambon-I

Two Sundays ago, at a little after eight A.M., I received the news via text message from my friend, Tyler. Hockey is back. 

I was pretty much having a completely shitty day at that point, as it was eight A.M. on a Sunday and I had already been at work for over five hours. And with one text message, that changed. I had my favorite thing in the world back. I'm still all for my Gary Bettman needs to die in a fire (#DIAF on twitter) campaign, but I was beyond happy at this point. 

I don't have any plans to purchase a jersey this year like I was originally planning, but I want my hockey team to be there for me, so I will be there for them in the stands. After all, I'm well aware that Tom Stillman and the rest of the Blues' new ownership group didn't want any part of this lockout. The Blues were recently listed as the least valuable NHL franchise, so losing money by not playing 34 games and alienating fans would be about the worst thing they could do. Jeremy Jacobs, the owner of the Boston Bruins and just a handful of others were the reason for this lockout, the third work stoppage under Bettman (#DIAF), and it was completely unacceptable. Their greed cost us fans roughly half of a hockey season just eight years after it cost us an entire one. But since the St. Louis owners weren't the problem, I can't boycott them like I did the Cardinals' owners during the 2012 regular season for messing up the Albert Pujols situation. 

When Saturday rolls around, I will be in the stands ready to yell "Let's go Blues!" at the top of my lungs, decked out in a jersey and cap. I'll heckle the Red Wings just like usual (I once yelled at Pavel Datsyuk while he wasn't even on the ice. Alcohol may have been involved.) Maybe it's due to the longest withdrawal I've had in years, as hockey is my crack, or maybe it's because many pundits are picking the Blues to go far in the playoffs this year, but this may be the most excited I've ever been for a hockey season to begin. 

 

The Blues stellar goaltending tandem of Jaroslav Halak and Brian Elliott that propelled them to their first Central Division title in 11 years is back and healthy, after Halak injured his ankle in the first round of the playoffs last season. Overall, the Blues are bringing back 22 of the 25 roster players from last season. Carlo Colaiacovo left in free agency to join Detroit, but for me, that's addition by subtraction. He would make gritty, solid plays at times, but he would often make silly, careless mistakes that would cost the team. And that was when he could actually manage to stay healthy, which wasn't often. The other blueliner that won't be back is Kent Huskins. His play was consistent when he was in the lineup, but nothing special that can't be replaced. The Blues added veteran Wade Redden to fill the void left by Huskins. Ian Cole appears like he will be stepping into a full time role with the Blues for the first time as a replacement for Colaiacovo, so Redden's signing will be more for depth than anything else. The 35-year old D-man may bring some additional leadership as well, but this hockey club isn't short on that either. David Backes will resume his captaincy with the team for the second season and the same four alternates of Andy McDonald, Alex Steen, Jamie Langenbrunner, and Barret Jackman.

The only forward of last year's roster that won't be returning is veteran Jason Arnott. He was a great player for the Blues last year, recording 17 goals and 17 assists with six of his goals coming on the power play, tying him with Alex Pietrangelo for second on the team. Arnott simply didn't fit into this year's roster for the Blues, as they had to make room for perhaps their most exciting addition, rookie Vladimir Tarasenko. After spending his past two season in the KHL in Russia, Tarasenko's contract was up and he decided to make the leap to the NHL. David Perron, T.J. Oshie, and Backes certainly have offensive firepower, but not the same kind that Tarasenko wields. He could really bring an offensive punch to the roster that the team was missing at times last year. Personally, he is what I'm most looking forward to seeing this season live. He's great to watch on Youtube, but I'd much rather see the real thing (here's a video of him scoring a hat trick in the KHL anyway). 

And now that this is a possibility, the possibilities for this Blues team are endless. They have the goaltending, the defense, and the offense. They have head coach Ken Hitchcock returning, last year's Jack Adams Award winner for coach of the year. They have general manager Doug Armstrong, whom they just signed to a five-year extension, who was last year's NHL executive of the year, who is willing to add whatever little pieces the team may need, like Redden. And they certainly have the fans behind them again, as it appears that Saturday's opener against Detroit will sell out. Bring on hockey season and let's go Blues!

Blues' Offense Continues to Sputter

Just when it looked like the Blues were turning a corner with what had been a struggling offense, they returned to form on Tuesday night, being limited to one goal in a 2-1 loss at lowly Columbus.

After the Blues managed to score a total of six goals in back-to-back home games over the weekend, four of which came on the power play, they turned in an abysmal offensive effort in Ohio. St. Louis' lackluster offense has been a problem for the majority of this season. However, the amazing goaltending that the team has gotten from both Jaroslav Halak and Brian Elliott had kept the problem under wraps most of the time. The goalie tandem has combined for 11 shutouts this year, which leads the NHL. It's a good thing that the pair are keeping the opposition off of the scoreboard so often, because in four of those 11 games, the Blues still only managed one goal for 1-0 wins.

Even when the Blues are getting fantastic play in the crease, it often leads to problems later as they have found themselves in shootouts which usually have resulted in them being stoned three times and taking the one point. It's only been recently, twice in the past five weeks, that the Blues have managed to win in shootouts and in both of those games, they still scored just once in the breakaway competition. Getting Andy McDonald back could help this phase of their game, as he has been one of their better shootout players for the last few seasons. T.J. Oshie has had some decent success too, going 3-8 on the year.

The biggest problem for the Blues still has to be the power play. It's not just failing to score on the power play, but they're failing to create power play chances for themselves most nights. They only had one opportunity in Columbus and it ended with more than 14 minutes remaining in the first period. The Blues have to start getting more attacking and more buzzing around the net. There have been times this season when they've done that, it simply has to be more consistent. This especially has to be the case on the road, where they'll be playing the majority of their games for the remainder of the season. The Blues only have 10 games left at Scottrade during the regular season, compared to 16 out of town contests.

This team has an offensive punch, it just needs to get focused. David Perron has really turned it on lately. He made a beautiful pass on a shorthanded break to David Backes in Columbus, resulting in the team's only goal and in the four games before that, he scored six goals. Backes and Oshie have been strong on the forecheck as well. It's really Chris Stewart and Patrik Berglund that need to pick it up. Stewart was dropped to the fourth line today in practice, according to Jeremy Rutherford of the Post-Dispatch. Hopefully that will light a fire under him, because if he doesn't get going soon, he might get going out the door as the trade deadline looms.

Blue Streak

The Blues are currently enduring the downswing of a season long trend. St. Louis has gone all year without a streak, either winning or losing, stopping at just one game.

The opened the season with consecutive wins over the Flyers and Ducks. The Blues went on to lose three straight, all on the road, to Chicago, Nashville, and Dallas. This pattern has remained consistent throughout the season right up to their last game of November, which is tomorrow night in Chicago. Now that the Blues have lost two straight, there's no telling what tomorrow's outcome will be. But if they beat Chicago and you like to put money down on trends, betting on the Blues to knock off the Capitals when they return on home on Wednesday night is your kind of bet.

There are two much more telling and disturbing trends that are currently plaguing the Blues. First, only the Predators rank worse offensively than the Blues. The team was getting scoring from David Perron before he went out with a concussion. And although T.J. Oshie had scored just one goal before breaking his ankle, he had chipped in nine assists to the Blues' scoring cause. Another factor that isn't measured on the scoresheet, is how Oshie is one of the team's best forecheckers and how he can create offense with his hitting in addition to his constant pursuit of the puck. With those two players out, the St. Louis has needed to find other sources for scoring. To an extent, they have. Andy McDonald and Brad Boyes have both come alive on the scoring front. Boyes had a four-game goal-scoring streak in recent weeks and McDonalds had three goals and a shootout goal between last Wednesday's and Friday's games. Defenseman Alex Pietrangelo is having a very strong year in his first full NHL season and is leading not just the team's blue-liners, but the entire team in assists. Unfortunately, that's about where the bright spots end for the Blues' scoring. David Backes has been fairly quiet all season. Patrik Berglund has looked brilliant at moments, but still hasn't developed into the consistent scorer that the team had hoped for when they drafted him in the first round. Matt D'Agostini, who was on fire to begin the season, has been stuck at six goals for quite some time.

The secondary scoring also hasn't been there for St. Louis. Alex Steen, who got a lucrative extension over the offseason, hasn't been producing lately as he's failed to register a point in six consecutive games. Jay McClement has only scored in one game all season. Sure, in that game, he scored three goals, but he needs to contribute more as well, especially since we know he has the talent to do so after his hat trick against Atlanta and in addition to him putting up 29 points last season. He currently only has one assist for a total of four points, which has him on pace for just under 15 points by the end of the season. Everyone on the offense can improve and must if the Blues are going to stay in the thick of things until Perron and Oshie can return. Jaroslav Halak is a fantastic goaltender, but he can't post a shutout in a third of the team's games like he did over the first nine. Expecting that would simply be both unrealistic and unfair to Halak.

The other trend that the Blues much change and quickly, is the fact that they continue to blow leads late in games. It was an issue earlier this season when they coughed up a couple of late leads, including a two-goal advantage in Chicago with just seven minutes remaining in regulation. The Blues ended up losing that one in overtime, but they then followed that up with their seven-game winning streak. The Blues blew third period leads in back-to-back games with Dallas over the weekend, reprising the pattern from earlier this season. I'm not asking them to roll off another seven-game winning streak, but they can't go back to their old ways of blowing leads like they did all of last season. Not being able to close out games is the primary reason that the Blues missed the postseason a year ago and if the team goes back to that mentality, where they play not to lose, it will have similar results this season.

Photo by John Grieshop