The St. Louis Blues in 2022-23 got away from so many parts of their game that were previously successful under Craig Berube, you just knew the response for 2023-24 would be a return to Berube’s type of players.
Yes, the team bet on buy-low reclamations Jakub Vrana and Kasperi Kapanen, who aren’t exactly Berube types but can serve as poor-man’s Tarasenkos. But overall, we’ve seen the return of guys like Sammy Blais and Oskar Sundqvist who provide grit, physicality and that coach’s holy grail of predictability.
They run their routes. They don’t cheat for offense. Their minds don’t wander on the backcheck.
Likewise for the blueline, where Marco Scandella and Robert Bortuzzo begin 2023-24 healthy, which means Calle Rosen begins the season in Springfield. Berube telegraphed as much during training camp when he essentially said Rosen’s surprisingly productive 2022-23 (8 goals, 10 assists in 49 games) meant nothing today: “Last season was last season.”
(Never mind that Scandell and Bortuzzo’s prime effective years are long past…those still carry weight.)
Anyway, with their final moves before the roster deadline to open the season, the Blues surprised no one. The waiver-exempt top prospects Zach and Zack were assigned to the AHL. Scott Perunovich is given a chance to re-establish himself and Tyler Tucker is rewarded for the physical tone he showed all preseason. Rosen, along with journeymen vets Mackenzie MacEachern, Nathan Walker and Malcolm Subban were waived, cleared and are headed to Springfield.
Nikita Alexandrov showed enough for the Blues not to risk waivers on him, and he’s expected to be the 13th forward, ready to step in as soon as there’s an injury or a forward enters the doghouse.
And then there’s Jake Neighbors, who has made the team and could be used up and down the lineup. Berube’s impression of Neighbors practically defines what Berube looks for in a player:
“He still has to keep working and keep pounding away at things. It’s all about becoming a real good pro for him, and he’s getting close. … He gets to the hard areas of the ice all the time, whether it’s on the forecheck, whether it’s around the net. He’s heavy on pucks.”
But all of this brings us to the great mystery that the first month of the season should answer: As the Blues return essentially the same blueline from last season — which leaked so many shots, dangerous chances and goals — will they perform any differently? Is a return to defensively sound, Berube hockey in the cards?