The St. Louis Blues season ended in Game six of the Western Conference Finals getting eliminated by the San Jose Sharks last week. It was a wild ride for the St. Louis Blues and especially for the fan base – which grew as the postseason carried on.
It was disappointing to see the Blues get this close to appearing in the Stanley Cup Finals and fall two games short. They were 4-6 at home and had the home ice advantage. The Blues just flat out got beat by a better team. The Sharks were more physical and they weren’t giving the Blues much room to operate.
For the first two rounds of the playoffs the Blues were flying through the neutral zone creating several scoring attempts, sometimes controlling the puck at even strength and looking as if they’re on a power play. Not this round. Sharks center Joe Pavelski just owned the series – scoring 8 points in the last five games. As a whole, he has notched 22 points in 18 games better than a point a game with a plus/minus rating of 3.
As the playoffs continue on without the Blues, they have some business to tend too with pending free agents. Unrestricted free agents David Backes and Troy Brouwer – both 32 years of age and ranked 6th and 9th respectively by Frank Seravalli of TSN top 30 list of NHL free agents. Rumor has it the Philadelphia Flyers have eyes for Backes and could offer as much as $25 million for three years. I could see him getting a lucrative deal along those lines. He had a great postseason and this was the most spirited I’ve seen him play since the 2002 Winter Olympics. Backes had 14 points in the playoffs. He’s someone the Blues can’t afford to lose, but this could be his last chance to cash in.
Troy Brouwer was second on the team with 8 playoff goals and he is in a similar boat as Backes. We’ll find out in a couple of months how this will play out.
The Blues have to think ahead to 2017 free agency too – and head coach Ken Hitchcock contract expires next month.
I consider this a good season by the Blues for a few reasons. First, it was only their third conference finals appearance in the last 30 years. They knocked off the defending Stanley Cup (and hugely disliked) Chicago Blackhawks. Then they followed that by beating the number one seed in the Western Conference Dallas Stars. The Blues were able to do this with a roster that had only two players over 20 goals or 50 points.
They just ran out of gas. Two straight best of seven series caught up with them. The good that came out of it was the growth of the fan base – which is as diverse as ever.
Quite honestly, this might not have happened if the NFL was still in town. The Blues playoff run actually made many St. Louisans appreciate them more.
It’s always nice to have playoffs outside of the baseball Cardinals, who’ve spoiled sports fans with long runs into the start of the next hockey season.
