3 Reasons St. Louis Blues Won’t Repeat As Stanley Cup Champions
The St. Louis Blues are primed and ready to defend their Stanley Cup championship. However, history says it will be just as difficult, or more difficult, than winning their first.
The St. Louis Blues are going to have the opportunity to defend their Stanley Cup championship. We know this as the NHL has decided on a format and also a date when small practices can resume.
The whens and wheres will get worked out. However, even with the majority of the playoffs being exactly the same as years prior, this will still be something we have never seen before.
While percentages are small, there is still the chance that teams that would have missed the playoffs completely during a normal year could get hot and win the whole thing. Teams with advantages going into a normal year will be on more level ground with the teams barely getting in.
The Blues were pretty hot when things went quiet due to the pandemic. They were not alone as teams like the New York Rangers were tearing through the Eastern Conference in a bid just to make the postseason.
Now, it is almost like a new season beginning. Players do not have the luxury of a slow start either.
As mentioned in our three reasons the Blues will repeat article, this can give the Blues an advantage. Their style is not one that requires great timing and precision.
Nevertheless, we are in uncharted waters. Anything and everything could happen.
With that in mind, let’s discuss the three reasons the Blues will not repeat.
1. Getting A Bye
The Blues are one of eight teams total, four in each conference, that will get a bye into the first official round of the playoffs. The other 16 teams will face one another in the play-in round for the opportunity to face one of the top seeds.
We now know that the opening round of the playoffs will be a best-of-seven series, which takes a small amount of the randomness out of the equation. Nevertheless, there is a strong possibility that getting a bye is not a good thing.
The issue with a bye is that the lower seeded teams will be playing for their lives. They know that if they do not win three games, their season is over and they came back for nothing more than a few paychecks before they went home.
The Blues will not have that same advantage. While they earned the right to be one of the top seeds based on a good regular season, they don’t get to jump right into the fire.
The NHL is trying to negate this flaw by having the top four seeds play one another in a round-robin format. Seeding for the opening round will be on the line.
This just is not the same. You’re not playing the same team three to five times, building that hate-like intensity for your opponent.
You’re not having your back against the wall, knowing it is do-or-die. You have that safety net of knowing you will be in the opening round whether you finish as the top seed or the fourth seed.
It might be a small distinction. Those small matters can mean a world of difference.
The Blues are not a team that wins on talent alone. A lot is attention to detail, will and determination.
Facing a team that is suddenly razor sharp while you’ve essentially played three exhibition games could definitely be a disadvantage. Even if the Blues were a better team on paper, they could get bumped out of the first round simply because they did not have that edge yet.
2. Binnington
Before you start hitting the red X on the screen or sending me hate comments, this is not a comment on Jordan Binnington‘s ability to win. I do not believe he is a flash-in-the-pan/one-year wonder.
The reason he could be reason the Blues do not win is the same reason any goaltender might be the reason their team does not win. There was no way for goaltenders to stay sharp during this shutdown.
Goaltending is a very specific position that has specific needs for training. You have to have ice, firstly.
Playing street hockey can help you keep your reflexes tighter, but there’s simply no way to simulate goaltending edge-work without actually being out there on the ice. The way they practice sliding and hugging the posts and working on angles almost necessitates being on the ice, or at the very least a synthetic surface.
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Additionally, even if you had access to a rink somehow, you can’t practice the way a skater would. You need another person to help you.
Goaltenders can’t take shots on themselves. Your average person can’t shoot like an NHL player either, so asking family might not really be much of an option either.
You can throw tennis balls at a wall all you want. There is nothing that really simulates taking shots like actually taking shots.
One last thing that gives me pause is something Binnington said. I have no doubt he will come to practice ready and willing.
However, goaltenders have even less margin for error in the playoffs than skaters do. So, if he’s not mentally engaged 100%, it might have an affect.
When the stay-at-home orders were about a month old, Binnington was on 101 ESPN and basically said he is treating this like it is the offseason. He said he relaxed on workout regimes and the like.
That is understandable and a very human reaction when you have no way of knowing if/when you’ll play again. That said, it has to be taken into account.
When one goal can mean the difference with winning or losing, you need your goaltender at his best. If Binnington went into offseason mode, the Blues won’t have the luxury of an early season for him to work out any kinks.
Only Binnington will know if he’s a peak level or not.
3. It’s Just Hard
This almost goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway. Winning the Stanley Cup might be the hardest thing in sports.
When hockey fans say that, most times they are not trying to downplay the effort and difficulty of winning any other sport’s championship. It is simply that hockey features one of the most grueling postseasons in all sports that is a test of will as much as skill – perhaps moreso.
Winning a second Stanley Cup takes all that difficulty and ramps it up.
While this shutdown will negate most of the fatigue aspect, the champion normally has less down time than any other team. The only other team even close is the runner up.
The winner can’t unplug as there are parades and celebrations and days with the Cup to consider. You almost need a month off just to deal with the first week after winning the Cup.
As said, the Blues won’t have that to contend with as much, but this year they will have a more level playing field. All the teams will be on the same rest level, which can hurt or help.
Instead of going against a team banged up from just making the playoffs, the Blues will be playing a fresh team that got ramped up in the play-in round. That is harder than a regular opening round opponent.
Also, winning back-to-back simply doesn’t happen much in the modern era. Pittsburgh did it in 2016 and 2017. Before them, it was Detroit in 1997 and 1998.
That’s only two teams in the true free agent era. Lots of teams did it in the 1980’s and early 1990’s, such as the New York Islanders, Edmonton Oilers and Pittsburgh Penguins, but it was much easier to keep the same team together for longer back then.
The fact only one team has done it in 20 years of this century should speak to how difficult winning it a second time in a row is.
Think of all the very talented teams in recent memory that did not. Chicago won multiple Cups in the 2010’s, as did the Los Angeles Kings. Neither won back-to-back.
The Boston Bruins went to the Cup finals three times in the last decade. They have one Stanley Cup to show for that.
It is damn hard to do.
Next. The Blues almost left St. Louis for Saskatoon. dark
The St. Louis Blues have as much a chance as any team in the field. I think they can.
History tells us they won’t, pandemic or not. So, we’ll see.