The St. Louis Blues came into the 2019-2020, as the defending Stanley Cup champions. Winning their first cup in franchise history after a historic run. It is said that hockey is the hardest sport to go back to back due to it having the longest playoffs by far. But I think the Blues will go back to back and here’s why.

At this point in the season, the St. Louis Blues are 12-4-5 and sit at the top of the Western Conference with 29 points, and are second in the entire NHL. This is one of the best starts that the Blues have seen in a very long time.

This all starts with the offseason, and yet again the blues had a pretty busy one. With the first big decision on not signing Patrick Maroon. Then on July 1, the Blues signed a 1-year contract extension with Sammy Blais. This has proven to be quite a good move with him playing in 19 games and recording five goals and three assists making a total of eight points. Then the next day they signed Carl “Boom Boom” Gunnarsson to a 2-year extension. They then signed Jordan Binnington to a 2-year contract. But the biggest offseason move has to be when the blues traded Joel Edmundson and Dominik Bokk to the Carolina Hurricanes for all star defender Justin Faulk. So far this has proven to be a good trade with Faulk playing very good at defense.

The Blues also signed Brayden Schenn to an 8-year contract extension. Schenn is starting to become an elite scorer in the league and is a great player to keep around. The Blues have recently traded Robby Fabbri to the Detroit Red Wings for Jacob de La Rose. They did not win in this trade but it was requested by Fabbri who was not getting enough playing time. Lastly, they have just signed Jamie McGinn and Troy Brouwer to a Professional tryout contract. Troy Brouwer is a former Blue who scored the game-winning goal in game 7 of the first round in the 2016 playoffs against the Chicago Blackhawks. Hopefully, the Blues can find a way to work these two in.

The Blues come into this season with arguably the best defenses in the league with the pick up of Justin Faulk. Alex Pietrangelo is turning into one of the league’s best two-way defenders, with 17 points in 21 games. The Blues have an abundance of elite forwards that this team has not had in a long time. A few of these players being Conn Smythe trophy winner Ryan O’Reilly, Brayden Schenn, David Peron, and Jaden Schwartz. We have two very good goalies in Jordan Binnington and Jake Allen. Jordan Binnington is playing great with 9 wins and 2 losses recording a .922 save percentage. Jake Allen is also playing really good with a 3 and 1 record holding a .911 save percentage. It is always a good thing when both of your goalies are playing good.

The biggest loss of the season is losing Vladimir Tarasenko for five months due to a shoulder injury. Many around the league say that the Blues have no chance now without Vladi, but that is simply not true. As much as it would help to have an elite scorer like Tarasenko in our line up, we don’t need him. He would be back for the playoffs and that is all that matters. David Perron has come in to fill Tarasenko’s spot. Through the Blues first, 21 games Perron has eight goals and 19 points. We will hope for him to continue on this hot streak.

With Coach Craig Berube as the head coach, I do not see a reason that this team could not win back-to-back Stanley Cups. The Blues have been beating the top teams in the league like Oilers, Avalanche, Flames, and Maple Leafs. These are all strong cup contending teams. With this talented roster, anything is possible for the St. Louis Blues.