Guest post by: Josh Fletcher
For years and years, the St. Louis Blues belonged to David Backes and Alex Steen. The pair played atop St. Louis lines for more than seven seasons. As goalie controversies floated through town and Vladimir Tarasenko emerged, Backes and Steen remained. Now, the pairing no longer remains. Backes has moved onto the Boston Bruins, and Steen will possibly be entering the 2016-17 season on the bench as he recovers from a shoulder injury.
The Blues, who were tied for fourth in the league in goals allowed last season and had the third-best penalty kill, now belong to a different group. That would be the defensemen. Led by Alex Pietrangelo and Kevin Shattenkirk, St. Louis has powerful and fearsome defensemen across multiple lines. The foursome of Pietrangelo, Shattenkirk, Jay Bouwmeester and Colton Parayko were the top four skaters on the team in terms of time on ice. They were also the heart and soul of what the Blues excelled at.
Bouwmeester is the elder statesman of the group at 32 years old. He has been a Blue for three and a half seasons after playing years in Florida and then Calgary. Bouwmeester is a good shot-blocker but otherwise doesn’t fill up stat sheets. He hasn’t approached double-digit goals in a year in close to a decade. But that isn’t really his game. His game is more nebulous, which is why it wasn’t a popular decision when he was added to Team Canada for the World Cup of Hockey over the likes of Kris Letang, P.K Subban and Mark Giordano. Bouwmeester is “out there to prevent goals, not to create them.”
He joined on Team Canada one of his Blues teammates, Pietrangelo. Pietrangelo is just 26 years old but he is already one of the leaders in St. Louis. He was named team captain earlier this offseason. The decision to place the defenseman in that role over Steen perhaps speaks to the identity shift from forward to defense that the outside sees as well.
In five full NHL seasons (with one cut short by lockout), Pietrangelo has topped 35 points and 160 shots on goal each year. He is on the ice a lot yet stays out of the penalty box for the most part. He will not be replacing Backes in that regard but is one of the best defenseman in the league in most other aspects, including puck possession.
One of the team’s alternate captains this year is Pietrangelo’s running mate, Shattenkirk. At 27 years old, he is also a relatively young guy despite his experience. Shattenkirk is developing into a bigger goal scorer; he has tallied 32 total goals the past three years even though he missed a chunk of the 2014-15 season. He is also elite in puck possession, grading out even better than Pietrangelo in metrics like Corsi and Fenwick. Because of his expiring contract, there were trade rumors surrounding Shattenkirk this offseason. However, he has reportedly put that behind him and is ready to resume a leadership role alongside Pietrangelo. The possibility of a contract extension or trade still remains, and one of the reasons is because St. Louis has Colton Parayko on the cheap to perhaps take his place.
Parayko isn’t there yet, but there is a scenario where he could become the best defenseman of the bunch. He is just 23 years old and entering his second season in the NHL. As a rookie, he didn’t play as heavy of a minutes load as his three teammates, but Parayko was a physical force both in appearance and action. He racked up hits, blocks and shots with great speed on the ice while standing 6’6” tall. Assuming his game takes a jump in his sophomore season, there is no telling how imposing and flat-out good he will be. And he may only be the team’s fourth-best defenseman this coming season.
