The St. Louis Blues enter the New Year with a record of 18-17-1 and a brutal schedule in front of them. In December, the club managed to go 6-8-0 with head coach Craig Berube getting fired in the middle of the month.
Related: Blues’ 3 Up, 3 Down: Win Streak, World Juniors, Thomas & More
Under the guidance of interim head coach Drew Bannister in December, the Blues went 5-3-0. Despite this, the month of January will be an important one with the schedule ahead. With that said, let’s get into the Blues’ top three performers from December.
3: Jordan Kyrou
It was an eventful month for Jordan Kyrou on and off the ice. There’s no need to get back into his comments about Berube, which led to him being booed by fans before he redeemed himself in an overtime win over the Dallas Stars. Despite all the noise, he performed at a high level for the majority of the month.
Once Bannister stepped into the head coach role for the club, Kyrou was moved back to the top line with Robert Thomas and Pavel Buchnevich. This is the line that carried the forward group for the majority of December. In the month, Kyrou had 11 points in 14 games and scored all five of his goals at even strength. It’s clear that he has taken steps to improve his overall game and it’s been on display for most of the season. Finally, the offensive production is starting to come around for him and he’s a clear choice as one of the top three players from December.
2: Joel Hofer
The first half of the month wasn’t great for goaltender Joel Hofer, but he found his game in the final two weeks of the calendar year. At 23 years old, he is showing flashes of being a future NHL starter, which is impressive given what he’s been asked to do by the club. Through the first two months of the season, Hofer had a 5-3-0 record and a .905 save percentage (SV%). Things seemed to slow down for him with a couple of poor starts to begin the month of December, but his final four starts of the month were terrific overall.
Overall, he had a 2-3-0 record in the month and a .918 SV%, but that doesn’t tell the entire story. He played well enough to get wins in one or two of those losses. He had elite performances with wins over the Stars and Florida Panthers, where he made 76 saves on 78 shots. There might be better options than Hofer for this spot, but I was wildly impressed with his overall poise in some tough spots. He continues to take pressure off of Jordan Binnington and ideally, he will continue to do so as the Blues try to stay afloat in the Wild Card race.
1: Robert Thomas
The clear-cut top choice for the best performer of December is Thomas. He’s been the club’s best player by a wide margin in all three months of the season. He’s proven Blues general manager Doug Armstrong right by signing him to an eight-year contract extension in July 2022.
In December, Thomas had seven goals and 16 points in 14 games, including both a power play and a shorthanded goal. He’s also been the Blues’ best center in the faceoff circle outside of Kevin Hayes. He plays over 20 minutes of ice time each game and goes head-to-head against the opponents’ top line. It’s been incredible to watch Thomas grow into the role of an elite top-line center.
The Blues have a tough road ahead this month with several high-level opponents on the schedule. I will be curious to see how the line of Buchnevich, Thomas, and Kyrou performs in January with the rising level of opponents. On top of this, the club needs Hofer to continue his solid play as well. It’s a tough January slate for the Blues.
