The St. Louis Blues are coming off a 4-3 overtime loss to the Seattle Kraken on Saturday. The loss dropped the Blues to 5-8-3 on the year. The 2025-26 season is still young, and the franchise has every chance to turn the season around.
The Blues started the campaign strong, opening up 3-2. They would then lose seven in a row, with only two games going into overtime. The team has gone 2-1-1 since then, starting to rebound from the long losing skid. Even with the streak of negative results, the team is just five points out of a playoff spot. The Blues were in 11th place in the Western Conference in mid-February last season, and were still outside the playoff picture on March 13. They then won 12 straight games and made the playoffs.
A 12-game winning streak may not be in the cards this year, but a turnaround this season will be. Here's why.
Blues' veterans will rebound
The Blues have had horrible luck this year. So far this year, the Blues have scored 21.6 goals fewer than their expected goal value. That is not only 32nd in the NHL, but also seven goals worse than the 31st-ranked Florida Panthers. At 21.6 goals below expected value, that is nearly 1.5 goals per game that are not being scored, but are expected to be scored by the average team.
Considering they have lost three games in overtime, plus another two games by two or fewer goals, that could be four to five more wins for the team, which would place them in a playoff spot.
Brayden Schenn is someone who has been missing chances. He has found the back of the net just twice this year, while having a -12 plus/minus rating. Still, he has an expected individual goals factor of four, double his current goal total. Pavel Buchnevich has been in a similar situation. He has scored just twice this year, but has an expected goal value near five.
Jordan Kyrou has been one of the bright spots in goal scoring, exceeding his expected goals value by lighting the lamp five times. Still, his assist value is below his expected value. Robert Thomas is also in the same position, doing a solid job of placing guys in position to score, but not seeing the results.
These are all veterans and should able to turn it around. They have done it before and have the ability to do so again.
The Blues have been here before
The Blues have started slow before and rebounded. Last year, the team was 9-12-1, before spending much of the season around the .500 mark and then making the late playoff run. One of the issues this year has been Jordan Binnington. He has a .859 save percentage and a 3.34 goals-against average. The netminder struggled early last season as well, starting the year 2-5-0 with a .896 save percentage and a 2.98 goals-against average, before turning it around.
He did the same thing in 2022-23, sitting with a 3.28 goals-against average to start the season, but once again, turning the season around. A slow start is nothing new for the goaltender, but this is the slowest he has had. Still, he will put together a string of quality games, something he has consistently done in his career, which will help revive the Blues' season. Whether it will be enough to get St. Louis back in the dance come April is up in the air.
