St. Louis Blues have no top-tier superstar to build around and they won’t need one

One reason I felt there was no way the St. Louis Blues were going anywhere for a while in 2024-25 was that they lacked a surefire star player. And yes, I’ll agree 1,000 percent that Robert Thomas, Pavel Buchnevich, Jake Neighbours, and Jordan Kyrou can all be fantastic forwards, but top-tier superstars? No. 

Yet it didn’t stop me from praising Buchnevich and Kyrou so early in the season, and chances are, I’ll have a lot of good things to say about players like Jordan Binnington, Philip Broberg, and Dylan Holloway, all of whom have played well so far this season. Note, however, that I’d love to give some recognition to Joel Hofer as opposed to Binnington since I’m rooting for this team to keep getting younger, build its core, and compete for another decade. 

With the pieces the Blues have in place at the moment and their respectable play so far, it’s also led me to believe that this team doesn’t need someone like a Connor Bedard or a Macklin Celebrini to be ultra-competitive and win more Stanley Cups. Sure, having such star players are nice add-ons, but are they necessary? Not if recent history tells us anything. 

St. Louis Blues may not get a top-tier star, but that’s okay

Last season, the Florida Panthers beat the Edmonton Oilers to win the Stanley Cup, and the latter was the one possessing a generational talent that might just be the face of the league. We’ve seen two outstanding players drafted in each of the past two seasons in Bedard and Celebrini, and it reminds me a lot of an Alex Ovechkin-Sidney Crosby situation. But last season, the Panthers showed us generational talents are unneeded. 

Instead, Florida won the Cup with an outstanding hockey team with players who should never rank No. 1 anywhere in the league, at least in my subjective opinion. Sure, Sam Reinhart was unstoppable, and Matthew Tkachuk was great, but were either of them truly serious Hart Trophy contenders? You can make the case for Reinhart if 12th place is something you consider serious.

Those players did, however, finish with between 72 and 94 points, but those aren’t off-the-charts numbers. And it’s something I can see the Blues emulating in time, which could and should lead to great things down the road. 

They’ll never have that generational talent or even a No. 1 pick who happens to be the best player in the draft class to build around, barring an unforeseen tank, or at least those are my thoughts after seeing them play a few games this season. But they’re also showing us quickly that acquiring a surefire star or No. 1 pick isn’t a prerequisite to winning a Cup when they are slated to compete regularly.