Breaking Down St. Louis Blues' Bolstered Blue Line After Adding Zbynek Michalek

For weeks prior to the deadline, there was rampant speculation that the St. Louis Blues were going to add another defenceman.

On Monday, the team found its man, picking out veteran rearguard Zbynek Michalek from the Arizona Coyotes’ fire sale, according to the Blues' official Twitter account:

The Blues paid to make this upgrade, though by deadline standards, the price wasn't exorbitant. The details on the conditional pick aren't yet clear, but presumably, they relate to games played. Maxim Letunov is a solid prospect still years away from NHL duty. No team surrenders those assets for nothing, but Michalek is a long way from being nothing. 

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From a St. Louis perspective, it’s impossible to look at this trade without discussing one of the events that made it necessary in the first place: an injury to star defenceman Kevin Shattenkirk last month. NHL.com reported on February 2 that Shattenkirk would undergo abdominal surgery and afterward be listed as week-to-week. That opened up an immediate spot for Michalek.

One thing Michalek won’t be able to replace is Shattenkirk’s offensive dimension. The 26-year-old had 40 points in 49 games this season prior to his injury; Michalek doesn’t have that many over his last four campaigns combined. Additionally, he has yet to return from an injury that has kept him out of the lineup since February 14, though he told Sportsnet’s trade-deadline panel that he was getting closer:

So why would the Blues add a presently injured defenceman with no offensive game whatsoever? Because he’s an awfully good player in other ways.

Michalek provided the Coyotes with exceptional value this season as one-half of that team’s top defence pairing. He ranked second only to Oliver Ekman-Larsson in terms of the quality of the opposition that he faced and started a greater share of his shifts in the defensive zone than any other blueliner on the team.

Despite this, Arizona’s goal differential and underlying numbers (shot metrics like Corsi and Fenwick) were massively improved when he was on the ice versus when he was on the bench.  

Jeff Roberson/Associated Press

While we must retain some skepticism because Michalek has spent so much time next to one of the game’s best young defencemen, it isn’t like this is a new trend for the newest member of the Blues. For years, Michalek has put up strong results while playing brutal defensive minutes. At worst, he’s a solid complementary piece on a tough-minutes pairing.

He’s also a big, reasonably physical penalty-killing machine and a right-hand shot in a league in which those players have extra value. He brings additional experience to a legitimate contender, having appeared in more than 700 regular-season and playoff games. Even with a lesser record at even strength, he has a lot of points that would make him appealing as a depth addition.

What will the Blues' defence corps look like once everyone gets healthy? Probably something like this:

• Jay Bouwmeester—Alex Pietrangelo
• Carl Gunnarson—Kevin Shattenkirk
• Barret Jackman/Ian Cole—Zbynek Michalek

Michalek is a somewhat counterintuitive choice as a partner to Jackman, given that both would seem better paired with a puck-mover, but it does give the Blues an option of using their third pairing for more shutdown work, freeing up the top duo of Bouwmeester and Pietrangelo for more of an offensive role.

There are a lot of teams that would envy that blue line. An Olympic-quality top pairing, a second unit featuring one of the game’s top scoring defenceman and a veteran safety net and a third unit with two battle-tested veterans who can be played against any opposition.

Assuming good health, St. Louis is going to be a hard club to score on.

Statistics courtesy of BehindTheNet.ca, Stats.Hockeyanalysis.com and NHL.com. 

Jonathan Willis covers the NHL for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter for more of his work.