It’s been five years since the St. Louis Blues and captain Alex Pietrangelo hoisted the Stanley Cup for the first time in team history. Since the magical 2019 season, the Blues have left hungry fans who are hungry for another championship disappointed.
By most expert accounts, the 2023-24 season will also result in a Stanley Cup-less season for the St. Louis Blues. They will say it is likely Blues will pay close attention to the lottery balls again next summer.
Beginning on October 10, the Blues will have the same record as the eventual Stanley Cup champions, and this gives the Blues as good a chance as any to lift the Cup again in 2024.
To do so, St. Louis will have to finish in at least third place to guarantee a spot in the playoffs, though they could and likely will sneak into one of the two wild card slots available in an underwhelming Western Conference.
St. Louis didn’t do much of anything in the offseason in terms of adding substantial talent or shaking up the team as a whole. The main additions to the squad were the returns of Oskar Sundqvist and Mackenzie MacEachern and the trade for Kevin Hayes.
The defense was a big issue for the club last season, and the Blues will return the same core to the ice on October 14 in Dallas. Despite Torey Krug‘s early injury in camp, the team appears to be fully healthy going into the season.
After dominating the minor leagues, Joel Hofer is finally ready to take the backup NHL role. Jordan Binnington will look to put together his first consistently great regular season since he debuted in 2019.
While it doesn’t look like much has changed on paper, the slate is whipped clean for the Blues to start the new campaign.
Going into a season knowing you are not destined to win the Stanley Cup is no way to go about life. So here are three reasons why the St. Louis Blues will win it all for the second time in five years in 2024.