The 2023-24 NHL season has finally arrived. With that comes another season for the St. Louis Blues under the direction of general manager Doug Armstrong and head coach Craig Berube. This is a significant season for both, especially Berube, after missing the playoffs last season.
In this edition of Blues Weekly, I will dive into the Blues’ expectations and what they should be this season, why they will rely on their top forwards, and much more.
Blues Should Not Have Major Expectations
The Blues went 37-38-7 last season with 81 points, missing the playoffs by 14 points. They were a team riddled with issues and it showed on the ice as they couldn’t find their footing all season. The additions of Jakub Vrana, Kasperi Kapanen, and Sammy Blais at the 2023 trade deadline were a good way to reload their forward group, but this team still has endless question marks. Their only two additions of any significance over the 2023 summer were trading for Kevin Hayes and signing Oskar Sundqvist.
Related: St. Louis Blues’ 2023-24 Season Preview and Predictions
I believe that the trade deadline additions from last season and the additions of Hayes and Sundqvist will help the team this season, but it won’t move the needle enough. The two major issues for the Blues last season were their defense and goaltending, and I expect that to still be an issue this season. They couldn’t do much to alter their blue line over the offseason given the egregious contracts that Armstrong has given out over the past few years. On top of that, it doesn’t seem like the Jordan Binnington of two seasons ago will return again. The expectations should not be high this season because this franchise is still stuck in the middle with no direction in sight.
Blues Will Rely Heavily on Forward Group
Regardless of expectations for this season, the Blues will rely heavily on their forward group. They were carried by their forward group in 2021-22 en route to a 109-point season. They will likely need something similar to happen this season in order to make the playoffs. Another huge component will be some level of improvement that is needed from their defense and goaltending. Either way, the Blues will rely heavily on this group.
The Blues’ likely top line of Robert Thomas, Jordan Kyrou, and Pavel Buchnevich needs to play to their potential and more for the team to improve on offense. On top of this, they’ll need bounce-back performances from players like Brandon Saad and Brayden Schenn as well. It will be interesting to see how players like Vrana and Kapanen produce over a full season with the Blues. It’s still going to be tough for the Blues to outscore their inevitable defensive miscues, so the forward group must step on defense as well. The back-checking was not good enough last season and Berube knew it.
Puck Drops in Dallas Tomorrow Night
The Blues season starts tomorrow night on the road against the Dallas Stars. The Stars are one of the favorites in the Central Division and Western Conference as a whole. The Blues went 0-3-0 against the Stars last season, allowing 10 goals and only scoring three. It’s safe to say that they got dominated by a quality Stars team from a season ago.
It looks like the Blues will roll out a similar lineup to the one shown above from practice earlier this week. If this is the lineup, I will be curious to see how many minutes the third line of Vrana-Hayes-Blais will get as they could be a fun line to watch. The Blues have a tall task ahead of them with a road game in Dallas to start the season, so it’ll be an early look at the toughness of Berube’s veteran team.
Blues’ Week Ahead
- Thursday: at Dallas Stars, 7 PM
- Saturday: vs. Seattle Kraken, 7 PM
The Blues have two games this week to start their season before a four-day break prior to their third game of the season. Both the Stars and Seattle Kraken made the playoffs last season, meeting up in the second round, a series that the Stars won in seven games. The Blues will be tested early and often, which will be good for them as the season gets underway.
