St. Louis Blues cannot afford a Sabres-like start to the 2024-25 season

If you watched some regular season hockey in addition to the finishing touches on the St. Louis Blues preseason, you should already know that one team is already behind the eight-ball. The Buffalo Sabres have had nothing short of a nightmarish start to the season, and it sets the blueprint for what the other 30 NHL teams need to avoid. 

Yeah, I said 30 because Buffalo’s opponent, the New Jersey Devils, couldn’t have enjoyed a better start to the year. Anyway, not only did the Sabres get crushed in both games and outscored seven to two; they lost players via injury, all of whom could miss an extended amount of time. 

I’ve already talked about potentially pushing the panic button in the Lou after this team’s horrific performance against the Columbus Blue Jackets. But nothing will justify and drive that stance home more than if injuries hit the Blues the way they have the Sabres. 

And remember, they already lost Torey Krug for the year, and if this team wants to stick together for at least a portion of the season, they can’t lose anyone else. 

What will happen if the St. Louis Blues get hit hard with injuries early?

We know this is already a bland hockey team, but brace yourself for a lot of losing should something like that happen. AHL call-ups, even in the unfortunate event of injuries, are enough to entice any fanbase that knows its organization is retooling its big club, but it also calls on for some really bad hockey in that frame. 

The upside is that players like Dalibor Dvorsky could get a look, or perhaps one of those young defensemen who will be playing in Springfield. But with such little experience, should injuries strike, the Blues chances of surprising critics early will be less than zero. 

At that point, we circle back to general manager Doug Armstrong and the burning question of asking, “Do we just play the youngsters now and take the bumps, or try to salvage what’s left of the season with the veterans?” 

I mean, I heard James Hagens is pretty good, so maybe they could join the Sabres in the running for him. But if a bland team like the Blues starts the season the same way the Blue and Gold of the Eastern Conference has, this may be the ultimate throwaway season.