Each NHL team’s biggest burning question in 2018

St. Louis Blues: How long will it take them to learn to play together?

Last season, the St. Louis Blues were the epitome of a fall from grace at the professional hockey level. The trading of deeply respected center Paul Stastny, coupled with an array of injuries and a dip in form — the implications of which were nothing short of disastrous — spelled an early end to the Blues’ campaign, as the team missed out on qualifying for the 2018 Stanley Cup playoffs.

Disappointment abound, the 2018-19 season is one of enormous opportunity for Mike Yeo’s men — a prospect that entails tremendous responsibility. And if the excitement that currently envelops the club’s fanbase is to be seriously weighed, such a process begins by ironing out the growing pains that have inevitably arisen from the organization’s fundamental restructuring.

While the hockey world was enveloped by the news surrounding the rewarding of contracts to the likes of John Tavares, James van Riemsdyk, John Carlson and the aforementioned Stastny on July 1, the Blues quietly — yet unquestionably — served as one of the league’s most important buyers, adding a host of dynamic forces to strengthen the club’s offense. Ryan O’Reilly — one of the sport’s best two-way centers — was acquired via a hefty trade that sent Tage Thompson, Vladimir Sobotka, Patrik Berglund, a 2019 first-round draft pick and a 20201 second-round draft pick to the Buffalo Sabres; Patrick Maroon signed a reasonable one-year, $1.75 million deal; and the club rewarded the likes of Tyler Bozak and David Perron with contracts that were fair in nature.

Make no mistake: the team has earned the respect of a diverse network of pundits for its ability to marry practicality with promptness in undertaking a restructuring of its offense. But the looming learning curve that is a staple of reconceptualizations of this variety is a potentially dark cloud that hovers over one of the NHL’s most promising franchises. How long, after all, will it take the Blues — underlined, but nonetheless altered by a drastic reframing — to set a measure of consistency into motion?

While it certainly seems as if more than enough has been done to address the club’s weak points, and in turn to ensure that the spirit of winning ways is ushered forth swiftly, it would be worthy to keep an eye on the manner in which change comes to light — and if this is finally the year in which disappointment is translated into glory.