St. Louis Blues: Top 5 takeaways from the 2019-20 season so far

By Mary Clarke | Apr 2, 2020

DALLAS, TEXAS - FEBRUARY 21: Jaden Schwartz #17 of the St. Louis Blues celebrates with Ryan O'Reilly #90 of the St. Louis Blues and Brayden Schenn #10 of the St. Louis Blues after scoring against the Dallas Stars in the second period at American Airlines Center on February 21, 2020 in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images) /

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The reigning Stanley Cup champions, the St. Louis Blues, have not lost a step since their run last summer. Here are five takeaways from this 2019-20 team.

The St. Louis Blues shocked the world by winning their first Stanley Cup in franchise history last summer. The team’s Gloria-inspired run to a championship was one of the sports world’s best stories last year, as the team went from last place in the NHL to winning it all just a half-year later.

This season, the Blues were returning all of their core pieces from their championship team, a recipe for success given how hard it is to repeat in the NHL. However, there have been just 11 repeat champions in the NHL from 1976 to 2017, and also how random hockey is as a sport, there were no guarantees for St. Louis this season.

Before the NHL’s season pause, the Blues were in a great position to make another Stanley Cup run, as the team sits first in the Central Division with a 42-19-10 record and 94 points, two points above the Colorado Avalanche. Should the season continue at some point this year, the Blues are in a great spot to repeat as Stanley Cup champions.

With so much time ahead of us without hockey, let’s look back at the top five takeaways we have so far from this 2019-20 Blues team.

ST LOUIS, MO – OCTOBER 02: Alex Pietrangelo #27 of the St. Louis Blues shows off the Stanley Cup prior to playing against the Washington Capitals at Enterprise Center on October 2, 2019 in St Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images) /

5. The Stanley Cup hangover doesn’t exist

The dreaded Stanley Cup hangover has been debated as a “theory” in hockey circles from seemingly the start of time. The idea that a team playing through the spring and into early-to-mid June will negatively impact a team’s performance the season after seems to vary on a team-by-team basis.

This season, however, it seems the Blues have bucked the trend and have no hangover to speak of from their Stanley Cup win in 2019. St. Louis ended October with a 7-3-3 record, plus a five-game winning streak to start November that catapulted them to the top of the Central Division standings.

St. Louis has since kept pace at the top of the Central Division, rattling off two separate eight-game winning streaks in December and February. Entering the season pause, the Blues were the NHL’s second-best team in terms of overall record behind the blistering Boston Bruins and had gone 8-2-0 in their last 10 games.

The Blues were in a great position headed into the last month of the season, and it seemed they were headed for another deep run before the league was suspended for the time being.

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