Three seconds. Three seconds was all they needed for a Game 7 victory against the President’s Trophy-winning Winnipeg Jets. Three seconds was all it took to clinch a trip to a second-round matchup against the Dallas Stars.
Instead, what we got was a Winnipeg score. Overtime. A second overtime. And finally, Adam Lowry of the Jets scores the series-ending goal, as the Blues are eliminated in heartbreaking fashion.
This year, head coach Jim Montgomery and the St. Louis Blues want to get back there. And this time, they won’t let that happen.
Montgomery is entering his first full season in St. Louis. After Montgomery was let go by the Boston Bruins, where he led the team to the best record in NHL history just two years prior, Drew Bannister was fired for the express purpose of picking up Montgomery. And it’s safe to say that the play worked out for them, as Montgomery led the Blues to a playoff berth for the first time in three seasons.
The wild card spot came off the back of center Jordan Kyrou, who led the team in goals with 36, and was 16th in the stat in the NHL. Center Robert Thomas often backed up the other players when Kyrou wasn’t on the ice, leading the team with 60 assists, when nobody else on the team even had 40, contributing to his 81 points, also the most on the team.
Center Brayden Schenn, captain of the squad, played all 82 games along with Kyrou, left wing Jake Neighbours, and defenseman Ryan Suter. And I’d be remiss not to mention goalie Joel Hofer, who actually outperformed Jordan Binnington last season, with a .904 save percentage and a .667 win percentage in games he was credited with, compared to Binnington’s .900 and .560, respectively.
This year, with the exception of Suter, everyone previously mentioned is returning. But there is one major new addition to the Blues- the brand identity.
Based on the 2017 and 2022 Winter Classic uniforms and brands, which were themselves based upon the original Blues uniforms from 1967, the Blues return to the ice this year with a slightly updated logo, a brighter blue, and a suite of three alternate logos, two of which feature a treble clef.
Some, however, have voiced their concerns on the visibility of the uniform’s names and numbers. Unlike the uniforms that they were based upon, the new outfits feature no outlines, and there is a possibility that the yellow might blend into the blue too much on the home jersey. Either way, the Blues will have a new look going forward. Let’s hope that it works out.
