Is the recent winning streak hurting the St. Louis Blues?
The St. Louis Blues are on a four-game winning streak, but is this hurting a team that is barely in playoff contention?
Despite their recent four-game winning streak that continued with a win vs. the Anaheim Ducks last night, the St. Louis Blues remain four points outside of the wild card with a revamped Vegas Golden Knights team ahead of them. Not to mention, Vegas has a game in hand, and since the NHL trade deadline, the Knights have also won four out of five.
The Blues also sit behind the Nashville Predators, who are 8-0-2 in their last 10 games, good for 18 points as they sit seven ahead of St. Louis. While the Blues may be within striking distance of at least Vegas, it’s still fair to ask whether it’s too late, considering how much stronger the Knights are and how hot the Predators have been.
And if it is too late, are the Blues doing themselves any favors by winning hockey games when they could be giving more young talent in their pipeline time to gain some valuable NHL experience?
St. Louis Blues could be hurting themselves thanks to recent win streak
The Blues recently called up Zach Dean, but he still has yet to play in a game. Zachary Bolduc is averaging just 10:38 per contest, while Tyler Tucker is seeing just 12:17 of average total ice time. Instead of preparing for 2024-25 by giving their younger players more time on the ice, the Blues look like they’re fighting a losing battle here against a team that doesn’t appear to be slowing down anytime soon in Nashville and one that will make a deep playoff run in Vegas.
It’s true anything can happen, that Vegas isn’t as good as they look on paper, and Nashville fades into mediocrity once more. But the Blues need to put together at least a stellar winning streak - more than just four games - to have a remote chance to pass the Predators and Knights, and right now, those odds are slim.
They are a better team than many will give them credit for, and no, the postseason is not out of the question. But from a probability standpoint, they won’t play over 82 games this season, and trying to stick around this playoff race with an inconsistent lineup at the expense of their youngsters who could be gaining some experience right now is a rather reckless endeavor.
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(Data provided by Hockey-Reference)