The Two Line Pass: Andy Strickland

Let me start off by apologizing for the long gap between posts on Hockey Independent. I have been extremely busy with school and working on The Postgame Tailgate, a weekly feature on the University of Missouri football team, for my website, Hank’s Sports Blog (I know, that was a shameless plug, but I have to spread the word about my site wherever I can, right?). But enough about football, let’s talk some hockey.

Opening Faceoff

After getting off to the best start to a season in franchise history, the Saint Louis Blues have fallen on some hard times. Injuries to TJ Oshie and David Perron have hurt an already struggling offense and Jaroslav Halak and Ty Conklin have reinforced the fact that a team cannot rely solely on goaltending to win games in the NHL.

Obviously, Halak and Conklin have been money in net so far this season and I’m not trying to talk down on them just because they haven’t been holding teams to 0-1 goals recently. My point is, that no matter how talented and how well the Blues’ net-minders play, it will all be for not if the offense cannot find the back of the net.

I was talking to a buddy of mine about how it’s sort of unfortunate for Jaroslav Halak that the two teams he has been with so far in his career have struggled offensively. This guy has the potential to become one of those legendary goaltenders, if he can just get some help on the other end of the ice.

In last season’s Stanley Cup playoffs, the only reason, I think, that the Habs weren’t able to make it into the finals was because they relied to heavily on Halak. I’m sure to many of you die-hard hockey fans this is no earth-shattering revelation, but that is one big difference between the 2010-2011 Saint Louis Blues and the 2009-2010 Montreal Canadians. This Blues team has the potential on offense to light the lamp 3-4 times a night, even without a guy like TJ Oshie.

No, I’m not saying that the loss of number 74 won’t hurt the team. That’d be stupid. However, there are plenty of guys on this club who have shown the ability over their careers to score goals in large quantities.

Brad Boyes is the first name that comes to mind for a lot of fans and rightfully so. The former Bruin scored over 40 goals in his first season with the Blues, but struggled last season, netting just 14 goals.

Last season, Alex Steen broke onto the scene scoring 24 goals. He is going to need to prove that wasn’t just a fluke for this team to continue being successful. Obviously some of the other “big name” forwards on this team including Patrick Berglund and Andy McDonald need to step up as well, but the final forward that I want to focus on is David Backes.

David recently signed a 5-year contract extension with the Blues worth about $4.5 million. This is a guy who the fans love and has been tabbed by many as next in line for the captaincy. However, for as much as Backes brings to the table in terms of size, ability on face-offs, and leadership he has to step up on offense. The only way this “scoring-by-committee” system that the Saint Louis Blues have adopted will work is if everyone starts chipping in goals and I believe, given his size, that the best way for Backes to start putting that puck in the back of the net is just to sit in front of the net (ala Keith Tkachuk) and work on screening the goalie and banging in rebounds. With a big man like Backes in front of the net, that opens up things for snipers like Berglund and Boyes as well as some of the defensemen like Erik Johnson and Nikita Nikitin.

I’d be remised if I didn’t mention the play off Matt D’Agostini. This guy has been clutch for the Blues this season. Who would have thought with a roster that includes guys David Perron, Brad Boyes, and Alex Steen that Matt D’Agostini would be the team leader in goals. He has been coming up huge for the Blues and they are going to need him to continue coming up big if they want to be successful.

One last thing before I get to the more objective portions of this feature. You can back off the edge of the cliff, Blues fans. This team is going to have their losing streaks. Keep everything in perspective. We aren’t even 20 games into the season yet. This offense will start clicking and the defense, while young, has shown the ability to meet all the challenges it has been faced with. There are going to be growing pains, but they will bounce back. You cannot get too high or too down on the Blues this early in the season. They are going to have their ups-and-downs throughout the year and fans just have to keep things in perspective and maintain a level head.

There is just one thing fans should be a little worried about, however, and that is where we will start with this week’s edition of The Two Line Pass.

Power outage

One major aspect of the Blues’ game that was a glaring negative even amidst their best start in franchise history is the power play. Heading into tonight’s game against Colorado, the Blues have tallied just 8 goals with the man advantage despite having 68 opportunities (that’s an 11.8% power play percentage and leaves them among the bottom 5 in the league).

The Blues’ power play woes stem from their disorganization inside the offensive zone. InsideSTL Blues writer Kevin Lorenz said that it all starts with how the team enters the zone.

“The Blues’ biggest problem is with their entry into the zone,” Kevin said. “They have a lot of trouble gaining strong possessions in the zone. It’s tough to set up a play without the puck.”

Andy took a similar approach, focusing on how the team sets up once it does cross the opposing team’s blue line.

“They’re unsuccessful because they’re completely unorganized,” Andy said. “You got guys playing out of position, guys who are in positions where they don’t wanna be. Sometimes as a coach it’s best when you have veteran players who have had success on the power play, talk to those guys and see where they feel the most comfortable on the ice.”

As for how the Blues can remedy their problems on the power play, Andy believes that it starts at the blueline with newly appointed assistant captain, Erik Johnson.

“Erik Johnson, to me, has been disappointing. This guy’s gotta shoot the puck…You don’t make plays in the NHL from the blueline,” Andy said. “The way you create plays as a guy who is playing from the point is by getting the puck on net. So, you gotta shoot.”

Andy said that he recently talked about how it appears that Carlo Colaiacovo was the lynch pin to the Blues power play. He admitted that those who saw or heard his comments might not have taken him seriously because it doesn’t seem like Carlo would play such an important role on this team. However, Andy reinforced his point and stressed the importance of a healthy Carlo Colaiacovo to this Saint Louis Blues team.

“I mean this and I wrote about it and it may have sounded like I was half joking but I really wasn’t, I didn’t realize Carlo Colaiacovo was this important to the powerplay and he really is,” Andy said. “I knew he was important and in some ways he’s their quarterback and he’s the best in distributing the puck on the power play from a defensive standpoint. He’s really good at it. He’s also good at getting the puck into the zone and being able to make that first pass to really get things moving…So, they need this guy to get back, not only to sure up their situation they’re dealing with defensively, but they need Carlo Colaiacovo for the power play.”

Injuries

Amidst one of their hottest starts in franchise history, the Saint Louis Blues were struck hard with the injury bug.

Defensemen Barret Jackman and Carlo Colaiacovo have both been out for an extended period of time while Roman Polak is not expected to be back with the team for another month and a half.

Obviously the loss of these players will hurt the Blues. However, without Jackman on defense, the team loses a significant physical presence.

“You know besides the leadership, [Jackman’s] ability and willingness to stand up for his teammates, that physical presence, it’s just the way he plays,” True Hockey founder Andy Strickland said. “He brings a different demeanor and attitude than most of the other players on defense. Pietrangelo, Johnson, and some of these other guys, they don’t necessarily play that intimidation, in-your-face style of hockey that Barret Jackman has to play to be successful…he’s going to be missed big time.”

In addition to what the team loses on the ice, Jackman’s absence also takes away that key veteran presence. To fill in for that role, the Blues will look to their captain Eric Brewer to continue stepping up. While the team captain has not necessarily been a fan favorite over the past few seasons, he is coming off one of his first completely healthy off-seasons and is quietly playing some of the best hockey that we have seen from him. The loss of Barret Jackman means that even more attention will be put on Brewer and his response will be key to the team’s success.

“[Brewer’s] going to have to [continue stepping up] because he plays big minutes. He’s playing against the team’s best players, playing in penalty kill situations, so this guy has no choice,” Andy said. “It’s one thing to ask guys like Pietrangelo and Johnson to come up big, they’re going to have to too, but Brewer’s got the C on his jersey and he’s got the games played and the experience and the edge over all these guys.”

In addressing how the team will respond to the injuries on defense Andy and I focused on first round draft pick Alex Pietrangelo. After a mediocre preseason, Pietrangelo has really stepped up with some big minutes on D for the Blues and has shown the ability to meet the lofty expectations put upon him at the beginning of the year.

“When you look at the Blues right now, defensively, who’s been more consistent than this guy? Nobody. I’m impressed by what I’ve seen from him,” Andy said. “You know what, it’ll be interesting to see how he handles whatever is thrown his way and the Blues are going to depend on him in a big way and he’s going to have to come up big.”

With a guy like Roman Polak out, however, Pietrangelo will be under even more pressure to perform at a high level. Andy says that the young defenseman has already shown the ability to step up in the absence of key players, but that it will be interesting to see how he responds to the adversity that every rookie faces at some point during his first full season.

“I think that he’ll handle it just fine. I mean he’s given you no reason to think he can’t handle it,” Andy said. “Now, every rookie is gonna struggle and how he responds to that adversity is going to be interesting to see, but his demeanor in general is just so calm. Everything about him is just so poised that you just don’t worry about anything being too big for him or him just being too rattled. He’s been able to handle everything.”

Buzzer Beater: Nikita Nikitin

With Roman Polak out for 2 months, Andy named Nikita Nikitin as a player who looks to have a solid chance of staying with the NHL club for an extended period of time to fill in for Polak.

No one expected him this season, the Russian kid, and all of a sudden he just looks like an NHL-er to me. It just looks like he belongs. I mean, how do you send this guy back as he continues to make strides and get better?

Physically, he’s there in terms of strength necessary to play in the NHL. He’s got great vision, makes a good first pass, he’s got a really strong stick, his skating ability’s good, he can shoot the puck with the best of them. He along with Erik Johnson have looked sharp from the point.

This guy’s the real deal in terms of the whole package and he’s real raw. So, there are some tools to work with and he’s only going to get better.

Quick Hits

Andy gives his take on a few topics surrounding the Blues.

Ian Cole: I like the way he tries to make plays when he gets the puck. He’s not a guy who’s content with just getting off the glass and out, even when he’s under pressure. This guy has the ability to see plays around him, to see the ice, to take a look over your shoulder when going back to retrieve the puck and see what’s behind him and be able to make that tape-to-tape pass as opposed to just making the safe play and just getting it out and worrying about making a mistake.

The Blues as a team: You know who the Blues remind me of? And I wrote about this on True Hockey, they remind me of the Colorado Avalanche team from last year. They just sort of came out of nowhere, got really strong goaltending from Craig Anderson, had a really strong, enthusiastic, energetic team that outworked the opposition every single night, just a really tough team. When you look back, they struggled a bit at the end, but they still made the playoffs, but this is a fun team to watch.

Division: Can they win the division? Sure they can, but they got a long way to go and they have to continue winning at this pace and in reality, from this point going forward they’re not going to win 9 out of every 10 games, but you know what I’m saying. In order to keep pace with some of these teams like Detroit, it comes down to consistency and bringing the same game to the ice every single night.

Parting Shot: Replacing TJ Oshie

Kevin talks about the injury to TJ Oshie and analyzes the team’s decision to call up Chris Porter from Peoria. The team’s decision to bring Porter up to the NHL club seems somewhat surprising at first glance. In breaking down the team’s options for replacing TJ, I didn’t include Porter because he is not the goal scoring forward one would think the team could use. Even Jeremy Rutherford tweeted that the move was a bit surprising. After talking to Kevin, however, the Blues’ decision to call up Chris Porter makes a lot more sense.

TJ Oshie and Chris Porter-Lorenz

Last List of Links: Check out Andy’s website True Hockey. You can read Kevin’s articles on InsideSTL. You can follow me on Twitter @Brian_Haenchen and @HanksSportsBlog.

Thanks for reading!