Recapping the St. Louis Blues’ Top 5 First Half Storylines

Chris Humphreys-USA TODAY Sports

3. Paul Stastny has a Quiet First Half

After the Blues signed St. Louis native Paul Stastny, a two-time Olympian and former All-Star, to a four-year, $28 million-dollar contract this summer, many expected him to be one of the team’s top contributors, if not their most important one.

While Stastny has had a recent uptick in performance, especially since being paired with rookie Dmitrij Jaskin, and has registered two goals and eight assists over his past seven games, he’s been a rather pedestrian player for most of the first half. Much of that may have to do with the fact that Stastny suffered an early-season shoulder injury which caused him to miss eight games, and even after coming back, he still seemed to be in the recovery process. As if the injury wasn’t enough to worry about, he was also attempting to get integrated with coach Ken Hitchcock’s system.

Part of the problem also could have been due to the fact that even after Stastny got healthy, he had trouble finding linemates who enabled him to play to his full potential. Stastny, who traditionally has been more of a setup man than a pure scorer, was frequently put on the third line with guys like Patrik Berglund, Joakim Lindstrom, and Ryan Reaves, who are not strong goal-scoring threats. Since Jaskin has emerged as a potent offensive threat, Stastny has had more success in playing his traditional role. The Blues will have to hope that the 21-year-old keeps it up in the second half and allows their expensive free agent investment to thrive.

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