St. Louis Blues: Pandemic Ruined Repeat Chances, One Way Or Another

Not 100% bought in

This argument is difficult to make without sounding accusatory and questioning people’s motivations. But, it’s hard not to think there was not a complete buy in by everyone involved right from the start.

That starts with the general manager and trickles down through everyone, including the coaching staff.

When the NHL finally approved different phases and had certain dates in place for teams to reenter training, practice and then games, the Blues took a ho-hum attitude toward it all. In fact, Doug Armstrong said they would let the players dictate when they wanted to come back, if at all, for Phase 2.

Phase 2 was when teams could begin weight and cardio training, as well as take part in small, six-man on-ice training. The idea was clearly that the Blues already knew the rigors of the playoffs, so they did not need to ramp everything up immediately.

The less wear and tear on the body, the better. The flip side of that is that the Blues conditioning seemed absent in a lot of important spots during the Canucks series.

Especially in Game 6, it seemed as though the Blues wanted to give more but their bodies simply would not let them.

The same could be said for Phase 3. Craig Berube told the media that they were going at it hard and pushing guys, but without an open practice to be viewed, we are taking him at his word.

Nobody thinks of Berube as a liar and he almost always shoots straight. He is quite protective of his players though, so he might cover for any lackluster effort once the real practices began.

Maybe an extra practice or two or a little more push during conditioning drills might not have changed the outcome. It might have though.

When you play an intense style that requires a lot of physicality, you cannot really go from 0-60 in two seconds. Ask any of the teams the Blues played in 2019.

St. Louis took teams like Winnipeg, Dallas and San Jose out of their comfort zone because they tried to counteract the Blues physicality. When you’re not used to playing that way, it’s hard on the body.

For all we know, that was the case with the Blues. They took too much time off during the pandemic break and did not do enough to get back into shape once they were allowed.

The players said all the right things during the pandemic, but there were comments made afterward that lead one to believe some players treated the break like an old-school offseason. There were rumors of a bit too much relaxing and partaking in adult beverages.