The St. Louis Blues have struggled in the past couple of weeks after a decent start to the 2024-25 season. Their offensive attack has been rough and it hasn’t been much better defensively.
Injuries have been a major problem, but they still have players like Pavel Buchnevich and Jordan Kyrou healthy, so the offensive attack shouldn’t be as bad as it is right now. Without Robert Thomas and Philip Broberg, the team looks lifeless in all three zones after an 8-1 loss to the Washington Capitals. Let’s get into some of the offensive numbers and why it’s been such a struggle.
Blues Can’t Score Goals
The Blues’ goal-scoring inconsistency over the past few seasons is no secret. They rank 30th in the league in goals for through 15 games. They have lost five of their last seven games while scoring just seven goals in their five losses. Of their seven wins this season, the club has only won one game while scoring fewer than three goals (1-0 win over the New York Islanders – Oct. 17). Scoring is an issue and it has been for consecutive seasons.
Related: 3 Blues Players Who Can Step up in Wake of Key Injuries
The Blues were an elite goal-scoring team in 2021-22, they were average in 2022-23, but the last two seasons have been a trainwreck in this department. There are plenty of factors at play here, but the club’s best players simply haven’t been good enough. Whether it’s Kyrou, Buchnevich, Brandon Saad, Thomas, or Jake Neighbours, each one of them hasn’t scored enough this season. It’s hard to justify the fact that no player on the 2024-25 team has more than five goals through 15 games. There hasn’t been a lack of balance either, but there’s not enough volume.
I won’t blame the head coach Drew Bannister and his staff as much as others either. At some point, a team like this has to figure it out. Of course, the offensive system lacks creativity in a lot of ways, but they just need to put the puck in the net.
Blues Have No Offensive Boost in Sight
Outside of the top players getting hot or the power play finding its way, there is no boost in sight. The only teams who have scored fewer goals than the Blues are the Islanders, Detroit Red Wings, and Anaheim Ducks. That group of four have all underperformed this season, so it’s not a surprise to see them lumped in together.
The current formation of the lineup does not have the offensive juice. They lack Thomas’ passing ability, the smooth puck handling and skill of Broberg, and the overall chemistry required to have offensive success. Another alarming statistic is that they’ve scored just four power-play goals, which is six below the league average so far.
There is no offensive boost in sight for this team. They have shown zero sign of getting their offensive attack going. The Blues have been beaten 8-1 twice in the past couple of weeks, and that doesn’t happen to good teams.
Blues Won’t Make Any Major Moves
Don’t hold out hope that general manager Doug Armstrong will make any major moves. There isn’t a reason to if the expectation going into the season was more of the same as last season. The injuries have been a problem, but the offense wasn’t that great before this problem. The bottom line remains that the Blues have been stuck in neutral for three straight seasons and I don’t see how they get themselves out of this. It just seems like they have no answer for any of the problems right now.
