The St. Louis Blues, as well as the rest of the world, are looking forward to flipping the page to 2026. As it is now January, and the first matchup of the month is against the Vegas Golden Knights, there is a gauntlet ahead of the Blue Note that could make or break this season.
Let's take a look at the upcoming schedule, and dig deep on it.
January gauntlet
The Blues have 14 games this month, with three sets of back-to-backs. This first game against Vegas will be backed up by another home outing against the Montreal Canadiens.
Then there is a little bit of a break in the action before the fast and ferocious ending to the month, when the Blues take on Chicago, Utah and Vegas again in a four-day stretch. All of those are on the road.
Then two more games at home against Eastern Conference powerhouses Carolina and Tampa Bay, followed by another three-game road trip. Edmonton, Winnipeg, and Dallas are on the road, then immediately followed by the Los Angeles Kings at home.
The final week of January will feature three more home games at the Enterprise Center, with Dallas, Florida, and Columbus coming to town to end the month.
Those are some tough games, with Central Division opponents sprinkled in throughout. One important thing to say, aside from Chicago, every single opponent has a better record than the Blues and most of them are in playoff spots as of right now. This is going to be an extremely tough month ahead.
Onto the Olympics
This month of January is so important because of the crunch in time between games, and the realization that the Olympic Games will be held in February. The Blues follow up this 14-game onslaught with only four games in the second month of 2026.
The Blues are currently three points out of the second wildcard spot and five points from the first wildcard spot in the Western Conference. With everything that has happened this season, it is a miracle that they are even that close. They have games against Los Angeles and Utah, who are also in contention alongside the Blues for those wildcard positions.
If the Blues can make this month of January a successful one, they can go into and come out of the Olympic break with a solid standing on the last stretch of the season. Their intentions at the trade deadline coming up in March could be made clear, thus putting an identity on what this team actually is.
It is safe to say that a lot of things are riding on this month.