June 12, 2019, marked the biggest day in St. Louis Blues franchise history – the capturing of the team’s first and to date only Stanley Cup championship. The St. Louis Blues had finally won it all.
4 years later, how has the Blues’ roster gone from a championship team to one that has now missed the playoffs for the first time since? After all, they did make it the first 3 years afterward, and were often considered serious contenders.
For starters, the iconic photo of captain Alex Pietrangelo raising the Cup, surrounded by sparks, is now considered a relic. He’s with the newer Vegas Golden Knights, who just won it all in only their 6th season of play.
He’s not the only member of that team now elsewhere. Goaltender Jake Allen got shipped to Montreal.
Ivan Barbashev also set out for Vegas, Sammy Blais headed to Manhattan for the Rangers before coming back in the trade that sent superstar Vladimir Tarasenko to the Blueshirts.
Jay Bouwmeester played one more partial season before hanging up the skates due to health problems. Tyler Bozak’s stuck around until the 2022 offseason, but had been diminished.
Vince Dunn left for Seattle along with Jaden Schwartz, Joel Edmunson joined Allen in Montreal, and Robby Fabri headed to Detroit. Of course, we all know about Pat Maroon heading to Tampa Bay where he won 2 more Cups.
During this past seasons, Ryan O’Reilly went north to Toronto once the Blues were out of contention. David Perron headed for the Motor City to join Fabbri.
Zach Sanford played a couple more years with Ottawa, Winnipeg, and Nashville, Alexander Steen played one more year before hanging his skates up, and Oskar Sundqvist headed for the State of Hockey in Minnesota. That’s basically the heart, soul and guts of every big name player that left since that championship season.
The 2018-19 NHL playoffs for the Blues were very tightly contested, winning each series by no less than 6 or 7 games, the latter in the Finals against Boston, where they clinched on the road. St. Louis eliminated Central Division rivals Winnipeg and Dallas in the 1st and 2nd rounds before fending off the Sharks in the conference finals.
So, since that 2018-19 season, what has happened to the Blues? Nothing short of incompletion to win another Cup championship, among other things. Whether due to money or an attempt to overhaul the roster, the team was slowly dismantled.
Now, only Robert Thomas, Jordan Binnington and Robert Bortuzzo remain. Whether or not they’ll be back on top someday remains to be seen.