{"id":463650,"date":"2025-03-02T21:46:09","date_gmt":"2025-03-03T02:46:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=463650"},"modified":"2025-03-02T21:46:09","modified_gmt":"2025-03-03T02:46:09","slug":"sundays-loss-forces-the-st-louis-blues-hand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2025\/03\/02\/sundays-loss-forces-the-st-louis-blues-hand\/","title":{"rendered":"Sunday’s Loss Forces the St. Louis Blues Hand"},"content":{"rendered":"

The St. Louis Blues dropped a tough one on Sunday against the rival <\/span>Dallas Stars<\/span><\/a>. Despite significantly more shots than the Stars and dominating the play, the Blues fell 6-3. Joel Hofer<\/a> was pulled after giving up three goals on nine shots in the first period. Furthermore, the Blues went 0-4 on the penalty kill. It was a tough night at the office for the <\/span>Blue Note<\/span><\/em>, and it forces their hand as we get closer to the trade deadline.<\/span><\/p>\n

Loss Forces Blues Hand<\/span><\/h2>\n

We do not want to overreact to one loss. After all, the Blues have been playing great hockey this past week. Prior to Sunday’s loss, the team had won four games in a row. Furthermore, they have made up significant ground in the playoff hunt, entering Sunday just one point out of the last playoff spot.<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite the loss, the Blues are still in the playoff hunt. So, why does the loss force their hand?<\/span><\/p>\n

The Game Was Ugly<\/span><\/h3>\n

As stated earlier, the Blues outplayed the Stars and outshot them by a wide margin. The Blues had their opportunity to take the game, but allowed the Stars to expose their penalty kill. During the third period, when the Blues were trailing 4-3, Jordan Kyrou<\/a> took an offensive-zone penalty. Right away, the atmosphere of the game changed. There was a feeling the Stars would score, and they did. When the Stars returned to the power play shortly after, the same feeling came, with the same result.<\/span><\/p>\n

A game like this has the potential to derail the team’s momentum. The team has shown signs of <\/span>inconsistency<\/span><\/a> this season, and a loss like this can trigger another string of inconsistent games.<\/span><\/p>\n

How Does That Force Their Hand?<\/span><\/h3>\n

The NHL Trade Deadline is this Friday. The Blues have five days to decide whether to sell or hold on and make a run for the Stanley Cup Playoffs.<\/span><\/p>\n

Before Sunday, it was a tough choice. Despite <\/span>rumours<\/span><\/a> of interest in Brayden Schenn<\/a> and <\/span>others<\/span><\/a>, the recent win streak gave the front office something to consider. In addition to winning, the team had beaten top teams like the <\/span>Colorado Avalanche<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>Washington Capitals<\/span><\/a>. There was a case to be made that the team should not sell.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Sunday’s loss brings things back down to Earth. Can the Blues shake off this loss and get back on track? Or will this loss propel them into another slump, pushing them out of the playoff hunt?<\/span><\/p>\n

Doug Armstrong and Alexander Steen<\/a> now have to choose which direction to go. If they decide to sell, they will likely get a decent return for Schenn. If they choose to hold and the team fails to make the playoffs, the gamble fails.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

All this is further complicated by the fact that the Blues are a retooling team. While they may be playoff contenders, they are not Stanley Cup contenders. Is it better to hold on to what you have so you can maybe get into the playoffs? Or, is it better to sell and get future assets and continue to build towards being a true contender?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It is not an easy choice. However, the Blues now have to choose. Sunday’s loss is forcing their hand, and it is doing so fast.<\/span><\/p>\n

Armstrong’s History<\/span><\/h3>\n

If you believe the team should sell, history suggests it will happen. In 2017, despite being a playoff contender, Armstrong <\/span>traded<\/span><\/a> Kevin Shattenkirk<\/a> to get something in return. <\/span>He did the same thing the next year<\/span><\/a> with Paul Stastny<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If history is any indication, the Blues will be active this week. Schenn will likely be elsewhere, and the organization will officially be looking ahead to the 2025-26 season. If that is the case, they should be commended for making that choice.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Sunday’s loss is forcing the team’s hand. Now we see what they do next.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Main Photo: Jerome Miron- Imagn Images<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The St. Louis Blues dropped a tough one on Sunday against the rival Dallas Stars. Despite significantly more shots than the Stars and dominating the play, the Blues fell 6-3. Joel Hofer was pulled after giving up three goals on nine shots in the first period. Furthermore, the Blues went 0-4 on the penalty kill. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3464,"featured_media":463656,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[32,4547,4548],"tags":[384,505,2801,965],"class_list":["post-463650","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blues","category-hockey","category-nhl","tag-alexander-steen","tag-brayden-schenn","tag-doug-armstrong","tag-nhl-trade-deadline"],"modified_by":"Andrew Willis","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463650","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3464"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=463650"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463650\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":463658,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463650\/revisions\/463658"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/463656"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=463650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=463650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=463650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}