3 Reasons St. Louis Blues Won’t Repeat As Stanley Cup Champions
By Todd Panula
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.