How Good Are These Blues?

As a child growing up a fan of the city of St. Louis, there were really only two teams that I could watch on TV with any consistency living in western Illinois.  The only real television channel we received that ran any St. Louis sports was Fox Sports Midwest other than the occasional national broadcasting.  This meant that year round, on a daily basis, my father and I would sit down to watch either a Cardinal’s or Blues’ game.  My most crucial years of maturation as a fan saw teams lead by Al MacInnis and Chris Pronger dominate as the top duo of defensemen in the game.  I remember the days when Brett Hull, Geoff Courtnall, Pierre Turgeon, and even for a brief period Wayne Gretzky scored goals for the Blues.  I remember these as magical days for the Blues organization even though they never seemed to be able to win the big game to push themselves to the Stanley Cup Finals. 

And then the devastating combination of a lockout in 2004-2005 and a team that was only capable of making the briefest of playoff cameos in 2008-2009 as the only playoff experienced since that time caused me and I am sure many others to doubt any worthwhile value in watching the Blues or the NHL in general.  Last year I told myself would be the year that I kicked my fanaticism for the Blues back up to the days when I would live and die with playoff series in which I always seemed to find myself hating the Redwings as if they were the scum of the Earth.  I purchased a throwback Al MacInnis jersey online and made my way to multiple games at the Scottrade Center.  I was full of hope when they got off to a hot start, but these hopes were quickly dashed as injuries decimated the team, relegating them to the lowly position of 11^th place in the Western Conference.

Why this brief and not particularly insightful history lesson?  Well the truth is that I am not sure if the current incarnation of St. Louis Hockey is closer to the magical although cup-less teams of my youth or the more current and disappointing rebuilding years.  The truth is most likely somewhere in between, but after watching a half of an NHL season, I would be foolish to not at least speak of this team in hopeful terms.  This season’s run of success has earned them at least that.  After Saturday, February 18, the Blues have the second most points in the Western Conference and are fresh off of back to back wins by 4 goals.  Although it is difficult to get too excited after mustering only 1 goal against Columbus, a team that has allowed more goals than anyone else in the NHL.  If anything this inconsistency shows a possible lack of maturity, but then again, after years of losing, I am more than willing to look forward to a little excitement even if it is flawed at times.

The identity of this team over the first half of the season was a defensive one, all the more reason to be optimistic about the past two games’ scoring explosions.  The Blues had not scored 9 goals in back to back games at any point in time this season. There has been one obvious Achilles heel for the Blues this season, and it has been their ability to score goals.  Although they seem set with the current roster and have no desire to trade for offensive pieces, the possible return of Alexander Steen could provide the stretch run push that they need, provided he can shed the concussion symptoms he is still feeling.  If they could somehow combine that with the NHL’s defense with the fewest goals allowed on the season, there is reason to hope for a potential return to playoff relevancy, something that has not been fully experienced in St. Louis since…well, possibly ever.  It may still take some time before this Blues version creates memories like I remember growing up, but at least they seem to be moving in the right direction after 7 years of being lost.