The St. Louis Blues are not a playoff-caliber team right now. Their chances of sneaking into the playoffs are getting slimmer by the day. Heading into the season, the expectations were for them to be a middle-of-the-road club that may sneak into the postseason, but they’ve become worse than that.
They’re currently 23-25-4 and have dropped four straight games with the most recent being a 5-0 beatdown by the Colorado Avalanche. They find themselves seven points out of a wild card spot after being within striking distance a week ago. Teams like the Avalanche, Calgary Flames, Vancouver Canucks, and Utah Hockey Club all stand in front of them. The chances of them digging themselves out of this hole and sneaking in are very low, but let’s get into why they won’t do any damage if they do sneak in.
Blues Have Lacked Consistency All Season
This has been a theme for the Blues for the past three seasons. They’ve shown flashes of being competent, but haven’t found the consistency to produce a quality, playoff-worthy record. The number of bright spots this season is limited. They rank 26th in goals scored and 19th in goals against. Overall, they’re just not a very good team. They have no win streaks of three games or more this season. On the flip side, they’re in the midst of their fourth losing streak of three games or more. It’s not a winning formula, especially when their highest-paid players aren’t performing well. This team is far too inconsistent to be a real threat in the Western Conference.
Their peak isn’t elite either, and it hasn’t been seen since they dominated the lackluster Chicago Blackhawks 6-2 at the Wrigley Field Winter Classic on the final day of the 2024 calendar year. There’s no scenario where I see the Blues being able to hang with any of the top teams in the conference in a seven-game series. They’re best off vying for a top-level draft pick as they try to build this thing back up. There’s zero reason to buy at the trade deadline.
Blues’ Goaltending Has Not Been Good Enough
The Blues goaltending has been disappointing this season given the expectations going into it after a quality 2023-24 season for both Jordan Binnington and Joel Hofer. The league average for quality starts is 53 percent and both of the club’s goaltenders are below that this season. That shows a lack of consistency and it’s part of why this team really isn’t a contender.
| Jordan Binnington | Joel Hofer | |
| Record | 13-19-3 | 10-6-1 |
| SV% (2023-24 Stat) | .897 (.913) | .903 (.913) |
| GSAA (Goals Saved Above Average) (2023-24 Stat) | -4.7 (16.6) | 0.5 (8.2) |
Related: Are the Blues on Track to Have Another Quiet Trade Deadline?
As the table lays out, the numbers just aren’t good enough. The complete drop-off in GSAA for both goaltenders is astonishing. Binnington’s fall is especially bad and it resembles his 2022-23 season where he struggled as well. There’s reason to believe that Hofer should get the majority of starts right now, but he’s been the better of the two overall. Either way, this isn’t playoff goaltending and the Blues know it. As mentioned above, they’re 26th in goals scored, so the goaltending has to be great if you can’t score and they can’t.
The Real Jim Montgomery Era Starts Next Season
The Blues gave Jim Montgomery a long-term contract to be the club’s head coach during the season after firing Drew Bannister. They didn’t make this move with the expectation that they could win a Stanley Cup this season. He’s 14-13-3 as the head coach so far and is clearly frustrated with the way they’ve played of late.
I believe they need a summer to re-calibrate with him as the head coach and figure out what he wants now and in the future. The salary cap increase should prove to be a good thing to give the club future flexibility. Top front office people such as President of Hockey Operations Doug Armstrong and future general manager Alex Steen need to work together to retool this thing into a playoff-level team.
The Montgomery era will be long term and I expect him to get the most out of the team over a full 82-game slate. It’s hard to blame him for the issues right now. The roster isn’t performing or responding, which is wildly troubling and puts player leadership into question. The Blues will be an interesting team to monitor over the next couple of months.
