We’re back for a third time. This week’s piece looks at some of the Blues on-ice concerns, despite the fact that the team is coming off its best week of the young season. Then, we dive into some off-ice news from around the league. Please keep reading, and spread the good news! “I love nothing more than reading your weekly roundups every Monday at work, Brendan!” – Thomas Lally.
The Blues—Taking Steps Forward
This week saw the Blues string together their first back-to-back wins of the season: a 5-4 shootout win in Vegas and a 6-1 throttling of the Ducks in Anaheim. In between these games, of course, was the postponed second half of the two game series in Vegas. The Blues finished the week last night in Anaheim, picking up a 4-1 win and extending the winning streak to three games in what was a solid end to a week that has been the most re-assuring of the season. Here are some Blues developments I’ve kept an eye on this week:
Vince Dunn. Dunn is the hot topic this week, understandably, following Berube’s decision to scratch him against Vegas. Dunn was back in the lineup for both convincing wins against the Ducks, but there have been many credible people around the league that have reported not only that the Blues are listening to calls on Dunn, but that he’s fully on the trade block. I think many fans took this to mean that Dunn is as good as gone, which I don’t necessarily think is the case, but the rumblings are impossible to ignore. I have a few thoughts on this whole situation. On the one hand, I’ve been a big Vince Dunn fan since he broke into the league. He’s consistently put up elite numbers in a very sheltered role, and I have been of the opinion that he should have been playing in the top 4 for all of last season and beyond. On the other hand, he deserved to be scratched. This year has been a small step back for Dunn; a step that will probably keep him out of the top 4 yet again. The Blues’ shot attempts are nothing more than “fine” with Dunn on the ice, the expected goals numbers are bad (47.6 xGF%), and the actual goals for are just terrible (26.63%). This is a classic case of a player’s results being worse than expected and getting blamed more than he should for it; that being said, Dunn has had some pretty egregious turnovers that have directly led to goals, so I’m fine with some criticism.
Covid. The Blues got their first taste scheduling turmoil this week, having a contest in Vegas postponed the morning before the game. The Golden Knights coaches were absent from the first game of the series already, and two more within the organization entered protocol the next day, including Alex Pietrangelo. Petro claimed that he had not come into contact with any Blues players, which seems to be true based on the way Jordan Kyrou blew past him on Tuesday (*air horns*). Jokes aside, based on my general coronavirus knowledge—that it takes 4-7 days after exposure to begin experiencing symptoms—we could be seeing some Blues players enter protocol in the next day or two because of this Vegas incident. On the other hand, if we make it through Wednesday or Thursday without anyone within the organization being put into the Covid protocol, it’s probably safe to assume that the Blues avoided potential crisis. Only time will tell.
Sammy Blais should stay in the lineup. This might be a little easier to swallow after last night’s game, in which Blais put in his first goal of the season, but even prior to that he had been playing well in a limited role. With Blais on the ice, the Blues have been controlling shot attempts and expected goal rates by a pretty wide margin. Before last night’s game Blais had team-best even strength rates in both, with a 72.56 FF% and 82.89 xGF%. Blais has earned his right to play, and when Bozak returns I think Blais shouldn’t have to sit. I’ve been unimpressed with Sundqvist, Clifford, and Sanford, personally, and I don’t think their subpar play has gone unnoticed.
Niko Mikkola? Maybe not. Mikkola has been a nice breath of fresh air on the defensive side of the puck; that is until you take a look at his numbers. Before last night’s game, the Blues’ unblocked shot share with him on the ice at even strength was 36.44%, the worst among Blues defensemen. He’s pretty good defensively, with the Blues giving up only 35.95 unblocked shot attempts per game at even strength with him on the ice, which is the third best rate on the team. On the other hand, his shot share shows how negligible (or perhaps actively bad) he is at creating offense. I’m sensing a bit of Petteri Lindbohm-syndrome here: a young Finnish defenseman who bursts onto the NHL scene and seems to be a real difference maker, but maybe doesn’t have the stats to back it up. That said, Gunnarsson hasn’t been good either and I’m not a huge Bortuzzo fan, so maybe Mikkola will hold onto his spot.
Ville Husso’s second career start. Last night was the coming out party that I’ve been waiting three years for. Husso saved 25 of the 26 shots he faced, including 23 of 23 at even strength. It was against the Ducks, so take that into consideration, but last night’s game was a reassuring sign that Husso can play some effective games for the Blues this season. And before Sunday that’s not something that we could say confidently.
The next week. The Blues have another four game home stand this upcoming week, hosting the Arizona Coyotes twice before a weekend back-to-back versus the Colorado Avalanche. In an ideal world, the Blues win both against the Coyotes and at least one against the Avalanche. It will be interesting to see how prepared the Blues are to play a dangerous opponent in the Avalanche after four straight games against bottom-end teams, but in this division they’ll need to get used to the wide gap between the skill level of their opponents, and playing the Ducks and the Coyotes four times in two weeks will not excuse a slow start against Colorado.
Around the League
Penguin’s general manager finally fired. As I mentioned in my first Weekly Roundup, the Penguins are starting to be forced to come to terms with their present reality, whether they are ready to or not. The firing of GM Jeremy Rutherford this week seems to indicate that ownership realizes that something—or some things—with the current construction of the team isn’t working; a concern that seemed pretty obvious to those of us that don’t work in the Pittsburgh front office. Whether the Penguins go into full rebuild mode remains to be seen, but with the aging core they have I wouldn’t count on it. A re-tool with a new long-term vision for the team seems more likely. Either way, GM JR isn’t the guy you want at the reins for the next chapter, and despite the fact that he probably should have been fired a year or more ago, this is a smart move by the Penguins.
Tony DeAngelo. If you have somehow managed to avoid hearing about this saga yesterday, I applaud you. I’m not going to go deep into the past transgressions of DeAngelo, or explain the many clear reasons why he’s a bad person who isn’t suited to be a part of the NHL, or really any professional organization that isn’t the KKK. If you haven’t heard, Tony DeAngelo, who for the last several seasons has been one of the better defenseman on the New York Rangers and has also made his pro-Trump, anti-immigrant, QAnon-adjacent personality impossible to ignore, was placed on waivers. It seems that things boiled over Saturday night with his teammates, and names of those involved in the altercation that have come out as of Sunday night are Alexander Georgiev and Chris Kreider. By the time you’re reading this, DeAngelo will have either cleared waivers or been claimed by another team. If he clears, it will be interesting to see how the Rangers handle him, and how he reacts to a probable AHL assignment. If he gets claimed, it’s just further evidence how hypocritical the culture around the NHL remains—continuing to yell and scream constantly about how being a good teammate is all that matters, while simultaneously giving second and third chances to the guys who prove time and again that they’re assholes to their teammates. To anyone who sees DeAngelo as a martyr for his politics, don’t. You’re wrong. Many people won’t like to admit it, but Tony DeAngelo is not in the political minority in the NHL. Far from it. DeAngelo isn’t being punished for being an outspoken Trump supporter; he’s being punished for his own indefensible words and actions, just as he has ever since he was a junior hockey player.
All stats from Evolving-Hockey unless otherwise noted.
Brendan Komp (@brendanperson)
Neutral Zone Trap 