The St. Louis Blues are making a grave mistake with how much they are using Steve Ott. Specifically, they need a reality check and need to realize what Ott actually brings to the table. In the team’s Game 5 loss at home, Ott saw over 15 minutes while other more talented forwards sat on the bench. What is Ken Hitchcock doing?
Now, before this turns into a “We hate Steve Ott” article, it’s worth noting that Ott does serve a purpose and does have a spot on this team. The issue is that the Blues apparently have no idea what that is. Simply, Ott is a fourth-line player and deserves fourth-line minutes. Ott thrives in a role in which he’s surrounded by other fourth-line skaters and his main goal is to throw his body around. He’s pretty good at it and he has a fourth-line spot with his name on it. However, when the Blues call on him to try and fill a different role, bad things happen.
Let’s look at Game 5. Ott had over 15 minutes and was used with David Backes, T.J. Oshie and some of the Blues’ top forwards once the Wild jumped out to a lead. Patrik Berglund, one of the best players in this series, saw a little over 12 minutes. Dmitrij Jaskin had a bit over 10 minutes. Chris Porter had about seven minutes. All of these players were a better option over Ott on the top lines.
It’s silly to place all of the blame on Ott and Hitchcock’s decision to play him more and more as the game progressed, but it’s certainly a strategy which needs to be eliminated. Someone needs to snap Hitchcock out of this mindset which apparently believes Ott is the answer to the team’s offense.
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