MARYLAND
HEIGHTS, Mo. — When
the likes of Jimmy Snuggerud, Zack Bolduc and Jake Neighbours lace
the blades and suit up for the St. Louis Blues in each respective
first Stanley Cup playoff game on Saturday against the Winnipeg Jets,
there’s something comforting knowing that players that could tend
to perhaps play tentatively or fall into a quagmire of nerves.
And
even for guys like Jordan Kyrou and some of the other Blues, who open
their best-of-7 Western Conference First Round series on Saturday,
there will be quite the comfort factor knowing that should they try
to make plays and accentuate their strengths, there will be plenty of
experience behind them on the Blues’ blue line.
Of
the 16 playoff teams and their top six defensemen that will likely
suit up for Game 1 of each respective series, the Blues have the most
experience among top six defensemen by a wide margin.
Their
5,462 combined regular season games’ worth of experience ranks
1,010 games more than the next closest foe, the Carolina Hurricanes
at 4,452.
Does
it matter that the Blues have a wealth of experience back there? It
may not mean anything in this day and age, but that comfort level,
especially for forwards, will ease a lot of minds and help them in
knowing that if mistakes are made, Ryan Suter (1,526 games), Cam
Fowler (1,042), Nick Leddy (1,042), Justin Faulk (980), Colton
Parayko (723) and even Philip Broberg and his modest 149 games played
will be the kind of presence they need.
“Just
look at how many games our d-corps has played in the league,” said
Bolduc, who will make his playoff debut. “It’s incredible. We’ve
got so much confidence in them. We’re just happy to have them and
we know all the experience they have. We know they’re there to
repair the mistake that we’re doing in front of them. It’s good
to have them behind us.
“They’re
involved in the offense too. They’re so good on boxing out,
breaking out. We’ve got some many ‘D’ capable of beating
pressure, one or two guys just by themselves. It’s great and it’s
fun to have them.”
Only
the Vegas Golden Knights (480 games) have a top six among defensemen
that have played in more playoff games than the Blues (465), so not
only do the Blues, who are the second wild card in the Western
Conference after finishing the regular season 44-30-8, have the
wealth and knowledge of guys that have played a plethora of games,
but they also have guys that have been on the big stage often and
taken home Stanley Cup titles with Parayko (2019) and Leddy (2013).
“It’s
great,” Kyrou said. “Veteran d-corps, all have played a ton of
playoff games before. They know what it’s going to be like and I
think it’s going to make it a lot easier on us forwards. Them just
playing an experienced game.”
Compared
to the Jets, whose top six game played in 3,694 regular
season games and 191 playoff games, the Blues have a decided edge on
the aura factor. Again, it may not matter when the puck is dropped
but from a coaching perspective with Blues coach Jim Montgomery, he
has six guys he can utilize in any situation at any time.
“It’s
very beneficial,” Montgomery said. “I thought it was a big factor
in how well we played our last home game to get into the playoffs (a
6-1 win against Utah Hockey Club) and I think it’s a big factor why
since 4 Nations break we’ve been second in odd-man rushes against.
Our defensemen make reads and their experience helps them make really
good reads.”
It’s
a great advantage to have considering this group is adept at handling
the pressures of what playoff hockey brings.
“Luxury
to have,” Blues captain Brayden Schenn said. “That’s
experience, it’s guys that have played in big games, guys that have
won Cups back there, guys that have played in the Stanley Cup Finals.
Just a whole lot of experience.
“You
go in there and they’re just a calming influence back there.
They’re good at making not many mistakes at all and if they do,
they’re very good at covering up for them. That’s just with guys
with presence and composure with the puck, they’re big and they’re
long, they skate well and they’re hard to play against.”
The
calming presence may be the greatest benefactor and guys that will
remain cool under pressure and just simplify the game for everyone.
“I
think so. I think the one thing about playoff time is you don’t
want to change who you are as a person,” said Fowler, who will play
in his first playoff game since 2018 with the Anaheim Ducks. “What
you did up to this point that has gotten you this far. I know myself
and ‘Leds’ and ‘Flak,’ Parayko are a little bit more on the
soft-spoken side, I think if guys see us and see how we’re
approaching things and still maintaining that calm demeanor, I think
it will help guys understand that it is just another game at the end
of the day. Of course the stakes are higher and the intensity’s
higher, but if they see us going through our normal routine and with
that same demeanor, I think it will help guys settle in too.
“We
like to think of it as an advantage. We have guys in here that have a
lot of experience and I think that’s valuable come playoff time and
we have guys that have won the Stanley Cup, so they’ve gotten to
the highest of highs that you can in this game. You combine that with
a lot of youthful energy and guys that are experiencing it for the
first time, I think it’s a great mix. We’ve known for a long time
that the back end has kind of been that veteran type of group for us
and we’ve kind of taken on that role during the regular season too.
We’ll have to continue to do that along with the ‘Schenners’
and ‘Tommer’ and those guys that have been through it as well on
the forward side of things.”
When
the Blues face the Jets (55-22-4), who claimed the Presidents’
Trophy and won the Central Division, going into the Winnipeg ‘White
Out’ on Saturday would rattle a younger group. But knowing who is
behind them, the Kyrous, the Bolducs, the Snuggeruds, Robert Thomas,
Neighbours, even Schenn and Pavel Buchnevich can all focus on doing
creative things instead of playing with their knees knocking.
“You
have to let those guys be creative,” Fowler said. “That’s part
of the reason they’re here and part of why we’ve had success is
because we’ve had a good blend of creativity with some sandpaper
mixed in up there too. Those guys should feel the freedom to go out
and play and feel creative and that part shouldn’t change. It’s
the emotional highs and lows of the playoffs that can be difficult to
navigate. I think that’s where we’ll come in and understand that
there’s going to be ebbs and flows to every series and we have to
try and maintain an even keel kind of mindset as a team and I think
that’s where guys with a little of more experience can help out
with that.”
Rest assured that Jordan Binnington will also be quite pleased to have this group in front of him.
–
– –
A
breakdown of teams, players, regular season games played and
postseason games played:
St.
Louis Blues (5,462/465): Ryan Suter 1,526/133; Cam Fowler 1,042/62;
Nick Leddy 1,042/130; Justin Faulk 980/38; Colton Parayko 723/82;
Philip Broberg 149/20.
Carolina
Hurricanes (4,452/354): Brent Burns 1,496/120; Dmitri Orlov 866/92;
Jaccob Slavin 745/71; Shayne Gostisbehere 688/32; Sean Walker 394/13;
Jalen Chatfield 263/26.
Toronto
Maple Leafs (4,354/263): Oliver Ekman Larsson 1,059/49; Morgan Rielly
872/57; Chris Tanev 866/60; Jake McCabe 643/18; Brandon Carlo 636/72;
Simon Benoit 278/7.
Florida
Panthers (4,156/338): Dmitry Kulikov 1,018/53; Seth Jones 860/37;
Nate Schmidt 741/76; Aaron Ekblad 732/64; Gustav Forsling 477/61;
Niko Mikkola 328/47; *Uvis Balinskis 102/0 – Ekblad is suspended
for the first round but was included in total over Balinskis.
Vegas Golden
Knights (3,916/480): Alex Pietrangelo 1,087/139; Brayden McNabb
822/93; Noah Hanifin 758/34; Shea Theodore 564/114; Nicolas Hague
364/33; Zach Whitecloud 321/67.
Winnipeg
Jets (3,694/191): Luke Schenn 1,072/47; Josh Morrissey 622/42; Dylan
DeMelo 636/29; Colin Miller 572/41; Neal Pionk 536/22; Dylan Samberg
216/10.
New
Jersey Devils (3,593/290): Brenden Dillon 974/83; Dougie Hamilton
835/66; Brian Dumoulin 706/81; Brett Pesce 699/57; Johnathan
Kovacevic 224/0; Luke Hughes 155/3.
Washington
Capitals (3,355/207): John Carlson 1,088/127; Trevor van Riemsdyk
682/35; Jakob Chychrun 540/9; Matt Roy 438/18; Rasmus Sandin 308/6;
Martin Fehervary 299/12.
Tampa
Bay Lightning (Lightning 3,231/444): Victor Hedman 1,130/165; Ryan
McDonagh 1,009/191; Erik Cernak 440/79; J.J. Moser 258/0; Nick Perbix
219/8; Darren Raddysh 175/9; *Emil Lilleberg 112/0 – extra D not
included in total games.
Minnesota
Wild (3,183/206): Jared Spurgeon 933/67; Zach Bogosian 929/54; Jonas
Brodin 853/67; Jake Middleton 306/12; Brock Faber 162/6; Zeev Buium
0/0; *Jon Merril 682/37; *Declan Chisholm 99/0 – Merrill and
Chisholm not part of total games.
Dallas
Stars (2,960/280): Cody Ceci 871/88; Matt Dumba 737/54; Esa Lindell
684/85; Ilya Lyubushkin 433/14; Thomas Harley 197/39; Lian Bichsel
38/0; * Miro Heiskanen 475/85 – Heiskanen is injured and not part
of total games.
Los
Angeles Kings (2,867/226): Drew Doughty 1,206/95; Joel Edmundson
602/82; Vladislav Gavrikov 434/23; Mikey Anderson 344/18; Jordan
Spence 179/8; Brandt Clarke 102/0.
Ottawa
Senators (2,679/49): Travis Hamonic 899/22; Nick Jensen 632/27; Tomas
Chabot 512/0; Artem Zub 306/0; Jake Sanderson 235/0; Tyler Kleven
95/0.
Edmonton
Oilers (2,576/223): Darnell Nurse 716/72; Brett Kulak 580/76; Troy
Stecher 560/21; Evan Bouchard 347/53; Jake Walman 267/1; Ty Emberson
106/0.
Colorado
Avalanche (2,546/310): Josh Manson 626/58; Samuel Girard 548/60;
Devon Toews 473/77; Ryan Lindgren 405/43; Cale Makar 395/72; Sam
Malinski 99/0; * Erik Johnson 1,023/55 – Johnson not added to total
games.
Montreal
Canadiens (2,158/93): David Savard 870/57; Mike Matheson 627/20;
Alexandre Carrier 296; 16; Kaden Guhle 169/0; Jordan Struble 112/0;
Lane Hutson 84/0.
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