The season is still over a month away and while the offseason has been a noteworthy one for Blues fans, it still begs the questsion; is this a Stanley Cup contending team? If you are a reader here that would also answer with a no, than we must ask the most important question; how do the St. Louis Blues get back to becoming a Stanley Cup contending franchise?
My take is a simple one. The middle is the worst place to be in sports. The recent additions of Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg were encouraging, as both were recently top half of the first round selections, however neither project as a true difference maker that could raise up a middle tiered franchise. While the NHL is not the NBA where one player can swing a franchise's fortunes, it still relies heavily on star players making big plays when it matters the most. Sometimes it's the reliability of a two way top four defenseman that can be depended on for 20-25 minutes a night. Other times, it's the point per game forward that can turn the tides for a team with one play when it seems like nothing is going their way. Anyway you look at it, the best teams have multiple of these types of players.
Are Robert Thomas, Jordan Kyrou, Pavel Buchnevich, or Colton Parayko going to lead this particular Blues' unit into the upper echelons of contention in the NHL? Perhaps, but most likely the roster will have to see a massive overhaul to catapult St. Louis into capturing another Stanley Cup.
St. Louis, by all accounts, is looking like a team that could be fighting for a playoff spot this season. The above mentioned additions, improved play from their young forwards, as well as a reliable goalie tandem should keep the Blues in that 90-99 point season range for the 24-25 campaign. Is this what Blues' fans want though?
If you look through the roster and focus in on their best players, none of them were highly drafted prospects. Parayko and Buchnevich were 3rd rounders, Kyrou in the 2nd, and even Jake Neighbors and Robert Thomas were 1st rounders picked in the 20s of the NHL draft. Recent players drafted or acquired like Dylan Holloway, Dalibor Dvorsky, Philip Broberg, Zach Dean, Jimmy Snuggerud, and Zachary Bolduc hope to quickly add an influx of skill into the top level of the Blues' organization, however will this be enough when competing in a new golden era of hockey?
The rival Chicago Blackhawks defied the lottery odds and now have franchise cornerstone Connor Bedard. The San Jose Sharks look like they are going to quickly rebuild with some truly elite talent such as Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith. The Anaheim Ducks keep adding top of the draft talent year in and year out. Will these strategies pay off in the end? Will that avenue towards contention ever be in the cards for the Blues?
If the topic picture is a player you are unfamiliar with, that is likely #1 overall pick James Hagens (2025) and the one directly above is that of Gavin McKenna. These are two of the best talents in the world yet to be drafted by an NHL franchise. Ask yourself this; would it better to be a 90-99 point team with little hope to take down a 110-120 point team in a seven game series or would it be better to tear it all down the way the Blackhawks did and play the lottery? Maybe the Blues would be better off in the long run if they joined the ranks of the teams trying to build a roster through the top end talent that is only available inside the top five of an NHL draft.
Only Alex Pietrangelo, a big reason why the Blues won Lord Stanley's cup in 2019, was a top prospect drafted by St. Louis over the last few decades. Will the Blues have to wait another 49 years to make a finals appearance, or will this current roster and their prospects be ready to help reach this milestone by defying the odds, or will this writer's take that the bottom is the only way to reach the top prevail? Time will tell, however one thing seems certain; the middle is the worst place to be.