By: Mike Rifkin
Thursday night, after the Blues lost 3-2 in overtime to the Canucks, Head Coach Craig Berube let his frustrations out on his team. Berube said, “A lot of our best players aren’t doing their jobs.” Berube continued to say, “Our best players don’t play with any passion, no emotion, and no inspiration at all. They don’t play inspired hockey. You cannot play in this league without emotion, grit, and being inspired. They’re getting paid lots of money, and they’re not doing the job. End of story.”
For the Blues, it was their fourth consecutive loss, and they are 3-6-1 in their last ten games and are currently 11 points out of a playoff spot. But Berube is right; his best players have struggled over this stretch. Robert Thomas has zero points and is a minus -8 in the last four games, Jordan Kyrou has one assist and is a -6, Braden Schenn has zero points, and minus 3, and Justin Faulk has a goal and assist and is a minus-5. Thomas and Kyrou have eight-million-dollar extensions that kick in starting next season. Brayden Schenn is signed through 2028 with a cap hit of 6.5 million dollars, with a full no-trade clause. Justin Faulk is signed through 2027-28, also at a cap hit of 6.5 million dollars. To show the struggles this team has had, both Kyrou and Schenn are -28 on the season, Thomas is -7, and Faulk is -16. These players are four of the Blues’ top six scorers.
With this team 11 points out of a playoff spot, management has already started selling off pieces. They traded star winger Vladimir Tarasenko to the Rangers and their captain Ryan O’Reilly to the Toronto Maple Leafs. There has been chatter around forward Ivan Barbashev as well.
But if you take the trade talks away, the Blues, for me, have been the biggest disappointment in the NHL. They were a team that could still compete for the Stanley Cup, which they won in 2019, but they haven’t played well all season. This team last year was third in the Central Division. They beat the Minnesota Wild in six games before losing to the eventual Stanley Cup Champion Colorado Avalanche in six games. The most telling stat about the Blues is that last year they were +69 in goal differential, and this year they are -34.
The guy that needs to get a finger pointed his way is goaltender Jordan Binnington. Binnington, who was fantastic when the Blues won the Cup, has struggled since. Every year since winning the Cup, Binnington’s Goals Against Average has risen, and his save percentage has dropped. This season the save percentage is .894, while the GAA is 3.28. Because of salary cap reasons, the Blues traded Ville Husso to the Red Wings. Husso is 23-13-5 with a 2.85 GAA and a .907 save percentage. Binnington is signed through 2027-28 with a six-million-dollar cap hit. But the other thing that will drive people crazy about Binnington is his tough-guy antics.
The Blues are the most disappointing team in the NHL this season, even though they have started to sell off pieces. They will continue to be one fascinating team over the next week until the trade deadline and the summer.
The Sports Insanity Network 