The St. Louis Blues went on a 19-4-3 following the Four Nations Face-off last season, including the 12-game winning streak that helped catapult them into the Stanley Cup Playoffs. This season, it is the 2026 Olympics, with five Blues representatives appearing, which is much more than the two representing the Blues last season.
Instead of 26 games left to play in the season, when play resumes for the 2025-26 Blues, there will be just 25 games left until the regular season ends. Looking at records, the 2024-25 Blues were 25-26-5, which was much better than their current standing of 20-28-9.
Is it possible for another miraculous comeback to be enroute? Can the Blues pull off the improbable, again?
Lightning striking twice?
This is going to be a very interesting 25-game sprint to the finish. The Blues currently sit 14 points back of Anaheim for the second wildcard spot and 15 points back of Utah, who is in the first wildcard spot. That is a lot of ground to cover, and not a whole lot of time.
The Blues also have a much different catalog of issues at hand as compared to last season. Cam Fowler was a rockstar from the moment he hopped off the plane from Anaheim, Jordan Kyrou was a goal-scoring machine, and the emergence of Robert Thomas as an elite player was sweeping the league by storm.
This Olympic break is nearly as long as it was for the Four Nations Face-off, but as stated earlier, this team is just not the same. A comeback is possible, but improbable.
Trade Deadline will determine everything
General Manager Doug Armstrong is going to have a busy couple of weeks as the Team Canada GM and as the head boss for the Blues. There are plenty of rumors swirling around about the core group of the Blues being shopped around, and if the six games that pass between the restart of play and the Deadline on March 6 are not great, expect the white flag to be raised high.
If the Blues cannot have a winning record in those six contests, then this season is over. The Olympics is a solid break in the action to heal and re-focus, but it cannot magically repair a broken-down team like the Blues. Only the players on the ice can save this season, not a break.