As of right now, the St. Louis Blues only know the date and opponent of their home opener for 2019-20. However, their opening schedule might have some hints based on everyone else’s home opener.
The St. Louis Blues know who their first opponent will be in 2019-20. The last two Stanley Cup winners will face one another as the Blues take on the Washington Capitals after they raise their banner to the rafters in the Enterprise Center.
There are a few interesting things about playing Washington that night. First is the fact the Blues will have just seen the Capitals a few days prior. The Blues and Capitals are playing in the preseason again, despite the nonsense the Blues have had with Tom Wilson the past few years.
Another little tidbit that won’t matter to anyone but Blues fans is TJ Oshie returning. One year removed from his own Stanley Cup celebration and banner raising, one of the most popular players in recent history will be there to see the St. Louis fans get their own celebration. It is coincidental, to be sure, but seems somewhat fitting for him to be there after the Blues beat David Backes in the final.
What is unclear, as of right now, is how the rest of the schedule will pan out for the Blues. Oddly enough, we might get hints to that first week or two based on the opening schedules of all the teams.
The 31 home openers have been announced for the 2019/20 NHL season.
— Complete Hockey News (@CompleteHkyNews) June 21, 2019
The Stanley Cup Champions St. Louis Blues will raise their championship banners against the Washington Capitals. pic.twitter.com/pDLv8fgeSU
If you examine all the team’s home openers, you will see lots of teams listed multiple times. Winnipeg, Vancouver and the Capitals play in two home openers on the road. Boston and New Jersey are in three different opponent’s home openers.
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Interestingly absent from that list is the St. Louis Blues. The Blues have their own home opener on October 2 to kick off the season, but are no other team’s opponent for that home opener. 30 other teams and St. Louis does not have to play any of them on the road to open their barn for the 2019-20 season.
While this does not matter in the grand scheme of things, it does give hints to what the Blues schedule will look like. It could mean one of a couple things, or perhaps a combination.
One of the first scenarios that comes to mind is the Blues getting a long homestand to start the coming season. The latest home openers on that schedule were three on October 10 and two on October 12.
If the season opens the 2nd and you are still having home openers 10 days later and the Blues are not included, that might mean they have a good four or five games at the Enterprise Center to open the season.
Perhaps the Blues do not have to hit the road until the third or fourth week of October. That seems unlikely, but we have seen in the past where the Blues have large chunks of schedule on the road or at home to start and end seasons.
Another scenario is the Blues being involved in an early season back-to-back. That does not automatically mean the Blues would be playing consecutive days, but perhaps their opponent would be. Maybe the Blues first road game happens against a team that just played its home opener the night before or two days before.
Still, the most likely situation is a combination. I cannot see the Blues starting the year all at home and not going on the road until close to Halloween.
I would say they are likely to get a decent amount of home games to start the year. There will be a road game sprinkled in there somewhere and it could simply be against one of the teams that, like the Blues, already had their home opener on October 2 or 3. So, there is only so much you can actually glean from this situation.
Still, it is somewhat curious. It is also fine with me. The Blues have been featured road guests during the start of the past few seasons. To not have to worry about that initial jolt of emotion that other teams get when opening their building will be a welcome change.
One other thing this illustrates. The offseason will be incredibly short. Blues fans better soak up all the off time we can get. Celebrating with a banner raising before next season will come much sooner than any of us are prepared for.