A new season brings hope. Will the St. Louis Blues win the Stanley Cup?
Ever since the St. Louis Blues were established in 1967, St. Louisans have been wanting their home team to bring home a Stanley Cupe.
Fifty years later St. Louis has not had the privilege of being the temporary home to hockey’s greatest award. Last season, when the playoffs rolled in around April 2018, the Blues had already lost all hope for a playoff run–because they didn’t even make the playoffs!
However, with the new 2018-19 season entering preseason competition, the Blues have begun to turn heads and lift St. Louis’ spirits up once again.
Ryan O’Reilly (photo, YouTube)
The Blues acquired an all-star player, Ryan O’Reilly from the Buffalo Sabres. They have David Perron back from the Vegas Golden Knights. And there are new team prospects, like St. Louis natives Patrick Maroon and Chris Butler.
So maybe, just maybe, the NHL may have a new team added to the Stanley Cup.
During the off-season, Blues General Manager Doug Armstrong made what many fans thought were questionable decisions. For example, Vladimir Sobotka was let go. Was another chance at the Cup vanquished before the season even began?
However, evidently all wasn’t lost! A ray of hope came with O’Reilly’s signing. According to the official NHL website, O’Reilly has played 9 seasons, three with Buffalo and the rest with the Colorado Avalanche. In 651 games played, he has 155 goals, 267 assists, 422 points, -53 Plus/Minus, 84 penalties in minutes, 51 power play goals, 128 power play points, 6 shorthanded goals, 13 shorthanded points, 20 game-winning goals, 7 overtime goals, 1,457 shots, 10.6 shooting percentage, and 55.1 face-off win percentage.
Those are impressive stats, but most players need time to adjust after being traded to a new team. Will O’Reilly?
Chris Butler (photo, NHL.com)
Most prospects, on the other hand, don’t need this adjustment time because they typically start out with the team that drafted them. Take St. Louis native Butler, for example. He’s a 31-year-old defenseman who has 10 seasons in the NHL under his belt. Out of those 10 seasons, the last four have been played with St. Louis, three were with Buffalo, and the other three were with the Calgary Flames.
Here are Butler’s stats: 394 games played, 13 goals, 71 assists, 84 points, -30 Plus/Minus, 187 penalties in minutes, 0 power play goals, 16 power play points, 2 shorthanded goals, 3 shorthanded points, 2 game-winning goals, 1 overtime goals, 395 shots, 3.3 shooting percentage, and no face-off win percentage. Those are somewhat average stats for a defenseman.
As a Blues fan myself, these fresh new faces added to the Blues roster adds to the anticipation of a new season. I’m ready for it, too–getting notifications on my phone through the NHL app, using a little bit of my free time to relax from my crazy year as a senior in high school.
It’s safe to say that I have high hopes for Blues this year. Who knows? A playoff run may be in the offing, perhaps even the team’s first Cup. Time will tell. And like most Blues fans, I’ll be watching anxiously to see how the season turns out.
