Blues’ Jake Neighbours becomes fan favorite with journey from role player to role model
Feb 20, 2024
St. Louis Blues forward Jake Neighbours began the 2023-24 season on the fourth line. It wasn’t guaranteed he’d remain in the NHL the whole year, perhaps shuttling to AHL Springfield if his play wasn’t up to par. It would be a good development year, and if he scored 10 or 15 goals, it would be a good sign for his future.
Four months later, Neighbours is an anchor on the second line, he may never set foot in Springfield again, and his next goal will be his team-high 20th of the season.
A first-round pick in 2020, Neighbours is still only 21 years old, but he’s quickly become a leader on the ice for the Blues and a player coaches and teammates are praising for his never-ending tenacity.
“That means a lot,” Neighbours said. “I take pride in my work ethic, and I think it’s one thing that you can control. It means a lot to get that recognition from your teammates because I just want to win hockey games. You’re not going to win if you don’t have everybody working, and I want to be a part of that work ethic every night.”
That attitude, which can be felt through the TV during Neighbours’ interviews, has fans flocking to the Blues’ team store for his No. 63 sweater.
“Yeah, it’s amazing!” Neighbours said. “To have the support of your fan base, it’s very encouraging for myself. I’m glad they like me. I try to keep things simple and just give my best effort. I think they appreciate that, and it means a lot to me.”
So, how did Neighbours go from a role player to a role model?
On opening night Oct. 12 in Dallas, he was on the fourth line with Alexey Toropchenko and Oskar Sundqvist. Now, after excelling earlier this season on the top line with Robert Thomas and Pavel Buchnevich, he’s settled in nicely on the second line with Brayden Schenn and Kasperi Kapanen. He’s also gone from no ice time on the power play to the No. 1 power-play unit.
“I think the quickest way to move yourself up in the lineup is to accept where you’re at and be a positive player, even though you’re not getting the minutes, and just work,” Neighbours said. “When you’re on the ice, take advantage of that and try and showcase yourself as best you can with as little as you get. I think I did a good job of that early in the year. I thought I was playing hard hockey and got rewarded for it.”
Neighbours is knotted for the team lead in goals with 19, and he’s second behind Buchnevich with six power-play goals. And he hasn’t been a liability defensively at five-on-five; per Natural Stat Trick, he’s been on the ice for 28 goals for and 31 against.
“I’m definitely happy with my season so far,” Neighbours said. “There’s still a lot of room to improve with consistency, but yeah, I’ve been given a good opportunity by everybody around me, and you don’t want to let guys down. It’s not personal. It’s about doing it for the guy next to me.”
Recently, The Athletic sat down with Blues coach Drew Bannister to watch a few video clips and dissect where Neighbours is making a difference. We also spoke with Neighbours to get his perspective on the plays.
The game was scoreless and the Blues went on the power play. Thomas lost a faceoff, but the Blues kept the puck in the zone. Neighbours floated around the back of the net and then pulled up on the right dot.
Next, Neighbours made his move to the net.
“That’s been part of his DNA coming out of junior and what I saw last year in the American League,” Bannister said, watching the play. “It’s an awareness for players like him of why they’re having success and where they’re scoring goals or where they’re helping their linemates create offense. He’s been really good around the net on the power play and five-on-five.”
Now let’s watch the play unfold, ending with Neighbours’ 16th goal of the season and a 1-0 lead for the Blues.
“It’s (Buchnevich) in a high-tip situation, which ended up being the play,” Bannister said. “So the play was to Buchy, but then it redirects and Jakey is in the right spot to find that rebound. I think he knocked that out of the air on his backhand, so it’s a skilled play.”
Later in the same game, Neighbours scored his 17th goal on a heads-up play. He helped win possession of the puck in the defensive zone and was suddenly breaking up the ice with Schenn.
“It’s a systematic play, and our job as forwards is to slash through the defensemen,” Neighbours said.
But aware of Schenn’s skating lane, Neighbours had another plan.
When Buffalo’s Henri Jokiharju backed off, the Blues forward turned toward the middle of the ice, like he was going to cut to the far side, but then used his backhand to bank a pass off the boards to Schenn.
“Schenner had a lot of speed, and I just thought I’d put the puck in an area for him to go get it,” Neighbours said.
It worked, as Schenn slipped past Jokiharju and accepted the pass from Neighbours.
“Jakey makes a good play because, instead of going above the D, he puts it back underneath the D, and Schenner can skate onto that puck,” Bannister said. “It’s a designed play by us, but it’s well-executed, just putting it into an area. That’s a skilled hockey play. You might not think about it, but it’s a soft-area play. So it’s a great job by Schenner, but a real great read by Jakey.”
At this point, Neighbours’ No. 1 responsibility is to skate as hard as he can to the Buffalo net and ready himself for a rebound.
“It’s my job to drive the back post there and try to bring someone with me,” he said.
Just as Neighbours hoped, Jokiharju had no choice but to chase him down and prevent a passing option.
“It’s something that we’ve been harping on our guys — finish your routes to the blue paint,” Bannister said.
But instead of Schenn making a net-front feed, he purposely fired the puck at the pads of Sabres goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, and the intent was executed to perfection.
“Schenner does a good job just playing it off the goalie’s pads,” Bannister said. “He is not looking to score. He’s just putting it off his pads.”
The designed rebound came out to Neighbours, who beat Luukkonen for a 3-1 lead with under two minutes left in regulation.
“Schenner made a great play, putting it off the goalie’s pads, and we got a lucky kick right to me,” Neighbours said. “It’s just working for your linemate and making yourself available. You can’t just chip it to him and then leave him on an island up there by himself. It’s about being close, connected and supporting my linemates. That’s how you have success as a line.”
The next sequence is a 40-second shift in the offensive zone that ended with Neighbours’ 19th goal of the season, tying the score 2-2 in the second period.
This time it’s five-on-five, but once again Neighbours is headed to the net front, not once by twice. The second time, he took a couple of crosschecks from Edmonton defenseman Mattias Ekholm.
“If Jakey is not there, then the D is going to flex out,” Bannister said. “But because we draw traffic to the net, that opens up those seam plays for (Kapanen). So the work Jakey is doing is opening up other opportunities for his linemates.”
Kapanen’s shot rimmed around the end boards and created a battle for the puck between Torey Krug and the Oilers’ Zach Hyman. Neighbours saw that Krug needed help and left to provide him support.
“You don’t want to leave any man in a battle by himself,” Neighbours said. “It’s hounding the puck and staying on him. That’s good for the team, and you want to sustain that. It wears teams down, and it’s important for the long run in games.”
That didn’t go unnoticed by Bannister.
“The second quick help, that’s work,” he said. “A lot of guys would’ve waited for somebody else to do it, but that’s a hell of a job. He’s on his toes and he recognizes, ‘Hey, my D is doing a bunch of work, I’ve got to go over there and help out.’ He leaves, and we end up coming up with that puck.”
The play continued and eventually Krug put a shot on net that deflected off Schenn in front. Kapanen whiffed on a rebound attempt, but Neighbours was able to pull the puck out, turn and fire it past goalie Stuart Skinner.
“Jakey holds that strong-side post, where a lot of guys will leak (away), and then you’re easy to defend,” Bannister said. “That’s the purpose of holding that strong-side post. That doesn’t allow their D to flex out on this play and allows our D to have a little bit more time and allows our forward to converge to the tighter areas around the blue paint. Schenner gets a stick on it, and it redirects to the net, and Jakey pops on the rebound and finishes it off.”
After tying the score, Neighbours was instrumental on a goal by Krug that gave the Blues a 3-2 lead.
It began with a hefty hit by Edmonton’s Connor McDavid on Neighbours in the corner.
“It was a race to the puck, and he’s pretty fast, so I reached for it and tried to rim it out to our D,” Neighbours said. “It was a good hit, but I got up and moved. The puck ended up finding its way back to me. That’s just one of those ones where you’ve got to compete. You’re out there against one of the best players in the world, and you’ve got to make him defend.”
Neighbours’ determination after the hit by McDavid impressed Bannister.
“It’s crazy how strong Jake was there,” he said. “McDavid is a strong guy — like his lower body is strong — and Jakey just leans on him and skates out of it.”
That led to a one-timer by Kapanen, who missed, and a point shot by Matt Kessel, whose attempt was stopped by Skinner. But Neighbours came up with the puck again and made an incredible backhanded centering pass to Krug for the goal.
“Honestly, I was going to spin and shoot it, but he was just screaming at me, so I just kind of threw it to an area,” Neighbours said.
Bannister didn’t know Krug had called for the puck and credited the two for the communication.
“The ability for Jakey to be able to escape the pressure and make that play in a tight area, and Kruger to finish it off, it’s a heck of a play,” Bannister said. “But none of it happens if Jakey is not able to skate out of that pressure with McDavid, who’s the best player in the world right now.”
With Neighbours, it’s always about the subtle plays that lead to success.
“My dad (Ed) was always preaching to me to be sharp on the little things,” he said. “It was never, ‘Go score a ton of goals and get a ton of points.’ It was about my consistent habits as a player, and that continued in junior with (former Edmonton Oil Kings coach Brad Lauer). There’s been a lot of people who have helped me out throughout my career to make me what I am.”
Also with Neighbours, it’s always about crediting others.
“That shows what kind of leader he is,” Bannister said. “He’s a good player, a good kid, and he does the right things to get rewarded. He’s an important piece of us having success right now, and moving forward he’s going to be a big piece for us.”