Post Mortem: St. Louis Blues

Via: theprovince.com

Seems as though the list of recently deceased is growing larger every day, as the St. Louis Blues were added to the pile last night. But before we lay them to rest for this season, let's take a look at what went wrong.

The Blues started the 2013 NHL season with a bang, picking up a 6-0 shutout victory at home to give notice to the league that they Blues run of last season was no fluke. Under coach Ken Hitchcock, the Blues employed a stifling style of defense and they finished with the second fewest goals against the the Western Conference.


They were however more than just a defense-first team, as they showed great offensive depth. Though there is no clear superstar up front, 13 different players were able to pick up double digit point totals. Alex Pietrangelo and Kevin Shattenkirk has outstanding seasons from the blueline, as they scored 24 and 23 points respectively. They also got great contributions from rookies Valdamir Tarasenko (19 points in 38 games) and netminder Jake Allen (9 wins, 2.46 goals against average).

As is usually the case with a defensive team, the backbone was the goaltending as Brian Elliot again split the duties with Jaroslav Halak and Allen. Though all three had good seasons, they combined for a team .904 save percentage and occasionally let in a soft goal for a team that didn't allow many shots against. Going into the playoffs, they would need to be better.

For the most part, they were. Elliot played every minute for the Blues in their first round match-up with the Kings and finished the series with a tiny 1.90 gga and a respectable .919 save percentage. He gave the Blues a chance to win every night during a close series in which every game was decided by one goal. So what went wrong?

The defense was fantastic, as they allowed only 24.8 shots against per game against a potent LA attack. Ultimately it came down to scoring, and the Blues inability to bring a sustained attack against the King's defense. They only averaged 1.67 goals per game which had them ranked 15th of 16 teams in the first round. Alex Steen was the only forward able to consistently put the puck in the net, as he scored 3 of the team's 10 total goals in six games. The depth they relied on in the regular season had disappeared.

Moving forward to next season, the Blues will certainly need to address this issue and add some firepower up front. They'll have the capspace to do it, as Andy McDonald's $4.7 million dollar salary comes off the books. However, they have many key RFA's to sign, including Peitrangelo, Shattenkirk, Chris Stewart and Patrik Berglund. Pietrangelo alone could garner between 5-6 million dollars. It's going to be a tricky summer for GM Doug Armstrong to not only get those players signed to reasonable contracts, but upgrade an offense that desperately needs it. The team still has the size and youth to compete, and with Hitchcock behind the bench will still be one of the best defensive teams in the NHL. But if they can't get the puck in the net, I'll probably be writing this exact article again a year from now.