What is mediocrity? Honestly, if you asked 1,000 different people, you’d get 1,000 subjective opinions. So, let’s get a little more objective. Honestly, the definition is vague, so let’s look up mediocre in something called a dictionary (remember those?) over at Merriam-Webster, and we get “of moderate or low quality, value, ability, or performance: ordinary, so-so.”
Goodness, even Merriam-Webster itself couldn’t make up its mind. Let’s just say the Blues aren’t a very good team, but they’re far from being the worst in the Western Conference or in the league, for that matter.
That said, it’s fair to describe them as at least ‘somewhat mediocre,’ and the numbers back it up. How do I know this? Well, let’s pit them against the rest of the teams in the Western Conference in various simple metrics.
- 21 wins - 8th in the conference
- 46 points - 10th - keep in mind, this is all accurate as of before their January 16th matchup
- 127 goals for - 8th
- 134 goals against - 8th
- 15 regulation wins - 8th
- 15-20-10 regulation time record - 10th
- 0.444 regulation points percentage - 10th
St. Louis Blues look like the NHL’s most mediocre team, but…
Is mediocrity a bad thing? Honestly, it depends. Let’s take a team like the Vancouver Canucks, one that has fallen well short of expectations and seems to be in a never-ending drama-filled situation. Yeah, mediocrity’s a pretty bad thing for Vancouver right now, but let’s look at the Blues.
And be honest, did you really expect this team to do much of anything back when the puck first dropped in the preseason? I mean, yeah, we’re all optimistic about our teams and will always overestimate how good they really are, but what did that voice in the back of your mind say?
Not the, “Oh, I have a feeling we’re gonna be better than people think,” voice, but the one that says, “Yeah, the Blues are still retooling, so let’s not get our hopes up.” The rational one. The realist.
And again, it’s okay to be honest here. I know that I didn’t see the Blues going anywhere but back to an empty arena in the Lou after the final game of the regular season. They just didn’t have the talent to compete with powerhouses in the Central.
So for me, I’ll take mediocrity and run with it in 2024-25. That said, I expect more in 2025-26, and beyond. And no, for the record, it wouldn’t surprise me if the Blues snuck into the postseason, especially if they pulled off a dynamic trade or two. But it’s more likely that mediocre will be this team’s middle name until at least April 2025.