Let’s Talk Faulk — and Watch Some Video
This story originally appeared in the Oct. 19, 2019 edition of the St. Louis Game Time paper, sold outside of every Blues home game. For more information or to subscribe, email gtbradlee@gmail.com
The sinking feeling when they give up a goal; the frustration at a missed scoring chance; the nerves late in the game — it’s like I know how I’m supposed to feel, and sometimes really do feel that way. It’s just that we’re not working toward anything anymore. In past years, every power play, every goal, every save was a building block. This hockey, here and now? It’s just gravy. Gravy can be tasty. It can be satisfying. But it’s garnish.
The instinct remains, too, to attack players for sins of the past: Vladimir Tarasenko “isn’t a true game-breaker” and all. “Alex Pietrangelo is soft in his own zone.” But Blues fans, overcome the instinct. Rise above. This team answered all the questions and then some.
Five thoughts from the escalator to nowhere.
1. Robert Thomas played only 7:33 on Thursday? He was coming back from an injury, but even in that little time on ice, it was clear his skill level is a notch higher than most of his teammates’. That play where he motored down the right wing, blew past a defender, and got to the net? That’s a play only he and Tarasenko can make. Whereas Tarasenko does it with strength, it was all speed for Thomas. The Blues need that speed in the lineup for 16 or 17 minutes a night, at least.
2. Speaking of Tarasenko, what — were you worried? With a very few exceptions — guys with names like Gretzky, Lemieux, Ovechkin, and Hull — even the best goal scorers are streaky. That’s just how hockey works. So until number 91 scores fewer than 30 goals in a full season, can we just not sweat it? Great goal scorers accumulate their goals by scoring more often during their streaks (and by having great steaks more often) than by consistency. Lo and behold, he’s got goals in two straight, and six points in seven games.
3. Let’s talk Faulk. The trade itself was fine, but the contract will probably hamstring the Blues in much the same way Jay Bouwmeester has over the past six seasons. Faulk will get slower as he gets older and his offensive output will drop, but you can bet your bottom dollar he’ll be getting close to top-pairing minutes even as it becomes obvious that he’s lost a step.
Despite gaudy point totals, much of Faulk’s career output has come on the power play. Since he came into the league in 2011–12, he’s 22nd in terms of PP scoring among defensemen. That’s great! But it’s far easier to find a player who scores a lot on the powerplay than one who can score at 5-on-5. Since 2017–18 began, Faulk is 91st in the league among defensemen in points at 5-on-5, and that’s despite playing the 33rd most minutes over that stretch. That … not great!
As we all know, power plays are fickle. In some games, you get five of them. In others (especially in the playoffs), you get one, and in still others (especially game sevens) you get none. Power play effectiveness is simply not as valuable as even-strength effectiveness. And if Faulk is going to continue to put passes into Pietrangelo’s skates, as he did twice back-to-back on Thursday, these next eight years are gonna feel like forever.
4. The Blues’ overtime strategy is suboptimal. Three-on-three overtime is a fun gimmick, and a good way to pretty much eliminate shootouts, but you still gotta play it well. And for years now, it’s felt as though the Blues have been making critical mental errors in OT.
On one play, Colton Parayko tried to work his way into the offensive zone despite a tiny window of space along the boards. He was checked and lost the puck.
On another play, David Perron dumped the puck in at the offensive blue line as if it were a shift in the middle of the first period.
On another, Jaden Schwartz fired a shot from the faceoff dot which Thatcher Demko swallowed up easily.
Just look at how easily the Canucks gained possession after all three of those plays! Overtime is all about possession. You have to hold onto it for dear life and only risk surrendering it in exchange for an excellent scoring chance. (Three-on-three is a distilled version of 5-on-5 hockey, so the same strategies and players that serve well in OT are likely to serve well in regulation, too. Let’s save that for another column.)
5. That the Blues have blown leads in six of their seven games is not something that bothers me. It’s called survivorship bias: Only teams good enough to gain a bunch of leads in the first place are able to lose them.
If you enjoyed this story — and even if you didn’t — you should check out my book, Ticketless: How Sneaking Into The Super Bowl And Everything Else (Almost) Held My Life Together.
