The Blues return to work this week seeking to regain their edge.
They must rediscover their team game and collective work ethic. They must recommit to their defensive system and get back into lockstep before they can thrust into higher gear.
That takes time. But the Blues can start moving in that direction by following a regular summer of training with a productive preseason.
After failing miserably in Bubble Hockey and sputtering in Pandemic Hockey, the Blues must exploit their return to normalcy to rebuild cohesion on and off the ice.
The Vladimir Tarasenko Situation complicates that quest. He asked out after last season, but his recurring shoulder injuries, disappointing comeback last season and $7.5 million salary-cap hit for two more years stripped away his trade value.
Pierre Luc Dubois was in a similar spot last season after wanting out of Columbus. The distraction helped derail the Blue Jackets’ season, largely because combative coach John Tortorella chose to magnify it.
Blues coach Craig Berube is smarter than that. He, general manager Doug Armstrong and captain Ryan O’Reilly have said all the right things about moving forward with Tarasenko this fall.
Expect Berube to maintain his firm handle on the situation with his honest and direct leadership style — and his glare.
Tarasenko can do his part by working hard and playing well. That’s how he can rebuild his stock, earn a fresh start elsewhere and collect big dollars well into his 30s.
Along the way this fall he can help move the Blues along the right path by helping fellow Russians Pavel Buchnevich and Klim Kostin assimilate. The Blues need Buchnevich to score goals and Kostin to graduate into a straight-line power forward role.
This is a pivotal time for Blues. They soon will be three seasons removed from their Stanley Cup run.
Their puck-possession metrics have declined. They have generated fewer shots and allowed more. They have created less havoc in front of the opposing goal and become weaker around their own net.
The analytics crowd has churned out charts, graphs and heat maps that paint vivid illustrations of the team’s decline.
After losing key members of that championship team, many experts see them as a borderline playoff team. The Blues barely reached the postseason last season, and their path will be tougher this time.
Seven of the eight Central Division teams harbor legitimate playoff hopes. Two or three of those teams will miss the bracket, depending on how the wild card plays out.
Rising to this competitive challenge will require a robust group effort. There is enough talent there, but it must come together.
The Blues must sustain pressure at the offensive end by forcing turnovers, getting into their puck-cycling game and creating low-to-high passes for point shots through traffic.
They must smother foes at the defensive end with backchecking forwards helping the defensemen deny passing and shooting lanes.
Up front, they remain equipped to play this way. They come to camp with a nice mix of forwards, even with Tarasenko in limbo and catalyst Oskar Sundqvist recovering from surgery.
Armstrong signed Brandon Saad and re-signed Tyler Bozak in the free-agent marketplace to add dependability. Berube will have myriad options for assembling and modifying his four lines.
O’Reilly and David Perron delivered peak performances last season, but Brayden Schenn and Zach Sanford have far more to give. Jordan Kyrou and Robert Thomas still have substantial room for growth.
The challenges on defense appear greater. Last season the pieces just didn’t fit well. After Vince Dunn’s exit in the expansion draft, will they fit any better this season?
Colton Parayko struggled with a bad back, missed a big chunk of the season and never got back to full strength. The Blues desperately need the 2018-19 model of Parayko to play his shutdown role.
Marco Scandella had the unenviable task of replacing Jay Bouwmeester. That’s an unfair ask, of course, but the Blues need far more reliability from Scandella.
Offensive defenseman Justin Faulk switched to a defensive role and held up surprisingly well. But Alex Pietrangelo he is not, even on his best day.
The same goes for newcomer Torey Krug, who didn’t settle in until the second half of the season. He can help the Blues in the defensive end by sustaining pressure at the offensive end.
Rookie Scott Perunovich has the playmaking skills to be the next Torey Krug, but this team needs two Paraykos more than it needs two Krugs.
Robert Bortuzzo is a willing combatant and a respected holdover from the Cup-winning team, but he must be stronger on the puck. The same goes for the still-developing Niko Mikkola, who must put his long wingspan to better use.
Like we said, there’s much work to do. The process starts with Thursday’s opening sessions at Centene Community Ice Center when Berube throws an assortment of 50-plus veterans, rookies and prospects into the camp blender and hits the on switch.
Soon we’ll know if this group is ready to respond.
