The St. Louis Blues are halfway through the season and still trying to sneak into a Western Conference wild-card spot. Their team is starting to show some identity, and their top players are showing more presence in the lineup. However, some players haven’t put up the numbers they thought they would and have found improvement in their games. With many new faces added to the roster this season and some familiar ones unlocking their full potential, it seems it has worked out positively. Let’s look at which three players turn themselves around this season.
Dylan Holloway
In his last two seasons with the Edmonton Oilers, Dylan Holloway finished the season with no more than nine points. However, he has become a new player with the Blues this season. In 49 games played this season, he has put up 36 points, which significantly exceeds his point production in the past two seasons, and he’s done it despite a scary moment earlier in the season where he was stretchered off after he took a puck to the neck.
Holloway has improved statistically and in the roles and positions he holds. Holloway rarely got top-line minutes before coming aboard the Blues via offer sheet, especially on the special teams. It makes sense, considering the Polers have players like Connor McDavid, Leon Draisatl, Zach Hyman, and others who fill those critical roles. The most minutes he played in a special-team role was 35:06 (on the power play in 2022-23.) Last season, his power-play minutes decreased to just under four. Performance-wise, he only had one point on the power play for his entire Oilers career.
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There has been a tremendous improvement in how Holloway has played on the power play with the Blues. He’s put up seven power-play points this season on the Blue’s first power-play unit, which is a significant role to have offensively. He’s playing top-six minutes with players like Brayden Schenn, Robert Thomas, and Jordan Kyrou, some of the team’s most-reliable forwards.
He’s found more comfort in playing with the Blues and it’s clear they are a team he can grow and thrive with because there is no pressure on him to succeed under elite talent like there was with the Oilers. The Blues franchise is looking to build an identity, and Holloway is part of it. After all, he’s 23 and has much potential to love up to his first-round status (14th overall, 2020.)
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