When Nick Leddy can skate with the puck, he's as smooth as any skater for the St. Louis Blues.
For a night where not a lot went right again for the Blues in their 4-1 loss against the Arizona Coyotes on Saturday, Leddy was a bright spot.
He had an assist on Brandon Saad's goal, played 20:10, had four shot attempts and four hits in the game.
But what's starting to stand out a little more for me from a Leddy perspective, and understandably so, you might think, 'Well he's not getting any of those shots on goal.' Well yes, on Saturday, none of them got to the net, but he's finding ways to funnel them there for loose change, which was a perfect example of the Saad goal. And not wasting any time in doing it. He also did it by throwing a soft puck towards the net that Jake Neighbours turned into a tip drill and rebound goal on Thursday.
Leddy did that on a number of chances Saturday. It may work, it may not. But if the Blues are going to become any threat consistently to score off the loose change, the defenseman as a whole have to start having that mindset of not looking for the perfect shot, or perfect lane, or hesitate and just throw the puck back in behind the net.
It may sound petty, but it's effective, and if Leddy can get some consistency in making sound puck decisions, or be able to skate with it without any deficiencies, he's actually pretty dangerous off the rush and patient enough to help create danger.
More must-reads: