The St. Louis Blues’ 2022-23 season was a shocking disappointment for fans and management, leading to the team going sellout at the trade deadline and finishing in a draw position in outside of the playoffs. So who bears the responsibility for the failures of the team? And who succeeded despite the difficulties of the team? That’s what we’ll be looking to identify in our 2022-23 Blues bulletin series.
When the St. Louis Blues brought Tyler Pitlick to camp on a professional tryout (PTO), not much was expected of the eight-year veteran. He had bounced back in the league since 2018-19, with the Blues being his sixth team in five seasons. At this point in his career, after seeing just 39 combined NHL games in 2021-22 with the Montreal Canadiens and Calgary Flames, his best chance of earning a league berth is as a bouncing body between the fourth line and the bench. He ultimately didn’t get the team out of camp and was released from his PTO, only to be re-signed a few weeks later as injuries piled up, remaining with the big club for the remainder of the season.
What went well: health and hard work
Once Pitlick joined the club on October 26, he played in 61 of 78 regular season games, marking the first time he played in so many games since 2019-20 when he played 63 games for the Flyers. of Philadelphia. While he averaged just 10:05 of ice time this season, he scored 16 points (seven goals), a solid minus-1 differential and 14 penalty minutes (PIM).
With Pitlick in the fold, he allowed head coach Craig Berube to establish a fourth line with some identity. He, along with Alexey Toropchenko and Nathan Walker, have combined for the Blues’ most stable and consistent fourth-row combinations, totaling just over 170 even-strength minutes together this season. When they were on the ice together, they were only responsible for three goals against while scoring 12 (plus-9). As part of his hard-hitting style of play, he recorded 29 blocked shots and 103 hits.
What went wrong: nothing special about his game
As a player relegated to fourth line duties, you are generally not considered an offensive threat and therefore have little to no time on the power play. Such was the case for Pitlick, who only saw 5:31 powerplay minutes this season, which may actually have been longer than some realize. But where a player like him should be able to earn extra ice time would be outnumbered (PK). Unfortunately, after only seeing the ice for 10:34 while on the PK, it appears Pitlick doesn’t have enough defensive stopping abilities at this point in his career to warrant a spot there. neither.
Related: Blues Bulletins 2022-23
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Key statistics:
- 61 games
- 16 points (seven goals)
- 103 visits
Final grade: B
For a player who was brought on a PTO, Pitlick absolutely took advantage of it playing in 61 of 78 games. He stayed healthy throughout the season and managed a pretty good point total for someone who played as few minutes as he did. Along with not being a big special teams contributor, he’s had a solid campaign in 2022-23.
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What’s next for Pitlick?
He seems to be the type of player the Blues and Bérubé like for their fourth line. He will be an unrestricted free agent (UFA) once the playoffs are over, but it’s entirely possible he’ll be back on another one-year deal for 2023-24. If the team chooses to let him go, he has enough tape to prove he can earn a job on another NHL roster.
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