St. Louis Blues Should Stick with Petteri Lindbohm Going Forward
The St. Louis Blues may be getting an under-the-radar jolt on Sunday. Defenseman Carl Gunnarsson is expected to miss the matchup against the Detroit Red Wings with an upper-body injury that he suffered in Saturday’s game. While it’s certainly not ideal for the Blues to lose Gunnarsson, who generally has played up to the level of a top-four defenseman until Saturday’s disastrous effort, his injury should allow rookie defenseman Petteri Lindbohm to get back into the lineup.
While Lindbohm hasn’t been ridiculously productive from a traditional statistical perspective, scoring two goals and adding an assist in 21 games this season, his intangible benefits are easily noticeable, and there are trends to back up that belief.
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The Blues have lost the past four games in which Lindbohm has been absent from the lineup; in other words, they have failed to win a game without Lindbohm since February 15. To take a “glass half full” approach, the Blues have won the past five games in which Lindbohm has been part of the lineup.
Advanced metrics lend credence to Lindbohm’s reputation as a very fundamentally sound defenseman who is exceptionally disciplined for his experience level. At 47.17, Lindbohm has the best Corsi goals against/60 rating of any healthy defenseman on the Blues’ roster (injured All-Star
Kevin Shattenkirkis ahead of him). In layman’s terms, there would be less goals scored by the opponent with Lindbohm on the ice than there would be with any other healthy Blues defenseman if they took a 60-minute shift.
On top of all those trends, Lindbohm’s greatest value might be in the tremendous energy he provides to the Blues’ lineup. Much like a difference can often be sensed when the Blues unleash noted “energy guy” forward
Chris Porteragainst their opponents, the same type of difference can be felt when Lindbohm plays. Whereas guys like Gunnarsson,
Alex Pietrangelo, and
Jay Bouwmeesterplay with more of a finesse style, Lindbohm isn’t afraid to get gritty, and he’ll step up to the plate and deliver some big hits if necessary.
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Ultimately, as heartless as it may be, it might be smartest for the Blues to consider the merits of sitting an underperforming veteran (Jay Bouwmeester or
Zbynek Michalek) if Lindbohm
continues
to make such an obvious positive impact on the lineup.
In fairness to Bouwmeester, he’s played better since taking a two-game sabbatical to deal with an illness, but he’s producing offensively at a career-worst rate this season, and he hasn’t been quite as efficient in the defensive zone as he was in his first two seasons as a Blue, either. Since Bouwmeester doesn’t bring the rugged physicality of
Robert Bortuzzoor the aggressive energy of Lindbohm, he might be the easiest blueliner to remove from the lineup, though his five-year, $27 million-dollar contract makes that unlikely.
Michalek, meanwhile, has the potential to be a difference-maker in the Blues’ defensive zone, though he’s struggled a bit since returning from a concussion and getting into the Blues’ lineup following his acquisition from the Arizona Coyotes at the trade deadline. Michalek, traditionally a stay-at-home defenseman, has no points through five games, but he also has been a liability at times in front of his own net. Michalek’s inability to get in proper position was the dagger in last Saturday’s loss to the Minnesota Wild, as it allowed
Kyle Brodziakto come up with an unassisted goal that put the Wild up 3-1 and iced the game for Minnesota.
Michalek deserves some more time to get accustomed to the Blues’ system and work his way back from the concussion, and he has some room for error due to the fact that the Blues traded prospect Maxim Letunov for him and only hold his rights until the end of this season. However, if he continues to struggle as the playoffs near, it’s worth wondering whether he could get caught up in the high level of competition for defensive spots.
After all, it’s not like either player brings tremendous playoff experience that Lindbohm doesn’t; neither Bouwmeester or Michalek has ever been on a team that has advanced beyond the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Also, while Barret Jackman has arguably been the club’s most consistent performer in the defensive end this season, he’s not a tremendous puck mover. Coach Ken Hitchcock showed this past Tuesday that he wasn’t afraid to remove Jackman from the lineup, as he made the club’s longest-tenured player a healthy scratch for the first time this season. Jackman deserves to be among the top six, but if the needs to justify Bouwmeester’s contract and the trade for Michalek are too strong, removing Jackman could be a possible solution if the Blues need to get Lindbohm in the lineup.
With Hitchcock’s traditional preference for vets, it might be a stretch to think that he’ll allow Lindbohm to see any playoff action with all the established veterans he has at his disposal on the blueline. With that said, we saw him sit down underperforming vets like Brenden Morrow and Derek Roy during last year’s first-round playoff series, so maybe if the difference is really that obvious come playoff time, a change could be in order.