The St. Louis Blues won the first Stanley Cup in franchise history last season in a major surprise. Are the Blues good enough to do it again this year? That’s assuming there even are Stanley Cup playoffs. Let’s take a closer look at their season along with NHL Odds and Stanley Cup Odds.
St. Louis Blues 2020 NHL Season Analysis
Season Recap
St. Loui’s final game before the season was suspended was a 4-2 win in Anaheim on March 11. That was the game that was rescheduled after Blues defenseman Jay Bouwmeester suffered a cardiac episode 12:10 into the first period on Feb. 11. It started with the score tied 1-1, as it was at the time of the postponement, after goals by Anaheim’s Adam Henrique and St. Louis’ Ivan Barbashev carried over. The 36-year-old defenseman Bouwmeester is on injured reserve for the rest of the season after he had a cardioverter defibrillator implanted into his chest.
St. Louis Blues had won nine of its last 11 and leads the Western Conference with 94 points. Jake Allen in on a four-game personal winning streak with a 1.23 goals against average and 95.3% save percentage.
GM Doug Armstrong doesn’t think the NHL’s hiatus will impact his club’s ability to defend its Stanley Cup title should the 2019-20 season resume.
“With the knowledge of what we did last year, and that we have a mature team, we’re not worried about whether they’re preparing or what they’re doing off the ice, eating correctly and doing whatever workouts they need to be doing; I know they are because they’ve shown that year in and year out,” Armstrong said. “We feel excited that if we get the opportunity again that we’ll be in a very good spot to put our very best foot forward.”
If the season does resume, star winger Vladimir Tarasenko, who missed most of this season following shoulder surgery in October, should also be back in the fold. The original prognosis was five months of rest and then an examination. The date for the five-month checkup would exist approximately March 29, which would only provide Tarasenko with a handful of games to get prepped and ready. Tarasenko is one of only two players in the NHL who have scored 30-plus goals every season over the last five seasons. He was finally skating with the team and could have returned to game action as early as March 15 against the Ottawa Senators.
The Blues lead the league in goals scored by defensemen this season. It would be just the second time in 52 years that they’d accomplish that. The St. Louis defense has scored 45 goals this season, while the Flyers and Rangers both have 44. To put that into perspective, 15 of the 31 teams in the NHL have scored fewer than 30 goals.
“Even when we’re not scoring, it seems like we’re able to generate chances for our forwards, or for each other,” Alex Pietrangelo said. “Open up space. Right now, pucks are going in, so it’s important to have that balance in the back end, too. It takes a little bit of pressure off the forwards.”
Pietrangelo is leading the way for the Blues among blueliners as he’s scored 16 times this season. Meanwhile, forward David Perron is on his third stint with the Blues, and this is his most productive one yet. The first-time All Star has already set a career high with 60 points.
St. Louis Blues odds to win 2020 Stanley Cup
The Blues are +900 to repeat.
