The St. Louis Blues, playing with more “compete” and starting off with a 5-1 record in their first half-dozen games under interim coach Drew Bannister, have presumably received the new-coach bounce that GM Doug Armstrong was seeking when he reluctantly fired Craig Berube.
Then comes the tough part: Same roster, same weaknesses.
After that 5-1 run, which included some uncomfortable wins against bad teams (including an impressive but exasperating comeback against Chicago) and a couple wins over the contending Stars, the Blues finished out 2023 with back-to-back close regulation losses, to the Colorado Avalanche and the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The first month of 2024 brings more daunting challenges that could further dull the shine. Though six of the first eight games are at home, the opponents include the West-leading Canucks, the East-leading Bruins, the Panthers, Rangers and Flyers. A trip to Carolina and a home-and-home with the Washington Capitals is also looming.
They’ll do at least part of it without Justin Faulk, who is second on the team in ice time at 22:25 per game. They’ll start the stretch by bringing in Nathan Walker, a spark plug Bannister knows well from AHL Springfield who has yet to play with the big club after spending all of 2022-23 with St. Louis.
Outside of the 6-1 loss to the Lightning in Bannister’s third game, this team isn’t getting blown out anymore. They’ve yet to toss an inexplicable no-show against depleted teams like they did in the final few games before Berube’s firing.
But after the new-car smell wears off and they log lots of January games against tough teams, we may just re-learn what we knew before Berube was sent away: On any given night, this roster can compete, but the Blues are who we thought they are.