Although the St. Louis Blues have never won a Stanley Cup since joining the league in 1967, they have always put a competitive team on the ice. Perhaps the best evidence of this is in the 80's and 90's when the Blues qualified for the playoffs in every season between 1980-2004, good enough for the third longest streak in North American professional sports history.
And then the lockout happened in 2004-2005, which was when the Blues franchise hit rock bottom. When play resumed in the 05-06 season St. Louis was far from being a playoff contender and finished the season with their worst record in 27 years (21-46-15) and failed to make the playoffs for just the fourth time in franchise history. Since then, the Blues have been to the playoffs just once where they were swept by Vancouver in the Conference Quarter Finals.
So it's safe to say that St. Louis' post-lockout existence has not been very good...until this year that is.
Now I know we've just moved into November and the season is still very young, but take these facts into consideration when thinking about the future of this team.
-St. Louis is a very impressive 6-1-2 after 9 games this season (they're just 2 points behind the league leading L.A. Kings with 2 games in hand and just 1 point behind Chicago for the Central Division lead, but have 4 games in hand on the Hawks)
-They are 5-0-0 at home.
-They have only allowed 17 goals this season which ranks them second in the league behind just Boston.
-Jaroslav Halak ranks third among NHL goaltenders with a 1.71 G.A.A. and fourth with a .932 Save %.
-They are 6-0-2 when they score first.
-They have just 3 players over the age of 30 on their roster.
St. Louis is proving to be another successful example of building a team through the draft. Since the lockout we've already seen both Pittsburgh and Chicago hoist the Stanley Cup just a short time after they both occupied the league's basement, and St. Louis could very well be the next team in line to do this.
With a team comprised of lighting quick speed, balanced scoring, grit, toughness, and now one of the league's top goaltenders in Halak, St. Louis is in prime position to not only make a return to the playoffs, but to make a run a Lord Stanley.
As long as the Blues stay healthy and Jaroslav Halak is at the top of his game, St. Louis is the team to beat out West.
-Cory Clements
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