The Blues averaged the fewest power play goals per game in team history

Parayko

The dust is settling on the 2017-18 season for the St. Louis Blues. With the team missing the playoffs for the first time since 2010-11, there are plenty of areas worth analyzing and discussing from the year that was. One of the biggest contributors to the Blues’ downfall was their inability to generate offense on the power play.

The Blues averaged just 0.463 power play goals per game in 2017-18. That ranks as the worst average in team history.

https://twitter.com/STLBlueshistory/status/982829694939779072

There are a few ways to evaluate a team’s power play. Conversion percentage and goals scored are the usual measures, but the chart above displaying the average power play goals scored per game is a worthy indicator that something was wrong.

Circling back, an uneven or unproductive power play stems from the larger issue that the Blues’ offense as a whole is lacking. When you only have a strong first line followed by three lines that leave a lot to be desired, you’re going to have a tough time scoring goals. Even with the man advantage, it’s tough to find consistent offense when you have more depth players than skill players in the lineup.

The strategy and approach on the power play need some work too, but the Blues have to find more talent on the power play if they hope to improve on 2017-18.

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