St. Louis Blues’ Steen has plenty of skill to go with grinder instincts

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This article was published 15/12/2015 (3581 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

When it comes to St. Louis Blues left-winger Alex Steen, what you see isn’t always what you get.

Talking with the former Winnipegger and son of Jets 1.0 legend,Thomas Steen, reveals a quiet, but confident player, who at 31 years old and in his 11th season in the NHL, has the respect of his teammates and coaches.

What you get, however, is one of the league’s best two-way players, one as gritty as he is skilled, on a team rich in both flash and tenacity. But it’s the rarity of possessing both that not only separates Steen from others in today’s NHL, but also likely why you’ll never hear his name in the same breath as superstars Alexander Ovechkin or Sidney Crosby.

“Well he’s always been underrated because he does all the little things that you appreciate but I think more than anything he’s a complete player,” said Blues head coach Ken Hitchcock prior to a 4-3 win over the Jets at the MTS Centre Tuesday night. “There’s not many of him left.”

A standout for Vastra Frolunda HC in Sweden’s elite junior league — he moved to Sweden as a teenager after his dad retired from the NHL, a country he now calls home in the off-season — Steen was selected 24th overall by Toronto in the first round of the 2002 NHL Draft.

Playing in parts of four seasons with the Maple Leafs, Steen recorded a modest 50 goals and 126 points in 253 games. In those years, he played for three different coaches, including Jets coach Paul Maurice before being traded to the Blues 20 games into the 2008-09 season.

“You don’t see a guy come in with the offence that he had early in his NHL career and then kind of morph into that grinding player but stay at the same kind of lead offensive guy that he’s become,” said Maurice. “It’s an unusual story.”

And one that really began the moment Steen arrived in St. Louis.

“When I was in Toronto there was a lot of ‘he’s just a checker’ and that bothered me,” said Steen. “I wanted to prove that I was more.”

He’d get the chance to do just that in St.Louis, though never was it handed to him. The year he was traded to the Blues, Steen scored six goals and added 18 assists for 24 points in 61 games while playing mostly on the third line. The next season he played alongside Jay McClement and B.J. Crombeen, with the expectation he’d once again play a checking role. Only this time he was awarded time on the power play, lining up in the slot where he could use him booming shot. He finished that season with was then a career-high 24 goals, including seven on the power play.

And he wouldn’t stop there. In his four seasons with the Blues where he’s played at least 50 games, Steen has recorded at least 20 goals in each, including a 33-goal campaign in 2013-14.

As for those opportunities to prove himself that were once sparse early in his career, they were on full display Tuesday night. Steen finished the game with a goal and two assists, logging 20:33 of ice time, including minutes on the power play and penalty kill.

jeff.hamilton@freepress.mb.ca

twitter: @jeffkhamilton