Can There Be Another St. Louis Blues Success Story?
By Jim Lynch
The St. Louis Blues had one of the best success stories in hockey. After starting the year 7-9-3 under Mike Yeo the franchise fired the coach and gave Craig Berube, the assistant coach at the time, a shot as interim head coach.
The Blues improved under their new head coach after a month of a learning curve. The team went into January with a 15-18-4 record – the worst in the league at the time. They would finish the season with a 30-10-5 record after January 1st to get them to the playoffs and earn a bid to compete for the Stanely Cup.
The Blues would go on a franchise-record 11 game win streak during their 30-10-5 run and they would be led by the great play of then-rookie netminder Jordan Binnington. That same last-place Blues team at the start of January would go on to win the Stanley Cup beating the Jets, Stars, Sharks, and Bruins along the way.
The St. Louis Blues were fantastic in 2019, could there be another NHL team that accomplishes something as great in 2022?
As of today, the last-placed team in the league is the Montreal Canadiens with a record of 7-25-5, I do not think that is something they can overcome, but I guess there are some teams near the middle of the pack that could pull it off.
The Vancouver Canucks
The Chicago Blackhawks
The Edmonton Oilers
These three teams are all near the end of the middle of the pack. Edmonton is the 20th best team in the league, Vancouver 22 and Chicago 23, and all have 36 to 38 points.
The most likely of all these teams is the Vancouver Canucks who have been on the rise ever since they made a coaching change to bring in Bruce Boudreau.
Edmonton has been falling in the standings since December and Chicago’s division is not easy to rise in like the Pacific could be. If there was going to be another comeback story team like the 2019 Blues the best bet would have to be the Vancouver Canucks. It will be interesting to see how it all plays out in Vancouver.
The Blues did a pretty amazing thing in 2019, it was so good it is going to be hard to replicate by any team, but if anyone is going to pull it off I do think Vancouver would be the best choice.