The magical run of the 2024-25 St. Louis Blues had many puzzle pieces fall into place at the right time, which led to an improbable franchise-record winning streak. Although maybe it wasn't just luck, and instead, plans coming into motion from the summer previous.
Summer 2024: Plans within plans
The 2024 offseason left many Blues fans perplexed and unsure as to what the potential outcome for the club could be.
Depth acquisitions Nathan Walker, Radek Faksa, Mathieu Joseph, and fan-favorite Oskar Sundqvist all did not inspire much confidence in the fanbase that the team was trying to make a playoff run.
These were forwards whose calling card was defense, a counterintuitive roster-building strategy. If the bottom six were full of these defensive forwards, the upside for goal scoring and, therefore, wins seemed to be very limited for the club in the coming season.
This is not how things played out; the carefully calculated and clever claims of Doug Armstrong and Alex Steen led to a much more creative way to put together a winning roster.
The best offense is a good defense
Players on the Blues' bottom-6 this year all provided a very healthy contribution in their limited ice time, essentially offering defensive support and not allowing many chances in their minutes.
This allowed the top-6 to do more damage, as they could focus on taking the defense out of the equation and put everything they had towards scoring.
However, this also had an unexpected benefit for the depth on the roster.
The ancient proverb says that the best offense is a good defense, and perhaps Doug Armstrong and Alex Steen took a page out of the military strategy of ancient civilizations when approaching roster construction this past summer.
The defensive efforts of the forwards allowed for more chances on the rush or odd-man breaks, as blocking a shot or stopping a rush often leads to a rush going the other way.
Having the depth forwards on the roster be so good at limiting high-danger chances meant that they were not as negative in the aggregate as low-skill offensive players with flashes of brilliance. They could sometimes even create their own offense themselves, just because of the randomness of a play.
This was exemplified by the identity line of the 2024-25 St. Louis Blues.
"W-T-F": Cultivating ice power
When new head coach hire Jim Montgomery came in, he quickly identified the line of Toropchenko, Faksa, and Walker ("W-T-F") as emblematic of this defensive, gritty style of play.
They quickly became the face of the team as the fourth line, which is representative of just how effective and motivational this style of play was.
All three members of the 4th line were excellent defensively, leading the way in statistics like blocks, giveaways, and high-danger shot attempts against. This allowed them to earn more rush chances and odd-man breaks, leading to breakaway goals. Nathan Walker even ended up with the 10th-most goals on the team, despite his exceedingly low ice time.
The dominating play of the Blues' bottom-six controlled the ice for the full 60 minutes. They limited opposing chances while creating their own as a result, and did not serve as a weak link on the roster as bottom-6's usually do.
This was the genius and foresight of Doug Armstrong and Alex Steen in action. They could foresee league trends and a great battle of depth lines, and got ahead of the curve investing in depth forwards with great defensive ability.
This foresight is now paying off, as every one of these depth, defensive forwards is still on the roster for this coming season, with the exception of Radek Faksa. All of these players were signed to multi-year deals, meaning this defensive and gritty style of play can flourish and become a staple of the Blues' identity for years to come.
This is made even more of an exciting thought to ponder when considering how much the Blues have struggled defensively for the past several years. It seems that struggle is over and the banner of blue and gold can fly once again.
At last, Blues fans, we have made it through the toil, braved the desert of defensive ability in St. Louis, and, made our way to paradise: the St. Louis Blues have a defense to be proud of once more.