The St. Louis Blues are down to their final two games of the season, and their playoff hopes have been squandered. The team has much to consider now that they could not clinch a playoff spot. The good news is that they at least have some extra time to prepare for the upcoming 2024 NHL Draft and free agency.
With plenty of good forwards to appreciate and some that look like they will most likely get rid of in the offseason, it will be necessary to not only the Blues’ future but to general manager Doug Armstrong’s job at building the best possible team he can to get the Blues to be a consistent playoff contender. This season, there were a lot of candidates who made a significant impact on keeping this team afloat. However, three forwards made the most of this season, and let’s look at who those three players were in 2023-24.
Jake Neighbours
At the beginning of the season, Jake Neighbours looked like an ordinary call-up, riding the bottom lines on the roster after putting up only 12 points in 52 games during his first two seasons in the NHL; however, he proved everyone wrong, putting together an unexpected five-game point streak in November that changed his role and solidified his spot on the roster for the remainder of the season. As he currently sits out with an upper-body injury, the future is bright once he gets healthy and hopefully gets a spot on the top two lines next season.
Neighbours has also developed well while being paired with Pavel Buchnevich and Robert Thomas this season, and it’s benefited him very well. He’s scored seven of his 27 goals, the most he’s scored amongst all his line combinations. He’s only played about 137 minutes and 14 games and was able to pull off a good pace of 0.50 goals per game when playing on the Buchnevich-Thomas line.
At 22 years old, Neighbours has time to work on his stick handling, and it’s a minor issue holding back his game and preventing him from being a top goal scorer and maybe even a valuable point producer. The problem with Neighbours is that he tends to be a set-up player, and it’s good up to the extent that it becomes too predictable for opposing teams. He scored 20 of his 27 goals from the inside center or front of the net area of the ice, and that’s about 74 percent of his goals. With much to learn from his improvement this season, he could fix those areas of his game in no time.
Jordan Kyrou
Jordan Kyrou slumped before the All-Star Break, scoring 37 points with 14 goals and 23 assists in 49 games, and was third on the Blues in points. After that, he jumped to second on the Blues in points with 29 points in 31 games. His total for the entire season is 66 points, with 30 goals and 36 assists in 79 games. It’s not the number he was supposed to hit this season. However, he’s put on quite a show and was able to snap out of his slump in time for a potential playoff run.
Kyrou has been helpful in scoring points when the Blues are on the man advantage with 21 power-play points, which is within the top 60 in the league and second on the Blues. If there’s one thing for sure, he is still consistent with his power play performance and has made the most of the remainder of the season. Since interim head coach Drew Bannister came into the head coaching seat, Kyrou has seen more confidence in his game again after going through some disappointed fans in December after the departure of former head coach Craig Berube. He’s overcome a lot of adversity within the franchise, quickly scoring two goals within 42 seconds of the Blues’ April 10 game against the Chicago Blackhawks.
Related: Blues’ Kyrou Underrated as He Nears Consecutive 30-Goal Season
With the addition of Jimmy Snuggerud next season, Kyrou hopes to get back on track as a top goal scorer and point producer on the Blues and potentially set a new career-high in goals and points. With the Blues’ playoff hopes in the wind now, it would’ve been excellent to see if he could’ve transferred his recent performance to the playoffs.
Robert Thomas
Robert Thomas has been consistent with his performance, scoring about 1.06 points per game this season. He has 85 points, a career-high in points, and is one of the few active players on the Blues roster to score 80-plus points since Vladimir Tarasenko in the 2021-22 season. His power play performance has been precious to the roster, scoring 27 points on the power play. Thomas’ unique playmaking ability has been a driving factor in his dominant numbers, as he’s in the top 15 in the league in assists (60).
His great playmaking ability has benefited players around him, such as Zachary Bolduc and Brayden Schenn, who have been on consistent runs recently. That line has only played four games together and has scored seven goals within that span, and one player who’s been on fire the most on that line is Bolduc. In his last three, he’s scored three consecutive goals while being paired with Thomas, and it’s clear that Thomas is improving the players around him. It would be exciting to see how much of an effect he could have on other prospects like Snuggerud or Otto Stenberg in the future.
Thomas should be a candidate for a potential captaincy when Schenn leaves the Blues. However, it will probably take a while until it happens, as Schenn is only 32 years old. He’ll continue to play how he’s played for the entire season and move himself up in Blues history.
Why the Blues Should Keep Them
These are no doubt three great players that the Blues can use to get them to the next level in the future, and as much as Kyrou has his slumps, Neighbours plays the setup position, and Thomas impacts with playmaking, this team needs them to survive. Sure, they didn’t make the playoffs, but when you compare them to other teams in the league with a promising group mixed with veteran presence like the Detroit Red Wings or Philadelphia Flyers, they were good but could not stay afloat to make the playoffs.
So, the idea should be to ride out the dark days until the Blues free up space on their roster and salary cap to build the right team. For now, we have a glimpse of the future, and if the Blues draft some good players and sign someone who can fill in the holes within their team, they have a good shot at making the playoffs in the next two to three seasons.