Hockey Writers say: “St. Louis Blues’ Defensive Core Needs a Change”
December 4, 2025
Hockey Writers say: “St. Louis Blues’ Defensive Core Needs a Change”
11 comments
Faulk is so bad we should do the first ever build a trophy for him just to topple it
“This season, the St. Louis Blues have never really struggled offensively”.
This guy has not been watching the same games I have.
The first sentence says the Blues haven’t really struggled offensively… what team has this man been watching?
Totally disagree with this author’s take on the Blues. We are the third worst team in the NHL in goals per game, and while we are also the 6th worst in goals against, some of that can be attributed to poor goaltending early and a bad PK. This team just hasn’t gelled, and now we are down at minimum 3 forwards for the foreseeable future. Not to mention Schenn and Buchnevich have been shells of their former selves.
We haven’t had a defensive core since Pietrangelo left
After 2019 our D was gutted through trades, expansion team acquisitions & injuries. I don’t think that they ever recovered.
Part of the Blues problems with goaltending earlier this season was not the two goaltenders that are doing so well now. In many of the earlier losses this season the goalies were abandoned by their defense. Now, defensemen are playing tighter and the forwards have switched over to D-mode much quicker on possession changes and backchecked much stronger.
To me, the saddest part about Justin Faulk being a Blue was that he never really belonged here. They paid a large sum of money for Justin as a piece that fit really well into a team that they knew they were not going to have for at least 4 years. It is a shame because with the right line & style of play, Justin can do so much more. This article seems to indicate that the Blues might be trading Justin, right after they helped him celebrate his 1000th NHL game.
We have some really good veteran forwards ( with strong centers ), and some great young talent and fantastic recent draft picks. So many are supposed to be the key that unlocks the next cup run, but always seem to fall short, with several becoming tragic disappointments.
I still say defense is our main issue and when defense becomes rock solid, the goal tending magically improves, as does the defensive dump-in recovery ratio, defensive turnovers, blue zone entries & overall strategic play making. Almost every team sport has a similar motto about offense winning individual games but defense wins championships.
Big Simp Doug has been trash since winning the cup.
In breaking news, rain is wet.
Really, the problem is that Faulk has largely been a failure on the second pairing and him and Krug were mistakes that led to the Blues depleting their great homegrown defense because him and Krug.
Faulk currently just isn’t good enough to be the 2nd RHD and his departure will be a huge boon to the Blues.
> This season, the St. Louis Blues have never really struggled offensively
We are tied with Nashville and LA in goals scored, all three teams only ahead of Calgary and Seattle. We’re running about 1/2 a goal less per game than the NHL average. Losing Neighbours, who for a time was our best scorer while he was out injured (can’t even remember how long) and having played less than half as many games as our next best scorer. The fourth line has kind of been keeping us afloat on the scoreboard, the top liners aren’t producing. This offense isnt a problem isn’t a dumb opinion, it’s just wrong.
So the defense isn’t great, right. Is injecting more youth without NHL experience the answer? We’ve rotating Tucker, Kessel, Mailloux, and occasionally Skinner around into the second and third pairing, sometimes together, and it’s not working. It’s worse when two of these 7th defensemen are together, and they have poor chemistry with the older vets they might get switched into pairing with.
I don’t know the answer, but trade Faulk is certainly a choice idea. We can all say, “trade X to let someone else get a shot”, but there’s two issues. First, who’s your trade partner, what’s the return? Is it assets? Young guys? Cap dump? Secondly, do we want to shatter the confidence of guys like Jiricek by bringing them into this? Then you’ve got three of Mailloux, Jiricek, Kessel, and Tucker in your game. That’s not going to end well.
The dude clearly hasn’t a clue what he’s on about. I’m sure he’ll be editing Daily Faceoff in no time.
11 comments
Faulk is so bad we should do the first ever build a trophy for him just to topple it
“This season, the St. Louis Blues have never really struggled offensively”.
This guy has not been watching the same games I have.
The first sentence says the Blues haven’t really struggled offensively… what team has this man been watching?
Totally disagree with this author’s take on the Blues. We are the third worst team in the NHL in goals per game, and while we are also the 6th worst in goals against, some of that can be attributed to poor goaltending early and a bad PK. This team just hasn’t gelled, and now we are down at minimum 3 forwards for the foreseeable future. Not to mention Schenn and Buchnevich have been shells of their former selves.
We haven’t had a defensive core since Pietrangelo left
After 2019 our D was gutted through trades, expansion team acquisitions & injuries. I don’t think that they ever recovered.
Part of the Blues problems with goaltending earlier this season was not the two goaltenders that are doing so well now. In many of the earlier losses this season the goalies were abandoned by their defense. Now, defensemen are playing tighter and the forwards have switched over to D-mode much quicker on possession changes and backchecked much stronger.
To me, the saddest part about Justin Faulk being a Blue was that he never really belonged here. They paid a large sum of money for Justin as a piece that fit really well into a team that they knew they were not going to have for at least 4 years. It is a shame because with the right line & style of play, Justin can do so much more. This article seems to indicate that the Blues might be trading Justin, right after they helped him celebrate his 1000th NHL game.
We have some really good veteran forwards ( with strong centers ), and some great young talent and fantastic recent draft picks. So many are supposed to be the key that unlocks the next cup run, but always seem to fall short, with several becoming tragic disappointments.
I still say defense is our main issue and when defense becomes rock solid, the goal tending magically improves, as does the defensive dump-in recovery ratio, defensive turnovers, blue zone entries & overall strategic play making. Almost every team sport has a similar motto about offense winning individual games but defense wins championships.
Big Simp Doug has been trash since winning the cup.
In breaking news, rain is wet.
Really, the problem is that Faulk has largely been a failure on the second pairing and him and Krug were mistakes that led to the Blues depleting their great homegrown defense because him and Krug.
Faulk currently just isn’t good enough to be the 2nd RHD and his departure will be a huge boon to the Blues.
> This season, the St. Louis Blues have never really struggled offensively
We are tied with Nashville and LA in goals scored, all three teams only ahead of Calgary and Seattle. We’re running about 1/2 a goal less per game than the NHL average. Losing Neighbours, who for a time was our best scorer while he was out injured (can’t even remember how long) and having played less than half as many games as our next best scorer. The fourth line has kind of been keeping us afloat on the scoreboard, the top liners aren’t producing. This offense isnt a problem isn’t a dumb opinion, it’s just wrong.
So the defense isn’t great, right. Is injecting more youth without NHL experience the answer? We’ve rotating Tucker, Kessel, Mailloux, and occasionally Skinner around into the second and third pairing, sometimes together, and it’s not working. It’s worse when two of these 7th defensemen are together, and they have poor chemistry with the older vets they might get switched into pairing with.
I don’t know the answer, but trade Faulk is certainly a choice idea. We can all say, “trade X to let someone else get a shot”, but there’s two issues. First, who’s your trade partner, what’s the return? Is it assets? Young guys? Cap dump? Secondly, do we want to shatter the confidence of guys like Jiricek by bringing them into this? Then you’ve got three of Mailloux, Jiricek, Kessel, and Tucker in your game. That’s not going to end well.
The dude clearly hasn’t a clue what he’s on about. I’m sure he’ll be editing Daily Faceoff in no time.