Heading into the 2019-20 season, the biggest question among St. Louis Blues fans was primarily whether they did enough to combat all the signings their rivals made. However, so much turnover elsewhere is actually a good thing.
The St. Louis Blues looked like they were going to go into the 2019-20 campaign with almost the exact same team that won the 2019 Stanley Cup. Of course, as you all know, Doug Armstrong pulled the trigger on a late deal and that may have actually changed the fortunes of the team.
However, there are always fans out there that are never happy with what they have. They see the shiny toy their neighbor has and that just has to be better than whatever is in their hand.
That is not always the case. Such is the way of it in the NHL.
The St. Louis Blues chances of repeating as champions are slim, because so very few teams actually do it. Since the end of the dynastic era, since 1990, there has only been a repeat champion three times. Pittsburgh has done it twice (1991-92 and 2016-17) and Detroit once (1997-98).
Think of all the seemingly unbeatable teams along the years – the Colorado Avalanche, the Red Wings of the early-to-mid 2000’s, the New Jersey Devils of the mid 1990’s and early 2000’s, the recent teams in Chicago and Los Angeles. Teams won several in a short time, but so very few have repeated.
Despite this fact, the reality of the player churn in the NHL is actually a good thing for the Blues chances. On paper, so many teams have improved themselves that it would seem more difficult, but recent history, including Blues history, says it will actually be harder for those teams.
More from Editorials
- St. Louis Blues Need Kasperi Kapanen To Be On Best Behavior
- Hayes’ Debut And Other Bold Predictions for the St. Louis Blues
- St. Louis Blues Captaincy Is Suddenly A Huge Problem For 2023-24
- St. Louis Blues National Games Cause More Problems Than They’re Worth
- St. Louis Blues Brayden Schenn Has To Be An Impact Player In 2023-24
Everyone wants to crown people before their time. We forget that it takes time for teams to actually come together.
While realistic fans were not writing the Blues down in pen as champions prior to the 2018-19 season, but expectations were very high after the team won the summer of 2018. The Blues had just brought in Brayden Schenn in 2017 and then added/re-added Ryan O’Reilly, Pat Maroon, David Perron and Tyler Bozak in 2018, on top of adding a rookie in Robert Thomas. That was almost half of your forward lines being new in one year.
Think of the results. The Blues had a horrific start, forcing the firing of a coach, and were barely treading water through the end of 2018. It took one of the most epic turnarounds in one season to solidify a playoff spot and eventually win a championship. Those things almost never happen.
Jonathan Toews can think the Blues tanked or underperformed if he wants. The bottom line is it took time for the team to get on the same page.
There are other examples where turnover takes time. Prior to the 2016-17 season, everyone was crowning the Nashville Predators division champions, if not Stanley Cup champions. While they did go all the way to the final, they barely snuck into the playoffs, finishing fourth in the division with 94 points.
Still, they were trying to integrate several notable acquisitions from the 2016 trade deadline, the 2016 offseason and the 2017 trade deadline. It took time for them to come together as a unit.
Neverthless, with every player added to the Predators roster or Blackhawks roster or Colorado or Dallas or Minnesot or Winnipeg, Blues fans kept crying that the team was falling farther and farther behind in the division. Then, the Blues win in 2019 while Minnesota and Chicago fell into last place, Colorado fell back after a hot start and Dallas had a similar 2018-19 to the Blues.
The point was, adding players does not always make you better in and of itself. It can and it should, sometimes it does, but it is not like a video game where talent just joins talent. Sometimes players do not click or a change is not best for a player or they just do not like the city.
That is why all the turnover in the summer of 2019 is actually good for the Blues.
Dallas has tried to improve their roster with Joe Pavelski and Corey Perry. Both are good players, but aging and leaving places they had been for a long time.
Nashville brought in high-profile Matt Duchene. Still, their amount of turnover in their franchise is interesting and they also got rid of P.K. Subban, which was interesting even if most believe the right call.
Winnipeg added a few pieces such as Mark Letestu, but lost key players along their blue line. Colorado added a few pieces, such as stealing Valeri Nichushkin and signing Joonas Donskoi, but their issues remain their issues, such as bottom-six depth and defense.
Minnesota made several changes after finishing in last place. However, you have to wonder if their lineup is capable of going worst to first.
The same is true of several teams across the league. There was a lot of players switching spots, both in search of more dollars and a chance to win.
What might also get lost in the shuffle is the inevitable copycat mentality of teams that did not win. When Pittsburgh was winning, everyone, including the Blues, tried to get faster. That is hard to do overnight, as we have seen.
Now, teams might be looking to play a more grinding style given that is how the Blues took out most of their opponents. If your team is not built that way already, it is a tough ask for players to change that quickly.
The bottom line is the more teams trying to emulate the Blues or match their roster moves, the better. St. Louis made a lot of tweaks along the way, but they won by playing their own style. If other teams are trying to “catch up”, whether by adding players or changing their style, so much the better.
In the end, the Blues are not going to be high on prognosticator’s lists because they lack the star power of other teams. However, the fact they already won, brought back almost everyone and added a player hungry to take the next step are all pluses on their own side.
Add that to the fact that roster turnover takes time and you have a recipe for Blues success. The key for St. Louis will be getting off to a good start and maintaining instead of wasting energy late in the season as they did in 2018-19. If all goes well, we may see the Blues lift the Cup again very soon.