The start of the season has not been what Blues fans had hoped for. The St. Louis Blues host a 3-5-1 record through their first nine games of the season and have looked remarkably disappointing on the ice.
Whether it's a question of lack of effort, goaltending, or bad puck luck, the results have not been good enough. The Blues are losing games in terrifying fashion, whether it be getting blown out at home or giving up large goal leads and losing in heartbreaking fashion.
Singin' the Blues
The Blues have a -9 goal differential through their first 8 games of the season, which is the fourth worst in the NHL. They're often outchancing their opponents but getting outscored by 9 goals.
The goaltending is partially to blame for these woes. Both Jordan Binnington and Joel Hofer have not performed well enough to start the season, and actually rank as two of the worst goaltenders in the NHL so far.
By goals saved above expected, Hofer is the 3rd worst goaltender and Binnington the 10th. The struggles of the netminders has been well documented by this point and as a team the Blues rank last in team goaltending:
Team Goaltending - October 26 pic.twitter.com/cgDjhRggpu
— JFresh (@JFreshHockey) October 26, 2025
Another data point fans will point to is the seeming lack of effort on the ice. The compete level from the veteran players especially has been down and is very clearly holding this team back.
The young players are leading the way in terms of on-ice performance, and the veterans need to step it up. With Thomas now missing some time, this remains true as ever and is a critical point in the season to see how this team responds.
However, I say there is reason to be hopeful through all this mire. The St. Louis Blues are a good hockey team, and are going to show it soon.
Advanced analytical darlings
Despite their struggles, the Blues are clearly doing some things right. They are outchancing other teams and dominating in the box scores in most metrics, save goals.
One model has the Blues as a top 4 team in expected goals percentage, an advanced metric that measures how a team is playing and how their games should be going:
5v5 xGoal Share - October 26 pic.twitter.com/SWJv2ebteF
— JFresh (@JFreshHockey) October 26, 2025
But that's just one model, and could be flawed. Perhaps we should pull some more data points?
Money Puck has the Blues as the 2nd overall team by xGoals %, just behind Colorado. This is now a correlation between two different models that both have the Blues as one of the best performing teams by advanced analytics.
Corsi % is one of the most popular stats for determining regular season success. It is a shot attempt differential, basically the shots you are attempting and blocking versus the amount of shots against you are allowing or are being blocked. The Blues are 10th overall in Corsi %, which would have them firmly in the playoffs if they were a top 10 team.
Finally, the Blues are still an elite defensive team by the advanced metrics. They have the third fewest expected goals against, which is remarkable considering how the games have been progressing on ice so far.
The goaltending can't be this bad for the entire season; that would be a historically bad season, and the odds of that happening for an established vet like Binnington especially is astronomically low. And the vets should be performing better once they skate off the rust of the offseason, it is nearly improbable that every single player over 28 has a down year in the same season.
Once the Blues start playing up to the level of their advanced metrics, they will turn this season around. The team right now is struggling, but it just looks worse than it is. The Blues are on a run of all-time bad luck, and their bad luck is bound to run out.
By the advanced metrics, they are doing everything right. The Blues should be able to get the season back on track in no time once they skate off the rust and fight the apathy; and the reward will be a team that is blue no more.