St. Louis Blues Release 2018-19 Regular Season Schedule

The St. Louis Blues don’t yet know everyone that will make up their roster. They do know what teams they will play and when though.

The St. Louis Blues and the NHL released their regular season schedule for 2018-19. In an effort to make hockey a week-long affair, the league has stretched things out.

On June 20, the NHL released the home opener for each and every team. That very same night, the league gave out all its postseason awards.

June 21 marked the release of the schedule. June 22 and 23 will host the NHL Entry Draft and there will be a lot of action, whether that be picks for the future or trades for the now.

Focusing on the news of the day, the Blues schedule is out. Though we don’t know who will make up the 2018-19 roster, we do know who the Blues will play and when.

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As predicted, after the release of the opener, the Blues will start their season at the newly christened Enterprise Center against the Winnipeg Jets. That will be the first of three games at home with Chicago and Calgary coming to visit right after that.

Those are not exactly easy games to open the season with. However, having a solid start at home could jolt the first month.

October will have a lot of home games, with those three to start and four of the first five. October 25 kicks off a seven game home stand that ends November 11. The Blues need to reestablish their home ice advantage which has dried up in some years over the recent past.

The one thing that is increasingly puzzling about the NHL’s scheduling is their grouping. Last season, the Blues played Chicago once in the first couple months and then three times at the very end of the schedule.

It is the complete opposite this season. St. Louis and Chicago will play three times in October. The fourth time will be on November 14. A fifth game will happen on April 3. Why in the world do you play your arch-rival four times in two months and not again until the end of the year?

Also, what is up with January? The Blues play four games against Western Conference teams out of 12 games. That’s a lot of games against Eastern Conference foes. The only divisional team the Blues play in that month is Dallas.

If you include the last three games in December, it is 84% of your games against the Eastern Conference. Some of it could be travel considerations as they are blocked together decently. It is just odd to have them grouped so tightly and hardly play any divisional games for two months.

Some other games of note: Vegas will come to town on November 1. Though the teams play twice in the preseason, Washington will be in St. Louis on January 3. March 16 the Blues play Pittsburgh at noon, so you’d have to figure they’re lining that up for an NBC broadcast.

Also, circling back, this year’s schedule reverses last year’s in another way. The Blues finished on the road in 2017-18, but will have three of four at home in April. They conclude the season with home games against Philadelphia and Vancouver.

On the plus side, the old tradition of weekend games – Saturday games in particular – is returning. 2018-19 will have 19 weekend home games and 12 home games on Saturdays. Out of 41, that’s not too bad, especially in market where your attendance is lower on weeknight games.

Now, it is up to the players to go out and win these games. You don’t want a complete reversal of performances like you are getting a reverse of schedule quirks, but the Blues must do better. You cannot start so hot and then have an awful winter.

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St. Louis has to be steady throughout the season. If you’re not going to have long win streaks, you cannot have long winless streaks either.

Now, we can focus on the roster and hope they’ll go out there and take these games by the scruff.