The St. Louis Blues had one heck of a year in 2019. If the Stanley Cup was not proof enough, we need look no further than the team’s current All-Stars for the examples.
We all have our own personal feelings on how good or bad 2019 was as a year for each of us, personally. However, it cannot be denied it was one fantastic year for the St. Louis Blues.
You could easily say they won the Stanley Cup and the argument comes to a halt – full stop. However, there are other examples of why 2019 has been a transformative, wonderful year for the Blue Note.
You have to look at the three players guaranteed to represent the Blues at St. Louis’ All-Star game as prime examples of how great the calendar year has been. All three came from different starting points and achieved greatness in that blue and gold sweater.
Alex Pietrangelo seems like he has always been held on high. He was highly drafted, highly touted and praised for his play once he got to St. Louis.
Since fan memories are short and only remember what recently happened, many forget that there were plenty of people ready to run him out of St. Louis. If you spent any time on social media, he was too weak, too quiet and not playing well enough to deserve to be team captain. Reactions ranged from stripping him of the “C” to trading him for the always amusing “bag of pucks”.
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Things got exacerbated by the team’s slow start. That only fueled talk that Pietrangelo was not good enough to lead the team. Better to trade him for whatever the team could get rather than have to re-sign him. Now, the discussion regarding his potential free agency is quite different.
Pietrangelo had a slow 2018-19 overall, with 41 points, but he still had 13 goals. Like many Blues, he came to life in the 2019 playoffs, scoring three goals and chipping in with 19 points.
The start of the 2019-20 season has gone just as well, if not better. Pietrangelo is clearly playing up to potential and also for a new contract. Not quite midway through the season, he already has 10 goals and 31 points. He is on his way to a potential career season.
You cannot have a discussion about 2019 without talking about Ryan O’Reilly. The big splash trade in the summer of 2018 was a big reason fans were dreaming of what could be. Unfortunately, like the team, O’Reilly had a slightly off-kilter start.
Points were never really lacking for O’Reilly. In fact, he was typically the only guy that was consistently doing anything for the team through their struggles to end 2018. Still, though production was there, O’Reilly felt like an outsider.
He said, himself, that he never truly felt comfortable in the locker room until the team until the playoffs began. You could have fooled me.
O’Reilly was the Blues lone representative at the All-Star Game in 2019. He was the only one that deserved to be there and he ended the season with 28 goals and 77 points.
42 of those 77 points came at the start of 2019. O’Reilly added another eight goals and 23 points in the 2019 playoffs. Oh, by the way, he also won the Conn Smythe for the best player in the playoffs.
Then, we come to Jordan Binnington. The guy is young and has a long career and life in front of him. That said, it’s hard not to think of 2019 as the best year of his life.
As pointed out by STLToday, on December 30, 2019, Binnington was back in the AHL with San Antonio. On December 31, 2019, he is the starting goaltender for the Blues, a Stanley Cup champion and won the second most games of any goaltender in league history in a calendar year.
Despite being a champion, finishing second in the Calder race (rookie of the year) and setting records left and right, Binnington keeps his demeanor calm and his mood steady. “…“it happens fast,” Binnington said in the Post-Dispatch. “All you can do is try to be prepared for whatever comes your way the best you can. It’s been a good year so far.”
Binnington’s tale is well documented by now. Still, it is hard to believe that one calendar year ago, he was still considered to be the third or fourth goaltender on the depth chart. Now, as we end a year and a decade, he has claimed the mantle that we all thought was impossible – to be the clear starting goaltender of the St. Louis Blues and win that coveted championship.
Of course, it was not only because of these three that the Blues won it all in 2019. There were so many players that had their moment to shine.
Yet, as we look toward 2020 and All-Star festivities in our own city, those three players exemplify what a year it has been for the team and for the trio.