St. Louis Blues: Five Reasons They Win, Five Reasons Minnesota Wins

The St. Louis Blues have just as good a chance to win this year’s first round of the playoffs as ever. Nobody would have thought that not too long ago.

The Blues have a great team on the ice, but not so much on paper. Injuries have piled up and that awful middle section of the season still has everyone worried.

Hockey is an odd sport though. It has been proven that 8-seeds can win Stanley Cups.

It might not be the norm, but that’s true everywhere. The fact that it can happen and is more likely to happen on the ice than just about any sport should always give fans hope.

Hope is all Blues fans were clinging to during the winter. Some did not even want to hold on to that.

There were those that wanted the Blues to miss the postseason, blow the team up and fire everyone as though that would solve all the franchise woes. Nothing is that simple and pro contracts don’t allow you to just send everyone away.

Taking away the simplicity of such ideas, there were benefits to missing. You get a higher draft pick for one, though this year’s draft class is quite a bit weaker.

You were not going to get an immediate NHL player out of this year’s draft even if you pick in the top-five. So, it made more sense to keep playing.

Now the Blues are in a much better spot. Financially, it helps the team with every game they play.

Extra ticket money at the gate gives the ownership group more freedom to keep spending on the team. The Blues might be more than one piece away, but at least the options might be there with tinkering.

That is looking forward to the summer though. The season is still upon us.

If you had told anyone the Blues would be playing the Wild back in December or January, we’d have said well it will be a quick four games and out. Now, there is little reason to think the Blues cannot win.

They might not win. It is hockey and anything can happen.

However, they can win and maybe even should.

The Blues are the hot team right now and that counts for a lot in the NHL. Just look back to 2015 when the Blues were the higher seed.

St. Louis had a great regular season but nothing to play for down the stretch. Minnesota was hot, came in and upset the Blues. Now the Blues have the chance to turn the tables.

First thing’s first, the idea for this story sprang from an article by our friends at HockeyWilderness. I suggest you check it out.

With that in mind, here are our five reasons the Blues will win this opening series…and five they might not.