Mid-Season Grades For The Blues

Brian Elliott

PD: A Me: A+

Duh! #2 in the league in ES save percentage, #4 in the league in overall save percentage, #1 in the league in GAA (all 10 games minimum). $2.5m a season too.

Jake Allen

PD: C Me: D-

0.908 ES, 0.900 overall. The 2.65 GAA doesn't look too bad but it's 0.8 goals a game worse than Elliott.

I know it's a small sample, but so far Allen is 0.909 ES for his career. That is not "goalie of the future" stuff unless we're talking about the future of BK Mlada Boleslav (Marek Schwarz joke!).

Martin Brodeur

PD: not graded Me: Incomplete Headed towards a D

Honestly, Brodeur's numbers compare favorably to Allen's. That says more about Jake than Marty.

Kevin Shattenkirk

PD: A+ Me: A+

Shattenkirk has been by far the best Blues defenseman so far. #2 in the league in points, #3 in plus/minus. His Corsi of 8.8 is #30 in the league (defenseman, 20 games minimum) and his Corsi Rel of 10.0 is #19.

Alex Pietrangelo

PD: B+ Me: D+

Huh? B+? I'm not going to let a decent January overshadow a pretty poor 3 months at the start of the season. 27 points is tied for #19 in the league among defensemen but his plus/minus is 0 (about #150), Corsi is 0.07 (#104, same group as Shatty) and Corsi Rel is -3.7 (#128). This is a guy who should be a Norris trophy candidate.

Jay Bouwmeester

PD: B Me: D

7 points in 38 games? At least he's +7. Corsi is a little positive at 1.63 (#90), but Corsi Rel is -5.1 (#144). That Corsi Rel ranks behind such superstars as Jay Harrison and David Schlemko. Noted offensive defenseman Barret Jackman has almost twice as many points and Jackman has played 100 fewer minutes.

Carl Gunnarsson

PD: B Me: Incomplete Working on a C

I'm not sure that 29 games on a new team is a big enough sample to really give a fair grade. The puck movement skills look promising. Only 7 points, but + 10. Corsi is -2.05 (#129) Corsi -2.7 (#121)

Barret Jackman

PD: B Me: C+

I have long defended Jackman, but he is starting look old. I went into this thinking Cole was pulling Jackman down but the Corsi stats don't bear that out. 12 points, +4. Corsi 0.7 (#98) Corsi Rel -2.3 (#114)

Ian Cole

PD: C- Me B-

Cole is the only defenseman other than Shatty with a positive Corsi Rel. 5 points, +12. Corsi 3.18 (#78) Corsi Rel 2.3 (#81)

Chris Butler

PD: C- Me: C-

For $650k, what do you expect? 4 points, +1. Corsi -5.2 (#150) Corsi Rel -5.3 (also #150)

Vladimir Tarasenko

PD: A Me: A+

The most exciting 46 games by a Blues player in a long time. #5 among forwards with 24 goals, #9 among forwards with 47 points. Corsi 12.5 (#43 among forwards with 20 games) Corsi Rel 14.5 (#19) Hopefully he will cool off in the second half so the Blues can afford to sign him (maybe more on that later this weekend).

Jaden Schwartz

PD: A Me:A-

Maybe I'm just judging Schwartz relative to Tarasenko, but I can't see an "A" here. His Corsi numbers aren't that great.  Tarasenko is CF% 52.6 with Schwartz, 58.3 without. 16 goals, 37 points. Corsi 4.5 (#140) Corsi Rel 2.9 (#157)

Jori Lehtera

PD: A Me: B+

Lehtera is on pace for just under 60 points. I said before the season that would be an "A". The Corsi numbers are pulling that down a little. Overall 9 goals, 31 points. Corsi 3.4 (#162), Corsi Rel 1.8 (#185)

Alex Steen

PD: A Me: A

So far a solid season by Steen. Interesting what happens when you don't shoot at 25% 15 goals, 40 points. Corsi 7.3 (#99), Corsi Rel 7.1 (#93) Not his usual Corsi numbers but not bad.

David Backes

PD: A- Me: B+

Given that Backes tend to draw difficult assignments, his numbers tend to suffer. Still, a good season from Backes puts him in Selke discussions. He's not been there. 16 goals, 33 points. Corsi 1.7 (#183), Corsi Rel -0.7 (#227)

TJ Oshie

PD: B Me: B

A "B" seems about right. 13 goals, 28 points. Corsi 3.9 (#154), Corsi Rel 2.0 (#180)

Paul Stastny

PD: B Me: C-

He's on a pace for 50-ish points. With a $7m cap hit, that doesn't cut it. His Corsi numbers pulled this up out of the "D's". 9 goals 25 points. Corsi 7.8 (#92), Corsi Rel 7.5 (#88)

Dmitri Jaskin

PD: C+ Me: Incomplete Looks like a potential B or better.

19 games, 4 goals, 7 points. Corsi 13.9, Corsi Rel 13.9. (not enough games to qualify) What has this guy got to do to be in the lineup every night? (Hitch: "Turn 33")

Joakim Lindstrom

PD: No grade Me: D

3 goals 6 points. Team worst Minus 5. Corsi 1.0 (#200), Corsi Rel 1.0 (#197) . Lindstrom has mostly been a waste of a roster space. Makes you wonder how Peter Mueller would have done.

Ryan Reaves

PD: B- Me: D

I don't see how you can look at these numbers and say that's a "B-". On the plus side, he has as many goals as Ott and Lapierre combined. 3 goals, 6 points. Corsi -15.4 (#353), Corsi Rel -21.1 (#377) Truculence!

Max Lapierre

PD: C Me: F+

Lapierre sucks. The "+" is because of the next guy. 2 goals, 9 points. Minus 2. Corsi -15.3 (#351), Corsi Rel -20.9 (#376)

Steve Ott

PD: C Me: F

If Steve Ott were a race horse he would be dog food by now. 1 goal, 7 points. Minus 4. Corsi -13.9 (#348), Corsi Rel -21.4 (#380) Over his magical not-quite-year in St. Louis, Ott has 68 games, 1 goal, 9 assists, 10 points, and is minus 16.

Patrik Berglund

PD: D Me: C+

6 goals 15 points. Minus 1. Corsi 11.0 (#59), Corsi Rel 12.2 (#33) I know somebody (a specific somebody) is going to say "Corsi is meaningless" but numbers 57-61 in Corsi are John Tavares, Ryan Callahan, Bergy, Eric Staal, and Tyler Johnson.

Let's compare Berglund and the Three Stooges Fourth Line:

NAME	GFON/60	GAON/60	SFON/60	SAON/60	CORSI QoC	SPCT	SVPCT
Berglund	2.05	2.05	29.9	22.7	0.489	6.41	917
Reaves	1.75	1.58	20.7	28.1	-1.68	7.81	947
Lapierre	1.72	2.19	21.9	27.5	-1.894	7.28	926
Ott	1.45	1.98	22.2	27.9	-0.94	6.15	934

Berglund is even on goals, Reaves is positive, Lapierre and Ott are negative. That's with Berglund suffering from a poor shooting percentage and the worst save percentage of the bunch. Berglund is hugely positive on shots. The others are massively negative. Berglund faces harder competition. With all that, the PD has:

Reaves >> Bergy. Lapierre > Bergy, and Ott > Bergy.

That's insane.

Ken Hitchcock

PD: A- Me: A- with a U in conduct

That sounds like most of my junior high grades. On the one hand, Hitch does some great things. I think team defense reflects coaching. The Blues play great team defense. They're #3 in the league in shots against, #4 in the league in shot differential, and #2 in the league in goal differential.

On the other hand, Hitch's dogged insistence at putting 3 of the worst forwards in the league on the ice for 10-12 minutes a game is indefensible.

Doug Armstrong

PD: A Me: ?

I'm not sure what I'm grading here. His off-season? I gave it an "A-" before the season. I might bump that down a little in hindsight. What has he done since? Sign Brodeur? Sneak Paajarvi through waivers? That's a gentleman's "D" at best. Why an "A"? At least he hasn't traded his starting goaltender, a first round draft pick, and a conditional first round draft pick for a worse starting goaltender. This season. Yet. Hopefully Cam Ward won't waive his NTC.