2009-10 St. Louis Blues Review

DanGNR/St. Louis Game Time

In the midst of the highly competitive NHL playoffs, the St. Louis Blues have to be disappointed sitting on the outside for the fourth time in five post lockout seasons. A year that started with so much promise and potential was mired with disappointment, injuries and a lack of progress from the young guys that were expected to step up.

Coming into the 2009-10 season, the Blues had a lot to be happy about based on their finish the previous season. After only 14 wins in their first 37 games of 2008-09, the Blues went an amazing 27-11-7 in the new year, pushing all the way up to the sixth seed in the West. Being swept in round 1 by the Canucks in hard fought series was a wakeup call to a team that had a ton of young talent.

In the offseason, they solidified their goaltending by signing backup Ty Conklin to a two year deal. Things were looking good on paper, but playing up to their miraculous run in the previous season was an unfair expectation. They didn’t seem to feel the pressureas they rang off two high scoring wins over the defending Western Conference Champion Red Wings in Sweden to start the year, scoring nine goals in two games.

It was a different story when they returned to North America as they went 3-6-4 over their next 13, scoring only 24 goals. That kind of set them into a tail spin for a few months; win two, loss three, win four, lose two. They could never seem to get everyone on their roster rolling at the same time.

Upon returning from a  Western Canada trip in late December in which they won all three games, the Blues lost seven games in a row. Over this time, Andy Murray was relieved of his duties as head coach. This was a change that was bound to happen with the unrealistic expectations the management had coming in. It is not very often that you see such a young team like St. Louis overachieve for two straight seasons. When it didn’t happen, Murray was the scapegoat and was sent packing.

Under Davis Payne, St. Louis went a respectable 23-15-1 over the rest of the year and finished with 9o points. It’s actually pretty remarkable that their season has been labeled such a disappointment, because when you look at it, they finished with only one more win in the previous season. Unfortunately for them in the ultra competitive West, what was 92 points and sixth last year, 90 points put them in ninth this year, five points back of the Avs.

One of the most interesting trends that the Blues had this year was their play at home vs on the road. After respectable seasons of 20 and 23 home wins in the two past years, St. Louis only managed 18 within the confines of the Scottrade Center. Generally, a non-playoff team uses their home ice as a boost to gain some more wins and struggle when they go on the road. The Blues seemed to bond away from home going 22-14-5. The disparity didn’t just end with wins and losses either; they powerplay and penalty kill were both better on the road.

Missing the playoffs is never easy, especially when management and the fan base had such high expectations coming in, but they have to realize that they have one of the best young cores in the NHL. The 2010-11 version of the Blues will definitely have a different look to it; long time Blue, Keith Tkachuk annouced his retirement last this season, Paul Kariya and goalie Chris Mason are both UFAs and prospects like Lars Eller and Alex Pietrangelo will be expected to come right in and produce.

Although veterans Andy McDonald and Eric Brewer will still be around to hold things together, this offseason will signify the official passing of the torch to guys like Berglund, Oshie, EJ and Perron, and I can’t wait to see them run with it.

This is the first article from the new St. Louis Blues’ writer, Dave Poleck. Look for his Blues’ player ratings to be released in the next week.