The 2022-23 season was one to forget for fans of the St. Louis Blues, with the franchise missing the NHL Playoffs for the first time in four years and the team’s first sub-.500 campaign since 2008.
With the amount of fights and hits dropping in the NHL year-by-year, people have discussed that a teams’ grit and aggressiveness doesn’t equate to being successful in the modern age of the NHL.
BetMissouri.com utilized MoneyPuck.com to measure the amount of hits and HockeyFights.com to compile the amount of fights by each team in the 2022-23 regular season to find the most and least aggressive teams.
Win or lose, residents of the state have no Missouri betting apps to use for wagers on the Blues.
Sports betting failed to make it out of the legislature for the second straight year.
NHL’s Least Aggressive Teams
Although there are no Missouri sportsbooks, national operators again see St. Louis toward the bottom of the NHL, with +6000 odds to win the Stanley Cup.
Where Blues Ranked In NHL
Of the 10 least aggressive NHL teams last season, four teams (including St. Louis) wound up missing the playoffs, with the Blues finishing with the third-lowest year-end point total (ahead of Detroit’s 80 and Anaheim’s 58).
On the flip side, Carolina (113 points), New Jersey (112 points), Toronto (111 points), Colorado and Edmonton (109 points each), Dallas (108 points), Los Angeles (104 points) and Florida (92 points) all made playoff runs of varying lengths this year, with the Panthers making it all the way to the Stanley Cup Final.
There is no BetMGM Sportsbook Missouri, but nationally the operator lists Colorado as the Stanley Cup favorite at +800, followed by Edmonton (+950) and Toronto (+1000).
The only other member of the non-aggression list to miss the postseason in 2023 was Buffalo, which missed out by a single point after finishing second to the Hurricanes for the lowest aggression score.
The Blues, on the other hand, wrapped up the year tied with the Oilers and Panthers as the 10th least aggressive team in the league, coming in behind the No. 9 Ducks and the Maple Leafs and Avalanche, who tied for seventh overall.
