The St. Louis Blues have clinched a berth to the postseason in three straight years, as well as a Central Division title in 2012. A determined and experienced head coach in Ken Hitchcock has lead a franchise who had struggled in previous years back to contending for their first ever Stanley Cup. However, a team with an abundance of regular season success has fallen flat on its face in the playoffs year after year, leading Blues fans to believe that a curse has been inflicted on their beloved hockey organization.
Since their inception into the NHL in 1967, the Blues have attempted to assemble a roster worthy of bringing a Stanley Cup to St. Louis, but to no avail. They appeared in the Finals their first three seasons as a team, but were swept away each time, literally. In 1980, the Blues began to start a playoff run which would eventually become the third longest streak in North America professional sports history. 25 consecutive years of postseason play followed, but St. Louis failed to capture the NHL’s most coveted prize.
After a number of inconsistent seasons in the mid 2000’s, the Blues have showed countless signs of ending the 40+ year Stanley Cup drought recently. By winning 49 games in 2012 and 29 in the lockout-shortened season of 2013, St. Louis hopeful anticipated that the constant misfortune was coming to a close. Unfortunately, they were disappointed once again after running into the Los Angeles Kings in two consecutive postseasons, losing to them in the second round in ’12, and the first round of ’13.
After acquiring highly-touted goaltender Ryan Miller at this year’s trade deadline, Blues General Manager Doug Armstrong along with an ownership group lead by Tom Stillman made it clear that they were going “all in” in order to find postseason prosperity. There would no longer be a goaltending controversy in St. Louis, as it was clear that Miller was the man in between the pipes selected for the task of acquiring the Stanley Cup. After winning 52 games in the regular season, the waiting has to be over for Blues fans now that they have an elite net-minder, right?
Wrong. The Blues didn’t even escape the first round with arguably the best lineup constructed in years in terms of all-around talent, falling to the Chicago Blackhawks in the Western Conference Quarterfinals in six games.
So what’s the problem, why can’t the Blues find playoff success? “They choke every year,” you’ll hear pessimistic fans throughout Missouri reply. “It’s all (insert current goalie’s name here)’s fault!” others will proclaim. In reality, the Blues just weren’t good enough.
Take a gander at the previous Stanley Cup champions like the Kings, with offensive superstars up and down the lineup such as Anze Kopitar, Jeff Carter, Marian Gaborik, and Justin Williams. Drew Doughty on the back-end attributes as well with his fantastic ability to provide scoring. Or the Chicago Blackhawks, with Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Marian Hossa, and Patrick Sharp who all the have the unique skill of being able to single-handedly take over a game with their talent. Don’t forget Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook on the blue line, either.
Sure the Blues have plenty of solid players, who when working together are sometimes one of the toughest groups in the NHL to beat, there’s no argument there. Although when some pieces of their roster fail to produce, all the wheels fall off as a result, which seems to occur frequently when it matters most. This is why they need a star forward, capable of making the entire team better offensively. It doesn’t matter who is in net, you need to score goals to win games.
Let’s face it Blues fans (including me), the Blues do not have a pure, proven goal scorer and haven’t had one since Brett Hull. T.J. Oshie is not a Kane/Gaborik and David Backes is not a Toews/Carter in terms of offensive output. In fact, St. Louis had only two players (Oshie and Alexander Steen) who reached the 60-point mark in the regular season while the Blackhawks had five. Yes, the Kings had only one in Kopitar, but Los Angeles did something that the Blues should take notes from: they addressed their scoring woes. They added Gaborik at the trade deadline, and without him and his 14 playoff goals, nobody can say that they would have had the playoff run that they did.
Which brings us to the 2014 off-season, where a plethora of offensively and proficient centers are available by both trade/free agency. The Blues can no longer add a Derek Roy or Brenden Morrow type of player like last year, Armstrong and Co. need to now go all in at the forward position. They need a player who can provide scoring chances with and without the puck.
While rumors have been swirling around Senators center Jason Spezza for quite some time now, a move has not yet been made. Although he has battled injury problems recently, he is still an impressive talent that can’t be passed up on. In terms of incoming unrestricted free agents, St. Louis native and Avalanche forward Paul Stastny is being heavily approached by the Blues. They possess the cap space in order to make him an intriguing offer which can lure him away from the Avs and other suitors, so Armstrong should be pushing hard for the 28-year-old.
If St. Louis wants to win the Stanley Cup, they will need to bring in someone like (but not limited to) Spezza or Stastny who can put the puck to the back of the net consistently and can come through for them in both the regular season and the playoffs. But at the same time, if the Blues fail to do that, you can expect the drought to last just a little bit longer.
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