Connor McMichael’s start with the St. Louis Blues has been productive enough on the surface, but the one thing the club traded for him to deliver has gone quiet: goals.
After the blockbuster deal that sent Jordan Kyrou to the Washington Capitals, the Blues expected McMichael to help stabilize their secondary scoring. Through the first 16 games, he has chipped in nine points, which is a respectable return for a player settling into a new team.
But the longer look tells a different story. McMichael hasn’t scored since Oct. 8, his fourth game of the season, and the drought has become less about bad luck than about a lack of shots.
The 25-year-old winger opened his Blues tenure with a strong burst, scoring twice in his first four games, including one power-play goal, while piling up 10 shots on goal. Since then, the volume has dried up. He has gone 12 straight games without a goal and has averaged just one shot on goal per game during that stretch, without back-to-back games of being held without a shot.
That’s the key issue here: the puck isn’t refusing to go in. McMichael is shooting 9.1% right now, only a shade below the 9.9% he posted last season.
The finishing touch is still there when he gets the chance. The problem is that the chances have thinned out.
His shot rate has fallen to 1.4 per game, down from 1.8 last season with the Capitals and well below the 2.2 pace he carried in 2024-25, when he scored 26 goals. If nothing changes, that puts him on pace for 11 goals and 48 points over 84 games.
The dip has also shown up in his usage. McMichael has six of his nine points at even strength, but his ice time has slid to 15:40 per night from 16:54 last season, and he was down to a season-low 13:31 in Thursday’s overtime loss against New Jersey.
Even with the scoring drought, there’s still plenty the Blues like about his game. His 0.56 points per game is solid, and his play has fit in well.
He hasn’t been coughing up pucks, and he still has the ability to swing a game for St. Louis.
At 7-7-2, the Blues are trying to stay in the Western Conference playoff race, and they need more balance behind the top line. McMichael has the tools to be a difference-maker. For that to happen, the shot-first mindset has to come back.
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