For the St. Louis Blues, we don’t need to ask if they’ll pull up all of their top prospects who are eligible to play for them this season. Instead, the unanswered question is if or when general manager Doug Armstrong will wave the white flag on the season and kick off an exodus that will give young players room to play alongside the big club.
Recently, I wrote that the time could come sooner rather than later if the Blues play the way they did against the Columbus Blue Jackets. While there are still a couple of preseason games left for the Blues to show they’re better than they’ve played so far, both contests could help foreshadow the ultimate answer to this question.
You could claim I’m putting too much stock into the preseason, and okay, that may be the case, but it’s also tough to see most of the big club playing so flat when they have a generally favorable schedule coming up this month. They open on the road against the Seattle Kraken before traveling to San Jose and, ultimately, Vegas.
Two of those games should be more than winnable, with only the matchup against the Golden Knights factoring in as the tough one. Then, it’s a homestand vs. the Minnesota Wild, another manageable game, before the Blues face the NY Islanders, Carolina Hurricanes, and Winnipeg Jets.
St. Louis Blues could answer the “unanswered question” soon
Looking at those games, I once again wouldn’t help but feel rather excited for St. Louis had they played better so far in the preseason. Sure, the Isles, Hurricanes, and Jets made the playoffs, but can you honestly say any of them are better than they were last season?
The Wild could be the worst team in what may be a tough division, while the Islanders have been up-and-down for a while now. Carolina lost more than a few players this past offseason and could take a step back as their championship window could be closing for a while.
Winnipeg lacks a true star forward, even if their goaltending is still elite when compared to the rest of the league. But if the Blues flop here, then they could be the 2024-25 version of the Calgary Flames, a team who last season made more than a few trades, something that started early in the season.
Fortunately, the Blues have a better overall prospects pool and high-end talents than what Calgary had. But, should they turn things around early, a forward or two steps up, and play consistent hockey, we may need to wait for the unanswered question to come at the trade deadline.
And who knows? A team could look flat in the preseason, and it may serve as a wake-up call. If that’s the case for St. Louis, then this season won’t be over after a few weeks, and we can look forward to them playing competitive hockey.