The St. Louis Blues might be out of the 2020 playoffs, much earlier than we expected too. However, the city will still be represented on the Stanley Cup.
The St. Louis Blues made a rather hasty exit from the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs. They lost in six games to the Vancouver Canucks.
They were dominant in their two wins, but there was just something missing in all the rest of the games. We can debate whether it was will or sickness or simple fatigue, but the bottom line is that the Blues will not repeat as champions.
There will be new champions this season. One team has a chance to win its first ever Cup and the other three teams left have not won Lord Stanley’s Cup in 15 years or longer.
That does not mean there will not be a St. Louis flavor or St. Louis influence on this year’s winner. Quite the opposite in fact as the city will be well represented by whomever wins.
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We are guaranteed that a St. Louisan’s name will be etched onto the Cup for the second year in a row. All four teams remaining have a St. Louis native, or at least adopted son, on their roster.
The Vegas Golden Knights are the current home to Paul Stastny. While he was technically born in Canada, Stastny spent his formative years and went to school in St. Louis, so the city essentially made him their own.
The New York Islanders have Scott Mayfield. Mayfield was mostly a role player during the season, but has stepped up for the Isles in the playoffs with five points and playing almost 20 minutes per game.
The Dallas Stars have Ben Bishop on the roster, though injuries and other factors have seen his play limited. From a personal standpoint, I just cannot root for Bishop because of his teammates, namely Jamie Benn.
Last, but definitely not least, nobody can forget the hometown hero, Pat Maroon. There are lots of Blues fans out there that would be more than happy for Maroon to have his name on the Cup twice if the Blues cannot have their names on it.
He has a decent shot too as the Tampa Bay Lightning have looked quite solid in the Eastern Conference Final thus far.
Those are not the only influences that the STL will have on the final or the champion.
Former Blues still vying for the Cup include Vegas’ Ryan Reaves and William Carrier. Reaves, of course, remains one of the biggest fan favorites in the city outside of T.J. Oshie. Carrier never played a regulation game for the Blues, but was a third-round pick in 2013 and came up through their system before being included in the trade for Ryan Miller.
Besides Maroon, the Lightning have a few St. Louis connections. Kevin Shattenkirk spent several good years with the Blues and many Blues fans would like to see him win.
Looser connections include the Bolts’ head coach John Cooper. Cooper spent time in St. Louis as coach of the St. Louis Bandits of the NAHL. He and Maroon led them to the Robertson Cup in their first season in St. Louis.
While not a true St. Louis connection, Luke Schenn will surely have the support of his brother Brayden Schenn. It would be interesting to have two Maroons and two Schenns on the Cup, even if Maroon’s name would be the same person twice.
We would all rather have the Blues still involved. However, it does show the impact the city has had on the sport to have so many ways it could touch the Cup.