St. Louis Blues Can’t Simulate Regular Season

The 2015-2016 NHL season is just a week away. It seems like just yesterday our St. Louis Blues were bounced from the playoffs at the hands of division-foe, Minnesota Wild.

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Scott Powers of ESPN wrote a St. Louis Blues preview piece for the worldwide leader earlier this week. I agreed with most of what he had to say, but some more thoughts came to mind after reading through his Blues assessments.

Powers wrote, “No team has less to prove in the regular season and more in the playoffs than the Blues this season. The Blues have accumulated an impressive 181-86-27 regular-season record over the past four seasons but have only one playoff series victory to show for it. They were bounced from the first round the past three years.”

As much as we’ve become accustomed to the St. Louis Blues regular season dominance, it isn’t a guarantee in 2015-2016. Five teams from the NHL’s central division made the playoffs last season. Sure, the Blues may have won the division but there are plenty of capable, talented teams in their division.

I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again, if the Blues don’t reach the Stanley Cup finals, big changes will come.

It will be a dogfight to the end for the sought after playoff berth. The Blues will make the playoffs. That much is certain. But, will they win the division? Does it really matter? The answer is no. I’m starting to wonder if Ken Hitchcock is more of the problem than I’ve let myself believe in the past few seasons.

This quote from Blues star forward Vladimir Tarasenko gives some depth to the issue. The $60 million man told ESPN, “I think we all have some good and bad lessons from the last four years. It’s going to change one day. What we need to do right now is don’t feel comfortable when you’re in the top spot in the regular season. Don’t think about it. Just play every game step by step.”

Sep 22, 2015; St. Louis, MO, USA; The St. Louis Blues players celebrate after defeating the Columbus Blue Jackets 5-2 at Scottrade Center. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

Is Hitch doing enough to keep his team focused, grounded, and staying away from the NHL.com division standings section throughout the season? You always hear of players saying they don’t pay attention to the standings. That might sound great in a press conference, but you know it is almost certainly a lie. There’s no way a professional hockey player doesn’t check their personal stats and team standings throughout the season.

There isn’t anything wrong with that, but Hitch has to do a better job of pacing his team throughout the year. The Blues have shown up to the playoffs the last 3 years looking like their race had been run. Essentially, the team was exhausted and sprinted when they should have paced themselves for the “real” season, the playoffs.

I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again, if the Blues don’t reach the Stanley Cup finals, big changes will come. You can read my Bleedin’ Blue post detailing what the St. Louis Blues should define as “success” from August and either agree or disagree.

Doug Armstrong, Ken Hitchcock, and top players such as David Backes will need to find new jobs come the 2016-2017 season if something doesn’t change.

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