MARYLANDHEIGHTS, Mo. -- It was a sample size of 17 games last season thatshowed plenty of promise.
Sure,keep the excitement guarded. Allow the player time to develop. Therewill be ups and downs.
TheoLindstein is only 21 years old, but the first-round pick (No. 29) inthe 2023 NHL Draft made such a good impression on the St. Louis Blues last season, they've enabled him to pick up where he left off, orsee if he can stay the course and play in the same role alongside Colton Parayko in the top four on the defensive unit.
Lindsteinwas given the ice time (averaged 15:46 per game) and had four points(two goals, two assists) in those 17 games while being a plus-6.There was no sugar-coating his inception into the NHL. Lindstein wasgiven the green light and so far he's passed all tests.
Nowcomes the real test.
"Ofcourse it was fun to be up here," Lindstein said. "It was a dreamcome true to play my first couple of NHL games. You probably soakedit in a little bit more when you got home (to Sweden). But yeah,obviously I'm proud of what I did. Now it's a new season, you'restarting from zero and you're here to take a spot."
Hewon't have to take a spot. He's earned it, and coach JimMontgomery gave Lindstein the highest praise imaginable.
"Himand Parayko just look like an NHL pairing that can make hay and theycan play against top lines because of the way they skate and theirgaps and they don't over-complicate the game, especiallyLindstein," Montgomery said. "He might be our best defenseman atmoving it up to the forwards and supporting it right away. As soon assomeone's open, boom, it's tape-to-tape and it's gone."
Thinkabout that for a moment. The guy with the least amount of experienceamong the Blues ' blue liners might be their best d-man at movingpucks up to the forwards.
Thisis a fast game, the fastest in the world at the NHL level, andLindstein is so agile, so adept at something so critical, somethingdefensemen need in their tool box in order to have success. He getsthe puck and moves it quicker than he gets it, it seems.
"I'vealways been playing a simple game," Lindstein said. "I'm justtrying to get back and give the puck to the forwards as fast aspossible. That's what we (defensemen) are supposed to do, just giveit up to them. But obviously it's a thing that I've been doing a lotsince I was a kid, too, and I think the quicker I pass the puck up tothe forwards, we can just go for offense. That's a big thing of mygame, but I have a lot of other things to keep working on andimprove. But yeah, it's a good thing."
Butthis isn't Lindstein's first rodeo at executing such plays. Thisis a player that's had to grow up fast playing in the SHL (SwedishHockey League) the past three seasons as well as represent hiscountry at the World Junior Championship. He learned fast thatgetting pucks and moving them are imperative to success.
"That'sa good question. I don't know actually," Lindstein said. "I thinkit starts when I was young. Like I said, I've always been a goodmoving defenseman with a good first pass. I would say that's been abig thing for me my whole career. I've been doing that a lot inSweden. The ice is bigger in Sweden, so it works out really well.When I got over here, I feel like I've been taking that with me overhere to the smaller rink. It goes a little bit quicker over here, andyou've got to do it a little bit quicker all the time. But yeah, Idon't know where it started, but it's something that I've been doingmy entire career."
Andin doing so, it's made Parayko's job easier. Parayko doesn'thave to stay back all the time and try to be a buffer to a kid that'slearning on the fly, at least not all the time.
"Forsure. He always makes the right play breaking out," Parayko said."That's how he complements me. He gets the puck up to the forwardsand it allows me to jump up and be aggressive that way, too, which Ialways enjoy doing, trying to be that second wave. When you get it tothe forwards, we can jump up as 'D,' especially if it's a cleanplay, it always us to jump up and join the rush.
"…Ithink he's been playing really well. It's just good to get back inand get some reps with him. So far we've been paired up, which hasbeen great. Just the same as last year, smart guy and skates well,but he thinks the game well and he's always got his stick in theright place. Yeah, he's been great."
Lindstein'splay has also made a better player out of Parayko, complementing thethings he does well.
"Alot, I think. Just the way that he can defend pucks with his stickalways in the right place, it gives me the opportunity to beaggressive," Paraykosaid."He always seems to be in the right place, so when I have that, Ifeel like I can always jump in, be aggressive myself and play fast,too. Very impressive for only playing, I don't even know how manygames.
"Seventeengames? To only play that many and seem to be in with the speed and tobe in the right spot a lot of times, I know that's hard to do. Itcomplements me a lot of ways. Sometimes you just click with someone,it's kind of funny how it works. Good chemistry in the O-zone and theD-zone, kind of reach off each other well, just little things likethat."
Notonly does Lindstein, who led the Blues in minutes played in a 2-1preseason loss to the Dallas Stars Saturday at 23:32, move puckssmoothly, quickly and efficiently in transition, he seems to alwaysbe in the right positions defensively. For someone who's not overlybig (6-foot-0, 187 pounds), he finds a way to be in the right spotson the ice.
"Helooks confident out there," Montgomery said. "He's playing to hisstrengths, which is his skating, to eliminate plays defensively andto help us offensively. And then his breakouts and his neutral-zonetransition is right up there, if not the best, on our team. Hedoesn't fool around with the puck. He doesn't over-complicate things.As soon as someone is open, it's off his tape and it's on their tapeand the forwards can go."
Andwho better to learn from for Lindstein than Parayko, who was in asimilar position in 2015 when he first burst into the league, thenultimately played with – and learned from – Jay Bouwmeester .
"He'san awesome guy. He's an awesome D-partner to play with out there,"Lindstein said. "The biggest thing I would say is how much he talksout there. He makes everything so much easier when I hear him on myleft side all the time when I go down for pucks and when I have himon my right side when I'm looking up on the ice. He takes care of meand he helps me out if I ask something. It can be those small detailsout there. Today we talked a lot about PK. That's something I want toimprove more on. Yeah, we talk a lot out there, and I think that's agood thing to have that conversation out there. It makes everythingso much easier when we're out there working together."
Withdefensemen, communication is key.
"Forsure. Well, on ice communication is huge, but even off-icecommunication, just like, 'Hey what do you see there? Hey, what'sthis look like,'" Parayko said. "Sometimes we'll do a littlesit-down video together and just make sure we're on the same page.He's like a sponge right now, which is really impressive. When youget a guy like that that you get to play with, especially for myself,it's like, 'OK, he's ready to learn, he wants to get better.' From myperspective, that's really cool and I'm going to help him out as muchas possible. When you have someone willing to learn, it gets youexcited."
ForLindstein, he was a little surprised he'd be back with Parayko uponreturning from Sweden, despite the success last season and wasn'texpecting it.
"Notreally. I just tried to work hard this summer and just focused oneverything that I can focus on," he said. "When I got here,playing with Parayko, he's a great player, someone you want to haveon your right side out there. It was a nice feeling, of course, butthe biggest thing (is) what you do after that. It feels good to beout there with him, (but) I've got a lot to do and I'm just going tokeep working on it."
Itincludes being more assertive offensively and allow that part of hisgame to build.
"Yeah,for sure. I think I have that in me and I'm just going to have toshow it, be a little more confident out there with the puck, followup on the rushes and be a threat when you're coming up there,"Lindsteinsaid."Of course I feel that I have it inside, I'm just going to have toshow it.
"…It'sone thing I have to improve on. I'm not the biggest guy out there,but I just have to find my ways to defend, like we talked about acouple of days ago -- to get in his body and to get in there and bestrong on your stick. I'm not going to probably run over someone outthere, but you can be smart and use your feet and have a good stickout there and that will help a lot. That's probably how I'll have toimprove on."
WillLindstein make mistakes? Yes. He still has a long way to go andplenty of games to play to be as close to his best, but the more repshe gets and the more he makes the right reads, the right decisions,the right plays and right covers with as few mistakes as he'smaking, the better he will be in the long run and the better theBlues will be for having selected him and having him part of theirorganization.
"You'vejust got to work on a daily basis," Lindsteinsaid."I mean, you've just got to do what you've got to do every day, getbetter in practice, try to focus on every game and take it fromthere. Try to do everything as good as possible.
"…Ijust kept working on those off-ice things (thispast summer back home),like everything I did last summer, too,to get prepared to come over here. So I did the same thing. I wasworking out a lot, I was skating a lot this summer, too. I wasskating almost four or five times a week. I like to be out there andjust keep working on those skills, just be out there and have fun.That's a big thing. It was a great summer. It was nice to be backhome and see family and friends, too. But it's nice to be back here."
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