Blues are loaded with issues at the midway point

The Blues officially hit the midway point of the 2015-16 season with their 4-1 loss against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday. Their first game of the second half was a 3-2 OT loss against the Ottawa Senators on Monday night. It’d be easy to write off these two losses, but they were perfect microcosms of the team’s first half play.

The Blues looked awful against the Maple Leafs and blew a 2-0 lead against the Senators. While the team was too busy hyping the return of Patrik Berglund (it really reached comical proportions), the real issues remain unaddressed. The Blues continued to shuffle lines, make poor plays and pass when there’s a clear opportunity to shoot. The overall mentality on how to keep an opponent down once they’re down is clearly missing.

Paul Stastny needs to be better. Jori Lehtera needs to be better. Troy Brouwer needs to be better. The list of players who need to improve is pretty lengthy. The club would benefit dramatically from the return of Jaden Schwartz, but it’s laughable watching the Blues cough up a 2-0 lead with relative impunity.

There’s a ton of talent on the roster, but rarely does it come to play outside of Vladimir Tarasenko, Alexander Steen, Kevin Shattenkirk and a handful of others. Jake Allen and Brian Elliott have been mostly good, but the Blues have consistently left Elliott out to dry.

Let’s look at the team’s OT loss to Ottawa. Specifically, let’s just look at OT. There were high points (Blues having a 3-on-1) and low points (Lehtera laughably turning the puck over, fidgeting with his stick and looking completely lost on how to play for about 10 seconds). Such has been the first half of the season. The Blues have had some insane games where they’ve looked ridiculously good. By the same token, they’ve had some dreadful games and a lot of mediocre games where they let the opposition right back into things. The killer instinct is still missing and has been missing for years.

Through 42 games, the Blues have scored 103 goals and allowed 103 goals. They have the 4th-most points in the NHL despite having a goal differential which ranks 13th. That’s a big problem and hints that the Blues may be a bit fortunate to have as many points as they do. Games in hand may be one of the reasons, but the Blues do not look like a team who are going to finish at the top of their division.