5 fringe NHL teams poised to make the playoffs in 2019
By C.L. Kohuss
3. St. Louis Blues
The St. Louis Blues, like Florida, missed out by a single point. In fact, it came down to the last game of the regular season against Colorado, one in which they lost 5-2. But St. Louis really didn’t play so poorly throughout the year. Let’s remember how stacked the Central Division really is, and how tough the Western Conference can be overall. In the division alone you’re going against Winnipeg, Nashville, Colorado and Minnesota. Outside there’s Los Angeles, Anaheim, Vegas and San Jose.
At the trade deadline in February, the Blues were still nine games over .500. The biggest sticking point is that they lost five of the final 6, when a single extra win in that span would’ve pushed them into the postseason.
They also have the talent both on offense and defense and the cap space to make some waves during the July free agency period. A major decision needs to be made on goaltender Jake Allen, though. Backup Carter Hutton, a pending free agent, was fantastic down the stretch for St. Louis, but starter Allen was not. What they do with the netminding could be key as to whether they really do make the playoffs in 2019.
Despite the struggles of Allen, the Blues still featured the sixth best goals against per game, mostly due to the aforementioned heroics of Hutton. Still, the powerplay was putrid at second to last in the NHL, and the penalty kill was 18th. These are areas they can fix, through coaching or signing key players, and this is still a club ready to make noise in the division. What happens over the next month or two will be big for this team.