St. Louis Blues Individual Player Reviews: Barret Jackman and Alex Pietrangelo
As we continue our player reviews, we move on to the core players for the team from 2010-11. We will first focus on a long standing defensemen and an impressive ‘rookie’.
Barret Jackman- Jackman has been a member of the St. Louis Blues since the 2001-02 season and is the senior member on this young team. Jackman is far removed from his Calder Trophy performance but has grown into a better defenseman as the years have gone by.
Jackman has been a +3 in each of the past two seasons as his playing time has decreased and his defensive game has improved. This attention to defense has led to a decline in Jackman’s offensive numbers but as he is not looked on as an offensive defenseman, any points are a bonus.
In 60 games played, Jackman failed to record a goal, the first time he hasn’t scored a goal since his one game season in 2001-02. Jackman also recorded 13 assists in those 60 games.
Barret suffered through an injury plagued season but being the physical player he is, he fought through a lot of it and only missed a total of 22 games. Jackman suffered though a sprained knee, which cost him 9 games; missed 3 games with a lower body injury; and finally missed the last 10 games of the season with a finger injury.
Trend: Even. Jackman’s days as a top flight defenseman appear to be over but that isn’t a bad thing. Putting him on the third pairing with a young up and coming defenseman would be beneficial to the team. Look for the Blues to use Jackman as the mentor to Nikita Nikitin and show him how to use his size to command the defensive zone. Jackman has been a staple on this Blues team and should retire a Blue.
Alex Pietrangelo- Pietrangelo spent his first full season in the NHL this year and showed he could be the Blue’s version of Nick Lidstrom. Since he played in 17 games combined over the last 2 years Pietrangelo was technically not a rookie.
Pietrangelo made is mark by playing in 79 games this year and notched 11 goals and 32 assists. His 11 goals were tops among the defenseman on the team, while his 32 assists led the entire team. Pietrangelo was also a +18 and helped lead the Blues power play with 4 goals and 10 assists with the man advantage.
His +18 rating placed him in a tie for 16th among all defenseman in the league, ranking him ahead of veterans such as Drew Doughty, Brian Rafalski, and Shea Weber. Alex’s 11 goals also placed in the top 15 among defenseman. All of this was achieved in what was essentially his rookie season.
Pietrangelo had two four game point streaks this season; November 19th through 26th Alex put up a goal and 4 assists, while from February 14th through the 21st he scored a goal and 7 assists. During the second streak Alex had his best game statistically in a 9-3 win against Anaheim, Alex had 3 assists and was a +3 in the win. Alex also had a 3 game goal scoring streak from January 18 through the 22.
Pietrangelo also showed how he could focus at such a young age by putting up better numbers on while on the road. At home and away Alex’s point totals were nearly identical but it was his plus minus rating that showed his true worth. At home his rating was a respectable +5 but on the road it jumped to a +13.
Trend: Up. Alex is now the future of the Blues after trading away Erik Johnson during the season. If he can avoid the sophomore slump, Alex could turn into one of the premiere defenseman in the league in a short time. His performance at the World Championships showed that he could play at a high level for an extended period of time i.e. a long playoff run. The future is bright for this young defenseman and the Blues got lucky to have one of their top picks pan out so quickly.
In our next edition we move on to the core forewards on the 2010-11 St. Louis Blues. Also look for a draft day preview coming on Thursday night as the Blues look to upgrade their team with their 9 draft picks.
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Even is very generous for a guy with no goals, even if he’s a defensive defenseman.
The only reason I have him as even is that his defensive zone play has significantly improved from his hitting everything that moved days. He committed to the responsibility of the zone and had a second straight plus season. I would trade that for goals anyday when you have Petro, Captain Shattenkirk, and Colaiacovo beraing the brunt of the goal scoring from the defense.