The St. Louis Blues enjoyed a lot of success during the Regular season in their 2021-22 campaign. The team might be facing some regression in 2022-22-23 due to nine players scoring more than 20 goals. Ville Husso was a strong goaltender and forward Robert Thomas emerged. Let’s take a look at four players who will be under the microscope to repeat or increase their performance from last season.
Ivan BarbashevThe 2021-22 seasons were a memorable year for Ivan Barbashev. He saw an increase in workload after his fourth and third line deployments. This was following the departures of Sammy Blais and Mike Hoffman. He was a regular in the NHL for five years and recorded 42 goals, 89 points, and an average of 12:26 per game. His increased role in the team resulted this season in 26 goals and 60 points, while averaging 16.26 minutes on ice. As the Russian’s final year of a twoyear contract extension, it may be difficult for the 26-yearold Russian to make a decision about what type of player he wants to be.
This past year, Barbashev consistently saw an upgrade in his linemates as he was surrounded by the likes of Thomas, Pavel Buchnevich, Vladimir Tarasenko, and Ryan O’Reilly. It is hard to believe that Barbashev could produce the same level of play as his career averages prior to the 2021-22 season. He has scored 98 points in the past three seasons, 61% of which were from the last season. He shot 6.1% faster than his career average of 17.3% over the five years prior to joining the league.
Barbashev might have the ability and skill to keep his high-level of play going forward, but there are reasons to be skeptical about the upcoming season. He will undoubtedly be scrutinized throughout 2022-23.
Jordan BinningtonThe goaltender who brought the Stanley Cup to St. Louis, Jordan Binnington has sometimes been an empty shell over the three seasons. He had a 24-5-1 regular season record for the 2018-19 Cup run. Since then, he has a 66-41-19 record, with a 2.75 goals against (GAA), a.908 save rate (SV%) and a goaltender saving 0.1 goals above the average (GSAA). Husso took his starting role in the 2018-19 Cup run, but he was able again to take it back at the end of the regular season. He then moved on to the playoffs. He was able to record a 4-1 record, a 1.72 GAA with a.949 SV%. and a 6.4 GSAA ranking in the postseason.
Jordan Binnington of the St. Louis Blues defends his goal against Joel Eriksson Ek of the Minnesota Wild (Photo by Bruce Kluckhohn/NHLI via Getty Images)Over the offseason, the Blues and Detroit Red Wings agreed to send Husso in a trade in exchange for the 73rd overall draft pick in the 2022 NHL Entry Draft. Binnington and the team wanted to show the fans and organization that the net was still his. The Blues then signed veteran goaltender Thomas Greiss to back up the 29-year-old, once again showing confidence and job security. Binnington will now have to prove that his ability to handle both the regular season’s and postseason workloads is possible.
Klim KostinThe franchise’s first-round draft choice of the 2017 NHL Entry Draft has yet to make his mark on the NHL and time may be running out for him to do so. Klim Kostin is only 23 years old and has only played 46 NHL games in three seasons. The other 40 were during the 2021-22 campaign. His season debut against Arizona Coyotes saw him score two goals. It took him thirty more games to get his third goal. He averaged just nine minutes of ice-time per game and recorded four assists during that period.
The post Four Blues Will Be Under the Microscope in 2022-23 first appeared on Raw News.
