Blues on a 2019 Run, But There Is More Competition This Year
The Western Conference Wild Card Race has become exciting again. Before the Four Nations Faceoff, it was a two-horse race with the Vancouver Canucks and Calgary Flames. That was a big reason why the Canucks did not trade Brock Boeser. Vancouver needed Boeser as the playoffs were the goal.
Nobody really expected much from the Calgary Flames. But the play of Jonathan Huberdeau, who has found his game again, Nazem Kadri, and Dustin Wolf has this team competing. The Flames are playing with house money. However, a couple of new teams have entered the mix following the Four Nations, including the St. Louis Blues and Utah Hockey Club.
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The St. Louis Blues have been down this road before. St. Louis was going down the 2019 path when GM Doug Armstrong threatened every player they would be traded. In 2019, the Blues were in dead last place, but this time, they were in striking distance before the trade deadline. Jordan Binnington has really upped his level of play. He can thank Jon Cooper for giving him the confidence to play like this by sticking with him as Team Canada’s goalie during Four Nations.
However, Armstrong did not make any moves, and the prices for his players were way too high. In the off-season, he got Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway from the Edmonton Oilers. Then he added Cam Fowler, who has been rejuvenated. The St. Louis Blues are a threat to make the playoffs in the Western Conference.
The Blues must stay on this winning streak, with Utah, Calgary, and Vancouver all playing well. Dave Pagnotta of the Fourth Period was on Sirius XM NHL Network Radio discussing the peskiness of Utah and St. Louis.
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Gord Stellick: “In the Eastern Conference side, we’ve been really following the micro looking at it the playoff race, because it’s been so great for so long. And then in the West, it was just assumed nine teams would battle for eight spots, and mainly, two teams were going to battle for the final spot in Vancouver and Calgary. Well, Vancouver’s barely got it right now. St Louis tied with them in points. Calgary (two points behind) and Utah (are now four points) behind both of them. There are games in hand that come into play as well.
But okay, so Vancouver, it’s a hard team to figure out. We kind of know what you see is what you get or don’t get. Calgary is kind of a nice story. They weren’t expected to be there. They’re battling away. So St. Louis and Utah, now that they’re in the mix, and both those teams are charging, What’s your take on them, where they’re at and their chances as far as far as moving forward?”
Dave Pagnotta: “Yeah. I mean, obviously, a huge win Sunday Night for Utah over Vancouver, in basically a 4-point game in that one. These are two teams, especially from Utah’s perspective, that are very pesky. They’ve had a lot of injuries to the blue line this season and we haven’t really seen what that club was made of, until recently, and then they really started to get things going.
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Some of their guys have recently been rewarded with new contracts this season. And this is another team where the big boys are really contributing. Clayton Keller is having a heck of a season really doing very well offensively and leading this group offensively. (Dylan) Guenther and (Logan) Cooley and (Nick) Schmaltz and etc. Like those guys are contributing as well. But Keller has really been leading this group, and a big reason why they’re only a couple points out of the playoff spot right now.
From St. Louis’s perspective and another pesky team, they just stick with it. And I think a lot of people like myself, included thought that there might be a little bit of regression to a certain extent with (Colton) Parayko out of the lineup. But other guys have stepped up in this one. And this is another team where their depth has really come into play here, and just their guys just haven’t really taken their foot off the gas, and this is going to be a bit of a dogfight right to the end of the regular season, where you’ve got four teams now fighting for that one spot.
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It’s kind of hard for me, anyway, right now to kind of handicap which way this is going to go, just because of how these teams continue to perform.
However, the St. Louis Blues have played one more game than the Vancouver Canucks. These games down the stretch are important. There is a reason why Commissioner Gary Bettman will not expand the playoffs, as this is the play-in round. But with the way Jordan Kyrou has stepped up along with Robert Thomas and Brayden Schenn, the Blues have a chance to cause trouble if they get into the dance.”
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