St. Louis Blues: Joe Warden’s Season Take And A Deadline Deal

The St. Louis Blues haven’t missed a beat after winning the Stanley Cup last season. They are finding ways to win despite losing players to injury.

Who would have thought that the St. Louis Blues would be Stanley Cup Champs in their lifetime? I didn’t. I was always hopeful but in the back of my mind, it was always how are we going to mess up this chance?

We’ve seen some great teams in St. Louis fall short time and time again. Well, not last season and this season so far is looking promising!

The Blues have managed to not only lead the Central Division, but they’ve done so without their top goal-scoring threat in Vladimir Tarasenko. I honestly expected a little more of a dip in production than we have been seeing.

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Most of that is in large part due to the play of David Perron, but he’s not the only one to be contributing with more opportunities that were once occupied by Vladi.

Oskar Sundqvist has also done everything you could ask of a player. He’s been an absolute stud on both sides of the ice for the Note.

Ivan Barbashev too has been trending up.

The defense is a little off but it appears to be against less challenging teams. When the opposition is worthy the defense goes into lockdown mode. Just see the game against Colorado on December 16th and then watch the game against Anaheim from November 16th.

Jake Allen, Snake, appears to be back once again! What a relief and let’s face it he’s been great! Mentally he seems to be all there once again and that has been and will be the one thing that makes Jake Allen great when he’s all there. When he isn’t he is not even a solid AHL goaltender.

Justin Faulk seems to be finding his place in the locker room. He’s been more and more noticeable with each game. He’s being partnered with the captain Alex Pietrangelo more and more and his game is starting to come through.

Pietrangelo is playing some of his best hockey right now as a Blue. It started in the playoffs last season and he hasn’t missed a beat this season. I still don’t want him for $9 million a season. His play last season in the playoffs up through today may be worth $9 million a season, but no way is it going to be worth that in 3yrs.

Maybe I’m wrong. God knows I have been before, but something about a $9 million wrong side of 30 yr old defenseman rarely and by rarely I mean almost never pays off. Pietrangelo could be one of those rare exceptions, but it’s a gamble that I don’t think this Blues team needs to take.

Jordan Binnington has proven he is a real NHL goaltender. Not only proving it but doing it by becoming only the 6th goalie to win 40 games in their first 60. He’s also tied Mike Liut for most wins in a calendar year by a Blues goalie.

Binnington was a huge part of the Blues ending their Stanley Cup drought and winning our first-ever championship, but he very well could end another 50 yr drought in St. Louis hockey history. He very well could win himself a Vezina trophy.

It’s been 50 yrs since Glen Hall and Jacques Plante won the Vezina as St. Louis Blues back in 1969. We’ve had some good goalies come through St. Louis since then and some have tremendous seasons, but nothing like what Binnington has been doing so far.

Craig Berube last night matched Ken Hitchcock‘s Blues record for most wins through their first 100 games with 60 in 99 games. He can pass it with a win in San Jose on Saturday night.

Chief has been amazing! The Blues whisperer knows who to tap when to tap them, and when to proverbially kick them in the rear. I don’t recall a coach having a better beat on his team than what we’ve been witnessing with Berube and his Blues squad.

This team has been historic and they appear to be poised to continue making history!

If I am Doug Armstrong I am feeling at ease. I have no pressing holes to fill that haven’t been handled internally for the most part. The window to repeat is wide open for this club even without Tarasenko scoring 30G for the Blues.

It would be great to have him in there peppering the opposition with that wicked shot, but the way the team is playing even Vladi can be at ease and focus on getting healthy and getting up to speed for what looks to be another playoff run.

I don’t think Armstrong sits idle. There are some names out there I’m sure he will kick the tires on and see what shakes out. Names like Chris Kreider and Tyler Toffoli. Kreider plays a St. Louis Blues style of game.

He could come in and help out. Tyler Toffoli has been recently showing that he is still a playmaker and can score. He’s not getting the ice time or the power play minutes you’d expect from an LA team looking to rebuild or retool.

So the cost for Toffoli could be dramatically lower than Chris Kreider and could be the player that Army is quietly negotiating for. Who knows?

Army has always been able to make deals without a blip of it coming out in the media so as a writer I am free to speculate all I want on what may or may not be going on behind the scenes because my guess and speculation is as good as anyone else’s.

Buckle up Blue Bleeders! We are in for another entertaining and thrilling season! We are atop the Central Division, atop the Western Conference and although not always on top of our game we are when it matters most and the competition is at it’s greatest!

Man, it feels good to be a Blues fan!

Drop the puck!