While the St. Louis Blues earned a much-needed win on Saturday night vs. the Maple Leafs and took their second straight victory against former head coach Craig Berube, Toronto has been the only team they have gotten the best of since October 22nd. In that frame, the Blues are 0-4 against anyone not named the Maple Leafs, and it could foreshadow what’s coming up.
I talked about this in-depth in yesterday’s article, but one major reason behind the Blues turnaround that hasn’t been for the better so far is that, sooner or later, the Colorado Avalanche and Nashville Predators will find their stride.
For now, Nashville looks like they have turned a corner, and it won’t be long until the Avs figure things out. Colorado has one major problem that has been sinking them in Alexandar Georgiev, but they have finally done the right thing and rolled more with Justus Annunen than their would-be starting netminder.
St. Louis Blues will inevitably sink further as November rolls on
Seeing Philip Broberg go down with an injury was not a good thing, but when you consider he’s been their best overall blueliner, you could only groan and say, “Why him?” With Torey Krug already shelved for the year, Broberg was the perfect consolation, and while we don’t yet know the extent of the injury, the collision itself didn’t look good.
Missing Broberg for an extended period would shelve the Blues best forward, Robert Thomas, and, so far, what has been their best blueliner in Broberg. With the Blues already struggling, coupled with a rough upcoming slate of games this week in which the Utah Hockey Club looks like the most manageable opponent, the Blues could find themselves hovering just above the Chicago Blackhawks in the Central Division standings.
Should the Predators and Avalanche find their respective strides, they will force the Blues into an even deeper hole and one that will be hard for the injury-riddled team to bounce back. As I also noted in yesterday’s article, another rough season wouldn’t be a bad thing, considering the Blues weren’t supposed to go anywhere, but it will lead to some hard-to-watch hockey in the interim.
Overall, we can hope for the best regarding Thomas and Broberg and that, despite the likelihood the Blues will continue to sink in the Central Division, this team will start to figure it out later in the season once both players are good to go. If that becomes the case, even with growing pains involved, a resurgence later on will create some much-needed optimism not only to finish the season strong but to revert to contender status in 2025-26.