The St Louis Blues missed the playoffs last season, marking the first time since 2017-18 the team had missed the postseason.
As Missouri sports fans surely know, the Blues followed that 2017-18 disappointment by winning the Stanley Cup the following season. St. Louis continued to make the playoffs for the three years after that before finally missing the dance last year.
So, BetMissouri.com – your source for sportsbooks in Missouri - decided to assess how likely it is that the team ends up back in the playoffs. Utilizing ChampsorChump.us, we looked at the Blues finishes since 2012.
Blues Recent Playoff History
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Assessing This Season’s Blues
Missing the playoffs was a disappointment, and not one that the team was used to, as the Blues are generally a staple in the postseason conversation, at least in the past dozen years. Since 2012, the team has only failed to qualify twice.
However, the six years before 2012 were filled with failure, as the Blues only made it in once in those seasons. With a history of the team either making or missing the playoffs in bunches, Blues fans must be wondering if the team is on the verge of a rough patch, or if the poor season was a one-time thing.
While we wait for legislation to bring Missouri sports betting apps into existence, let’s look at how one sportsbook sees the 2023-24 St. Louis Blues. At bet365, the Blues are at +4500 to win the Stanley Cup. That ranks the Blues tied for 20th (with Vancouver and the New York Islanders) in the 32-team NHL. So, it is unlikely the Blues pull a repeat of what happened in 2019.
However, as last year's Florida Panthers team proved, sometimes all you need to do is make your way in and then anything can happen. Unfortunately for Blues fans, bet365 thinks it’s more likely that the team misses, with odds of -185 for the team to miss the playoffs, compared to +155 odds that they make it.
If the Blues are to sneak into a playoff spot, it will have to be on the backs of a roster that looks quite like the team that missed last year. That means a lot of improvement will have to come from within.
The Blues have a young core led by Jordan Kyrou and Robert Thomas, both of whom are entering the first year of matching eight-year contracts worth more than $8 million annually. If they can live up to those deals - and goalie Jordan Binnington can bounce back after a couple of tough seasons - the Blues will be in the mix.
There has been a lot of turnover since that Stanley Cup win, with players such as Ryan O’Reilly, Vladimir Tarasenko and Alex Pietrangelo all with different organizations. But they still have some championship experience to rely on with new captain Brayden Schenn, Binnington, Thomas and defenseman Colton Parayko. Those players will need to lead the new wave of stars like Kyrou and linemate Pavel Buchnevich if the Blues hope to defy the odds and make it back into the postseason instead of fizzling their way into another lengthy stretch of futility.
BetMissouri.com will keep an eye on the Blues and all the state’s pro teams, in addition to having you ready with Missouri sports betting promos.
