St. Louis Blues Might Actually Want To Be Wild Card Team

By Todd Panula | Feb 25, 2017

Jan 15, 2017; Anaheim, CA, USA; linesman Ryan Galloway (82) drops the puck as Anaheim Ducks center Antoine Vermette (50) and St. Louis Blues center Patrik Berglund (21) face off in the third period of the game at Honda Center. Blues won in overtime 2-1. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports /

The St. Louis Blues have a mixed bag of results over the last few seasons in the playoffs. Home ice is usually preferable, but maybe not this time around.

The St. Louis Blues are an in-between team right now if we are all honest with ourselves. It is not impossible for them to miss the playoffs entirely. It is not impossible for them to get hot and climb the ladder.

However, reality is reality and reality says there are three spots the Blues will probably get. They will most likely be the third team from the Central Division or one of the two Wild Card teams.

With that in mind, there is actually a case to be made for the Blues falling out of a guaranteed divisional spot. In the grand scheme of things, getting the top Wild Card slot might be much more preferable.

Many people will say that’s crazy. The idea is to play your best during the regular season and get as good a playoff seed as you can. Given the current NHL format, that is not always the case anymore.

Unless something wild happens in the final 20 games of the season, the Blues are playing Chicago again if they stay in a divisional playoff spot. There is little to no chance the Blues pass Minnesota or Chicago, so that means St. Louis is on the road.

While the Blues have had a much better road record in 2016-17 than 2015-16, the Blues are not doing well against those teams. Judging by this moment alone, playing Chicago would be preferable.

The Blues are currently 2-2 against the Blackhawks, with one of those two wins coming at the United Center. The Blues are also 2-2 against Minnesota, but they’ve gotten blown out by an average of 4-1 when playing in the State of Hockey. That’s not very encouraging when figuring the Blues would play the majority of the games in Minnesota.

On the flip side, the Blues have fared pretty well against Pacific Division teams.

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The Blues are winless in two games against Edmonton, but if the Oilers somehow managed to win the division they are still a team with very little playoff experience. In fact, of the impact players Pat Maroon and Milan Lucic would be the only guys with significant postseason play under their belt.

St. Louis actually has a good record against San Jose this season. The Sharks are always one of those teams that can turn it on in the playoffs, but they are not the team of last year.

Whether it is the heartbreak of losing in the finals or just resting for the playoffs, the Sharks have been an up and down squad with only slightly more consistency than St. Louis. Whatever the reason, the Blues are undefeated against San Jose so far and have won by an average of 3.5 goals to 1.

St. Louis is also undefeated against the Anaheim Ducks. Granted, they have only played them once so far and it was a 2-1 win, but it was in Anaheim. There is something to be said for already showing you can win on the west coast.

There are no easy rounds in the NHL postseason. If the Blues want to get where every team wants to end up, they will have to go through Chicago or Minnesota eventually.

It might be a nice change of pace to not face a division rival in the first round though. Since the league switched to the current format, the Blues have seen almost nothing but Central teams.

The Blues lost to Chicago and Minnesota in the first rounds in 2014 and 2015. Then last year, St. Louis squeaked by Chicago and Dallas in the first two rounds before finally playing a different team when they lost to San Jose in the conference finals.

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The key to all of this would be finishing in the top Wild Card spot. Finishing in the last one negates the whole argument since you’d be facing Minnesota or Chicago anyway.

The bottom line is the Blues are not quite as good as they were last year or at least not as consistent. Minnesota and Chicago are as good or better than last year.

So, the Blues might be better off going up against one of the Pacific teams and hoping for the best. At least it would be something different to talk about.

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