All through 2003 and 2004, Jackman kept facing a nagging shoulder injury. In early 2004, it got so bad that Jackman had to sit the rest of that season. He has had multiple surgeries on his left shoulder, but it remains to be a problem. Over the last few seasons, Jackman has continued to play through the pain, although it is obvious he is not the player that he once was.
His stats have been near-embarrassing for a top-two defenseman in recent years. In his first two seasons, Barret registered a plus-22 in 98 games played. But since that time, his plus/minus has plummeted.
Since the lockout, Jackman has posted a -15 in four seasons. His -17 last season was the worst ranking for all Blues defensemen, and placed him 297th out of 303 NHL defenseman who saw any playing time. A few factors that added to this equation is that up-and-coming defenseman Erik Johnson missed all of last season with a torn ACL and captain Eric Brewer missed 54 games with a herniated disc-injury in early 2009, leaving Jackman with the most of the workload. Jackman was forced to play 23:26 on average per game throughout the season, placing him second on the team just behind Brewer. In the playoffs, Jackman saw 25:18 average time played, which currently places him 11th in the league.
With all of the injuries on the Blues' defensive corps, Jackman was the obvious choice to eat up the majority of the minutes. But he did not live up to the expectations. Playing mostly with rookie defenseman Roman Polak, he was expected to help mold the young skater into a worthy teammate. The tables turned quite quickly though; it almost seemed that Polak was put on Jackman's line to cover up his mistakes and bail him out of trouble. While Roman did enjoy a favorable rookie season, he should not have been called upon as much as he was for the team's number one defenseman.
Barret has not been one of the strongest defensemen for the Blues for the past couple of seasons. The biggest reason for this seems to be his ill-desire to skate to loose pucks and pick-up the loose-man. This was best exemplified in the final goal of the playoffs for the Blues, which was an overtime final that swept the Blues on their home ice. The puck squirted to the right-wing boards just inside the face-off circle. The two-man race begun between Jackman and Canucks forward Alexander Burrows for the puck, when Jackman gingerly skates back and allows Burrows a shooting lane. Burrows put it between goaltender Chris Mason's legs as the celebration begun for the Canucks.
In the first period of a game with no score, this may be a smart play for Jackman. But in an overtime game where every shot matters, that puck needs to be picked up by Jackman, or there should not be a shot on goal for Burrows.
Jackman's attitude on the ice has hurt this team all season. He gives up on plays and is constantly caught too deep in the offensive zone. Polak and other teammates are faced with many odd-man rushes, because Jackman goes behind the other team's net and does not come back fast enough to cover up his obvious mistake. If Jackman was Mike Green of Washington and putting 30 pucks in the net a season, this might make a little more sense. But considering his career-high in goals is 4 and his best point-total is 27, Jackman needs to remain on the blue line.
Andy Strickland of hockeybuzz.com (amongst others) will tell you that Jackman “...probably enjoyed his best season of his career...” but this cannot be considered true. His teammates are the only reason he did not have a plus/minus lower than -17. If Jackman is truly as hurt as the Blues say he is, then he should not be on the rink at all.
Reports have come in recently that Brewer has not yet fully recovered from his herniated disc and he probably will not be ready for training camp. This is another slap in the face to the Blues' defense, even though Erik Johnson will be back and healthy. The Blues have to rely on players such as Johnson and 2009 stand-outs Polak and Carlo Colaiacovo to help take some minutes off Jackman's hands. If this entire team can make up for not having a number one defenseman, Chris Mason will see less shots against which will in turn bring the goals against number down as well.
When this team sees Johnson at his best and Alex Pietrangelo make it big, Barret Jackman will be a distant memory to Blues fans. At least, that is the desired outcome for anyone who watches the game.
Keywords: Al MacInnis, Alex Burrows, Alex Pietrangelo, Andy Strickland, Barret Jackman, Carlo Colaiacovo, Chris Mason, Chris Pronger, defense, Eric Brewer, Erik Johnson, nhl, Roman Polak, St. Louis Blues
