ST. LOUIS – When Dalibor Dvorsky came out of the chute with goals in back-to-back games for the St. Louis Blues to begin the 2026-27 season, it was safe to ask whether it was the start of a coming-out party for the No. 10 pick in the 2023 NHL Draft.
Even though the third-line center is playing behind Robert Thomas and the newly-acquired Mason McTavish at the position, and his ice time was slightly down from the 14:20 he had averaged in his first full season last season, one was beginning to feel there were some building blocks to begin the season.
It's been a challenge ever since to say the least.
Dvorsky, who has just one assist in the eight games since prior to the Blues facing the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday, has found his ice time down and at the moment, off the power play.
An offensive player is still only 21 years old who is in just his second full NHL season, is finding that the challenge of being consistent, remaining consistent and getting the ice time they feel they need and deserve is an earned trait, not simply given.
Dvorsky is currently at 12:21 average for the season, which is just under two minutes less than where he was at last season. His shooting percentage (14.3 percent) is up from last season (12.9) and his shots per game (1.55) compered to last season (1.31) is also up, but the more experience – even though it's still early – the player gains, the team is looking for that next increment where the player shows he's taking the necessary steps towards progression, and right now, it's apparent the coaching staff is searching for more.
"The power play's always an opportunity, but it's an opportunity that's earned," Blues coach Jim Montgomery said. "We have players that we feel as a staff that have earned it more. It's just one good game away from going back on it. That being said, we think Dvorsky's made tremendous strides defensively. It's offensively where we want to see him make more strides. We want him to want the puck in the middle, to drive the puck through the middle of the ice. We want him to be part of forechecks more often, more consistently. Besides the skill stuff that we've seen, we need to see the skill stuff more often, the willingness to hang onto pucks is a real good sign that a young player is becoming confident and he's not displaying that right now, but it's early in the year. He started off the year really well, too, two goals in two games. This league is hard; it's the best league in the world. Everybody goes through this where they have, as we saw with our top line, they're going through it. It looks like they're coming out of it, but they still went through it.
"It just needs to become a part of his package and be impactful every night. It's the same thing with whatever your role is. Tough part for him is his role is somewhat diminished just because of McTavish's arrival, and McTavish has played really well. We've got 1-2 and he's three and in the three-hole, you're usually looking somewhere between 14 and 15 minutes a night."
To Dvorsky's credit, he's embraced the task of being more responsible defensively, and his face-off percentage (48.9 compared to 46 percent) is up from last season. But has it impacted his focus to being more of an offensive player?
"I don't know. I try to focus on my offense all the time," Dvorsky said. "It should be something that comes naturally since I'm an offensive player. I try to focus on my defense, but obviously when I'm in the O-zone, I want to create offense and I want to be productive for my team because that's the biggest thing: how can I help the team.
"I for sure think I've improved my defense. Obviously there's a lot of things to improve there, but I think it's getting better. So far I think I've improved there, but still a lot to improve."
Dvorsky, who was impactful for his country Slokavia at the Winter Olympics last year in Italy with three goals and three assists in six games, has been currently playing with Jake Neighbours and Pavel Buchnevich, so he's flanked by veteran players, players that are capable of helping him be more of an impact on the ice. But there comes a time where at some point, he's just going to have to grab the bull by the horns and achieve some of these things on his own.
"I think maybe I can get the puck more to the net," Dvorsky said. 'That's probably one thing, get more shots on the net during games.
"Of course everybody wants to play as much as possible, so do I. I can earn more ice time by doing the right things on the ice. I just want to help this team win. Always (and) every game, I try to do my best and I think I can help the team win by creating offense and being an offensive player but also being good defensively because I want to be that too. Just trying to do the right things on the ice and not think too much because sometimes when you overthink stuff, things go worse but I just want to try and play my game like I always have. Stick to the things and play confident."
According to naturalstattrick.com , Dvorsky's numbers aren't eye-catching but they're not poor either. They're actually decent with a Corsi-for/against of 93-87, shots for/against at 47-43 and goals for/against at 3-3 when he's on the ice at 5-on-5 with an expected goals for/against at 3.93-3.48 and a high danger Corsi-for/against of 20-15.
All the other data looks better, it's just not translating to being more noticeable on the ice.
Dvorsky just has to earn the trust of the coaches and get that ice time up again.
"By playing offense I guess, doing the stuff offensively," Dvorsky said. "I've got to play my game. I know I'm good on the power play, so I just try to do my best on the ice, get back on it, earn the coach's trust by playing well.
"Confidence is a big part of the game obviously. I try and stay confident always. When I have the puck, I also want to (keep it). I try to stay confident and do the things that I do best."
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