With a record of 23-24-4, the St. Louis Blues currently sit just five points out of a Wild Card spot in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, which begin in May. From the great success of the Winter Classic, as well as the team’s failure in making the playoffs last year, the Blues will be working hard in the next few months to continue reforming their players, and hopefully be successful in clinching a spot in the playoffs.

The Winter Classic this year was held at Wrigley Field in Chicago, Illinois. It was the Blues vs. the Chicago Blackhawks, similar to the one back in 2017 at Busch Stadium. Once again, the Blues won with a score of 6-2. Senior Head of Hockey Communications and Player Engagement Dan O’Neill said the team’s success came from their game management.

“When you play in outdoor games like that, it’s obviously not a controlled environment like it is in your normal buildings. So, it’s vitally important that the team manages the game the right way. And for us that means what they call ‘playing north’, which is just going up and down the ice as opposed to east and west, and playing physical and being responsible at both blue lines [(the two lines dividing the rink into three parts, defensive zone, neutral zone, and attacking zone)],” O’Neill said.

O’Neill also mentioned that for outdoor games where the conditions are abnormal, it is best for the team to focus on the simple skills of play.

“Because the weather can be so unpredictable in the wind and the rain, and the depth perception is so different, you’ve got to boil your game down to the basics and execute as best you can,” O’Neill said.

During the season, practices are few and far between, depending on when and where each game is. Sometimes, a team will only be able to get in a couple of practices per week. Nevertheless, O’Neill said the Blues coaches are working on improving small details of play in order to be the most effective during games.

“There’s not a lot of practice time because the schedule is so condensed, so when [the team does] get the chance [to practice], what they’ve been harping on lately is the details. [Focusing on] the little things that you have to do in a game to win the game. Trying to be predictable to one another are the big things that they’re working on now,” O’Neill said.

Being a strong team at home can be a big advantage and an easy way to earn points. Being over halfway through the season, O’Neill noted that it will be enormously important for the Blues to be able to dominate when playing at home at Enterprise Center from now on.

“We play about [7] of our next [10] games at home. We played a lot of road games toward the beginning of the season, so establishing our home ice advantage is going to be really important heading into the Four Nations [Face-Off] break, which is in a few weeks. And then we play four or five at home coming out of that break, before playing six in a row on the road. So, right now we’re trying to establish home ice advantage and earn as many points as we can during this heavy home stretch,” O’Neill said.

Over the past few years, the Blues have been building their prospect pool to hopefully have a strong, well-rounded team in the future. Every year, the Blues hold a prospect camp in July. There, young players, some drafted by the Blues, others free agents, can work on their skills and showcase what they can do to the coaches and other scouts. From the camp, the Blues can choose where to send their prospects.

Most of the prospects are sent down to the Blues’ affiliate teams, the Springfield Thunderbirds (American Hockey League/AHL) and the Florida Everblades (East Coast Hockey League/ECHL). From there, prospects can be called up, traded, and moved around. 2023 First Round pick for the Blues, Dalibor Dvorsky, has been performing very well so far this season.

“Dvorsky was just named Springfield [Thunderbirds]’s All-Star. He’s a 19-year-old kid and he’s having a very productive year in the AHL, which is promising. The [Thunderbirds] are around .500 [(meaning the team is winning over half of their games)], [and] it’s a young team. [The team is] very full of our prospects and not as many free agents from the outside, so it’s really good to have a big group of our prospects down there playing together, learning together, [and] growing together,” O’Neill said.

On the topic of skills, O’Neill said that the Blues have grown exponentially in their skating abilities over the last few seasons.

“We’re a good skating team, our skating’s improved quite a bit year over year here. Our speed, our quickness, and our ability to close in on the opposition on things like the forecheck and close gaps defensively and things like that. I think our skating has probably been the biggest improvement we’ve seen over the last year,” O’Neill said.

The Blues’ goalies, Jordan Binnington and Joel Hofer, are two of the best in the league. Hofer with a save percentage of .906 in 18 games, and Binnington with 0.897 in 36 games. O’Neill agreed, saying that the two are a strong part of the team. 

“Another advantage that we’ve had for a few years now is our goaltending. Our goaltending is top notch. We have a tandem that’s just as good as any tandem in the league. We’ve had that for a few years now,” O’Neill said.

Since winning their first cup in 2019, the Stanley Cup Playoffs have been on the minds of players and fans alike. For the past two years, the Blues have missed making the playoffs, making the push for the rest of this season so much more important. In the Western Conference, the Blues sit just five points out of a spot in the final bracket. O’Neill explained the importance of playing higher-ranked teams so far into the season.

“We’re playing the vast majority of our games over the next month and a half against teams in the [Western Conference]. Teams that are ‘above us’ in terms of point percentage and the standings. When you play teams that are ahead of you in the standings, they are what they call Four-Point games, because you steal two from them and you get two for yourself. A lot of these teams have a couple of games in hand on us, so we’re in a position now where we have to have ‘playoff mentality’ for the rest of the season,” O’Neill said.

The next few months will be crucial for the Blues and their ongoing development into becoming cup contenders. Making the playoffs this year means that the Blues’ reform is working. Developing young players, honing the team’s skills, and having the right mindset to continue winning games will be crucial to the success of the Blues for this season, and many more down the line.

“We have to treat every game like it’s a playoff game for the rest of the season. Hopefully it turns out the right way. And if we are able to clinch a playoff berth, we should have a little bit of [an] advantage hopefully, having played so many meaningful games leading into the playoffs. That can sometimes give the team a little bit of a leg up, as opposed to a team maybe that has clinched a playoff spot on the go and has just been playing kind of meaningless games down the stretch. Our schedule is heavy with teams that we need to beat, which is good for us. We kind of control our own destiny in that sense,” O’Neill said.