The St. Louis Blues only made one trade by the 3 PM deadline on Friday (March 8), and it wasn’t for much. They traded goaltender Malcolm Subban to the Columbus Blue Jackets for future considerations (player, money, or picks). The fact that they only made that one deal shows that they aren’t eager to push for the playoffs or even grab some draft stock if they don’t make the postseason.
The problem is that the team is only two spots away from sneaking into the postseason, so you’d think management would try to make the best possible move to help them win, but they didn’t, and because of that, the Blues are 4-5-1 in their last ten games. Here’s a look at what else is holding the team back from making the playoffs.
Blues Not Winning Enough to Catch up in the Standings
The Blues are the 10th seed in the Western Conference standings with the Seattle Kraken (68 points) and Calgary Flames (67 points) behind them in points. The team doesn’t have a good pace to win and keep up with division rivals such as the Nashville Predators, who sprouted up into playoff contention in the second half, and the Minnesota Wild who are making it difficult for the Blues to get close to the eighth seed Vegas Golden Knights.
To make matters worse, they were on a three-game losing streak before their victory over the Boston Bruins on Monday (March 11) and the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday (March 13) and have a tight schedule ahead against the Wild on Saturday (March 16) and Anaheim Ducks on Sunday (March 17).
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Before they faced the Bruins, St. Louis’ chances of making the playoffs were 1.1 percent, and after that game, their chances increased to 3.7 percent according to Money Puck. The Kraken are close to the Blues in the standings and have a higher probability of making the playoffs at 10.5 percent. The Blues are also finding it difficult to win in regulation with 25 regulation wins on the season, which ranks 18th in the league.
With minor issues like special teams slowly being fixed since interim head coach Drew Bannister stepped in to fill in for former head coach Craig Berube, the Blues still have a lot more work to do to win consistently. To be clear, the team has 16 games left, and if they have any chance of making it to the postseason, they would have to win the tiebreaker.
The tie-breaking winner is decided through this order of factors: the team with more regulation wins, the team with more regulation overtime wins, total wins in the wins column, points in the standings (adjusted according to odd and even games played), greater goal differential, and then the last resort would be the team with more goals for. However, if the playoffs started today, the Blues would not make it – they are eight points behind the Golden Knights who are in the second wild-card spot.
Blues Not Performing as Expected
The team should have added a player who could stir up their offense and provide an extra kick to their lineup before the deadline. However, general manager Doug Armstrong has already called up prospects Zach Dean and Zachary Bolduc and hinted at a spot for NCAA prospect Jimmy Snuggered near the end of the season. Snuggered continues to be great for the University of Minnesota and has the potential to make a great impression in the Blues’ lineup.
As is, the Blues have mainly relied on Robert Thomas for offense, and Torey Krug and Colton Parayko for defense. Thomas has 70 points in 65 games (to lead the team), Parayko is third in the league in blocked shots (174), and Krug has put in the most defensive ice time on the power play (195:37 minutes). Yet, it hasn’t been enough to help the team climb the standings.
Adding youth to the lineup might help, since the Blues’ offense hasn’t been powerful enough to compete with the playoff-caliber teams in their conference, like the Golden Knights or Dallas Stars, who have several consistent 60-plus point players, a solid group of defensemen to prevent high-scoring games, and some of the top goaltenders in the league.
Where Do the Blues Go From Here?
In an interview with Bally Sports ahead of the deadline, Armstrong made it clear the team was “listening to potentially adding but weren’t going to go too crazy,” meaning they would remain neutral and not risk losing a valuable asset like a pick or a prospect. The plan seems to be to get the season over with and prepare for the future.
There is hope that they will work on drafting more defensemen, considering the blue line won’t see a major change until the 2027-28 season when four contracts with no-trade clauses either expire or become modified no-trade clauses. The 2024 NHL Draft has a lot of good prospects on the board. Given the Blues’ place in the standings, I expect them to land a mid-first-round pick, likely between the 11th and 13th. It would have been great to see Armstrong grab another first or second pick before the deadline, but now, they have to work with what they have.