{"id":475115,"date":"2025-10-06T12:16:01","date_gmt":"2025-10-06T16:16:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=475115"},"modified":"2025-10-06T12:16:01","modified_gmt":"2025-10-06T16:16:01","slug":"st-louis-blues-will-be-challenged-to-start-the-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2025\/10\/06\/st-louis-blues-will-be-challenged-to-start-the-season\/","title":{"rendered":"St. Louis Blues Will Be Challenged to Start the Season"},"content":{"rendered":"

After a trip to the Stanley Cup Playoffs last season, the St. Louis Blues are excited to get the 2025-26 season underway and build off last year’s success. A strong start to the new season will go a long way in showing the league that last year was not a fluke. However, the Blues will be challenged to start the season, primarily in their first six games.<\/span><\/p>\n

Blues’ First Six Games Pose Challenge<\/span><\/h2>\n

Five of the team’s first six games will feature matchups against teams that were either in the playoffs last season or remained in contention until late in the season.<\/span><\/p>\n

2025 Playoff Teams<\/span><\/h3>\n

Minnesota Wild<\/span><\/h4>\n

The Blues open their season against the <\/span>Minnesota Wild<\/span><\/a>. In addition to being a playoff team last year, the Wild have been busy lately. Kirill Kaprizov<\/a> and Filip Gustavsson<\/a> have <\/span>each signed<\/span><\/a> long-term extensions<\/span><\/a>. Vladimir Tarasenko<\/a> was acquired to add a sniper to the offence. Furthermore, Nico Sturm<\/a> was added to boost the penalty kill.<\/span><\/p>\n

Dallas Stars<\/span><\/h4>\n

The Blues’ fifth game is against the <\/span>Dallas Stars<\/span><\/a>. After three straight losses in the Western Conference Final, the Stars have something to prove in 2025-26. This may be the best team the Stars have constructed in recent seasons, led by Mikko Rantanen<\/a>. In addition to Rantanen, many other playmakers can generate offence.<\/span><\/p>\n

Los Angeles Kings<\/span><\/h4>\n

Anze Kopitar<\/a> and the <\/span>Los Angeles Kings<\/span><\/a> come to town for the Blues’ sixth game. After again losing to the Edmonton Oilers in last year’s playoffs, the Kings added several players in an effort to improve the team. However, their most significant acquisition, Corey Perry<\/a>, <\/span>will be out of action due to injury<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

2025 Playoff Contenders<\/span><\/h3>\n

In addition to facing three playoff teams, the Blues are also set to play three teams that remained in playoff contention for most of the season.<\/span><\/p>\n

Calgary Flames<\/span><\/h4>\n

The Blues’ first road trip takes them to Alberta to play the <\/span>Calgary Flames<\/span><\/a>. The Flames hung in the race until the final days of the season. The team did lose some players over the summer, but did add a notable forward in Morgan Frost<\/a>. With Dustin Wolf<\/a> still between the pipes, the Blues will not be able to take the Flames lightly.<\/span><\/p>\n

Vancouver Canucks<\/span><\/h4>\n

From Calgary, the Blues head to British Columbia to play the <\/span>Vancouver Canucks<\/span><\/a>. The Canucks made a run for the playoffs before falling short at the end. Of the teams we have talked about, the Canucks may be the one who have gotten noticeably worse. The team lost Pius Suter<\/a> in free agency (to the Blues) and traded Dakota Joshua<\/a>. There are still playmakers on the team, but the Canucks’ road to the playoffs may be a little longer this season.<\/span><\/p>\n

The One Outlier<\/span><\/h3>\n

Chicago Blackhawks<\/span><\/h4>\n

The <\/span>Chicago Blackhawks<\/span><\/a> are the only team the Blues play in their first six games that was not a playoff contender last season. The rebuild continues<\/a> in the Windy City.<\/span><\/p>\n

Expectations for the Blues in the First Six Games<\/span><\/h3>\n

The Blues will want to make an early statement. To go 6-0-0 and earn all 12 points to start the season would make a statement, but that may be a tad unrealistic, even for a team that won 12 in a row last year.<\/span><\/p>\n

Let’s start by labeling the games the Blues should win. The Blues should win their game against the Blackhawks. Division rivals will always be challenging games, but the Blues are the superior team who should get the two points. Likewise, we think the Blues should also beat the Canucks. That game will be in Vancouver, which could make it a little more complicated. However, the Blues should still get the two points.<\/span><\/p>\n

The game against the Flames is an intriguing matchup. This one could go either way. We will not be surprised if the Blues win, but we will also not be surprised if the Flames win.<\/span><\/p>\n

That brings us to the Wild, Stars, and Kings. Realistically, the Blues should aim to earn 3-4 points from this stretch of games. At worst, they need to go 1-0-1 in these three games. We like the idea of the team beating the Wild on Opening Night, thriving off the energy from the home fans. The Kings could go either way. The Stars will be the toughest of the three 2025 playoff teams.<\/span><\/p>\n

Twelve points are on the line in these first six games. In the worst-case scenario, the Blues should earn seven or eight points. A 3-1-2 record would accomplish that. The Blues could pick up one more win from that bunch and increase their point total to nine or ten.<\/span><\/p>\n

Final Thoughts<\/span><\/h3>\n

The Blues cannot clinch a playoff spot this early in the season. However, they are being tested early, and rising to the occasion could go a long way in their goal of returning to the playoffs this season.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Main Photo: Jeff Curry- Imagn Images<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After a trip to the Stanley Cup Playoffs last season, the St. Louis Blues are excited to get the 2025-26 season underway and build off last year’s success. A strong start to the new season will go a long way in showing the league that last year was not a fluke. However, the Blues will […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3464,"featured_media":475225,"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":[4408],"class_list":["post-475115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blues","category-hockey","category-nhl","tag-nhl-regular-season"],"modified_by":"Andrew Willis","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475115","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=475115"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475115\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":475226,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475115\/revisions\/475226"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/475225"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=475115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=475115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=475115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}